Trace

"This makes complete sense. You also see a lot of companies advocating their Facebook and Twitter pages more than their websites and for good reason. There is usually no sense of social engagement on your website, so while a pageview is great, you lose the opportunity to capture them where they spend time. Blogging in the old sense may be on the decline but content creation must be on the rise. Your second chart clearly shows that." - Trace

"Couldn’t agree more! There are four PR people for every journalist. This makes our job very difficult, especially because there are really only a handful of quality writers at each publication that you really want to get in touch with. I want to make it clear though that it's not their fault for this precarious position; it's their companies broken business models that force them into this content farm mentality for ads.    PR professionals are moving more into the content creation space with the advent of social media and community management. I see us writing more news release types stories and the actual story that we want written about us because it most likely won't happen. And if journalists are getting into PR, it’s a perfect time to start this. The next major evolution of the press release will be writing the actual story you want your readers to enjoy so that you rely less on the fragmented media and their broken business models. The new age of PR Journalism." - Trace

"I think the problem is that there is no clear definition of what PR is because it literally varies from client to client. The PRSA’s attempt to redefine it has proven this as it seems we can’t come to some logical (and crowd-sourced) conclusion of what PR is. I work with tech startups in NYC and 99% of the time when we are pitching a new client, they want to be covered on TechCrunch, Mashable, WSJ, NYT etc. Oh, and that they are only looking for a 3-month stint. These are the companies they we don’t want to work with because meeting those expectations is nearly impossible and can leave a bad taste in your mouth.Building relations: There are four PR people for every journalist. This makes our job very difficult, especially because there are really only a handful of quality writers at each publication that you really want to get in touch with, along with thousands of other PR people doing the same thing. I want to make it clear though that it's not their fault for this precarious..." - Trace

"As much as everyone wants it to be dead, it is still the primary means of making an announcement for almost every company (sigh). It's what your client expects you to write and what a journalist hopes they don't get. There has been one major change to the press release and that is the social media press release... basically you throw some multimedia around it and hope that the readers will share it with their friends and followers. You will find though that a writer will copy and paste your press release directly on their website - you may be lucky enough to get a quick intro paragraph with some thought as well. While this is a "win," it's not what you ideally want because it wasn't meant to be consumer facing. PR professionals are moving more into the content creation space with the advent of social media and community management. I see us writing more news release types stories and the actually story that we want written about us because it most likely won't happen. The next major..." - Trace

"We are in the business of building bridges. I don't want to quote any of these definitions if someone asks me what I do. To be honest, I usually joke and say I make other people famous, which most people understand." - Trace

"I agree and think that there is a clear separation between the two. As PR professionals move more into the content creation space, we will continually ask ourselves, is a formal press releases needed for this announcement? A press release is not consumer facing and by it’s name, it’s only intended for the press.   First, you can’t call a creative press release, a press release. It’s too structured and formal to innovate on, so I would like to call it a “news release” that is both functional for the press but ALSO consumer facing. Basically, write the story that you want written about you like the example used above and send it to your community who will enjoy it much more.   No one enjoys reading a rigid press release, let alone writing one." - Trace

"submitted by reddit to blog." - Trace

"I work specifically with tech start-ups in NYC and it’s almost always the same story. We meet with them, give them the lowdown on how PR works and almost every time, they say they want to get covered on Techcrunch, Mashable, NYT, WSJ etc. And that they only are looking for a 3-month stint, aka using PR as a hired gun. In hindsight, if they do get that coverage, are they ready for it? Usually not. A smart company will realize that PR should be integrated into their daily routine and can be used for more than just “Hey look I was covered on…” With PR expanding beyond just press releases and more into content creation, social media is a great way to start from the ground up and build the community that is really necessary to create a sustainable business. PR can be vital to a company’s success if utilized properly but if you have a small team focus on the product and value you provide first." - Trace

"Thanks for the response. Bridge Building is the way that my father always described it because as much as we want to build "relations" with the writer, these days you're one in a million "friends" they have. The idea of bridge building also implies the idea of process, strategy and ultimately bridging the gap and getting across it. In PR, we are all about the truth well told and these definitions are on the safe side because they are board and all encompassing. If you took out "Public Relations" and put in a fill-in-the-blank, there are a lot of other words that would fit this definition. Almost there!" - Trace

"We are in the bridge building business to create understanding for a complex world. Another way of reiterating all three definitions. As much as I want to add social media to the definition, I agree that no all PR professionals engage in it and it is just another form of communication and community building, which is already covered. Unfortunately as we do live in a 2.0 world now, resorting to an "old school" sounding definition is not going to cut it. I think the PRSA is going to have a little bit of a crisis on their hands for attempting this." - Trace

"So happy for you guys!" - Trace

"I would consider this more of a thought provoking discussion, less discourse J To both of your points: 1) Your use of the words “probably” and “not supposed to ” lead me to the conclusion that you aren’t 100% sure, which is fine. My question to you is, who says we can’t be in the “limelight?” And to be clear, my definition of limelight isn’t garnering press for yourself while also representing a client, rather garnering credibility for the outstanding work performed in the process. There are many influential PR professionals who currently do this and it wins them more business because their reputation precedes them. I see this as a growing trend for 2012 and beyond as the PR industry continues to grow. 2) The press release is definitely on it’s last leg but not dead yet as much as most would like it to be. You raise an interesting point though with the ability to measure the activities of anyone in the digital age – it just seems that no one has built a platform for the PR..." - Trace

"I agree that it's the tangibility aspect that really hurts PR, no matter how we try to define it. And the worst part of PR is when your client thinks they can do it better than you because they got one mention of coverage all by themselves. That's not PR!" - Trace

"No one knows what PR is because no one in PR ever gets credit for what they do outside of the PR world. And by credit I mean, the news releases we write, the crisis' we avert, the strategies we devise and the coverage we get. Why would anyone know what PR is outside of PR? My parents did PR for 30+ years and until I started to work in PR, I had no idea what they did. Do you really know what most other jobs do, aside from the actual title, do you know what your friends actually do on a day to day basis?PR's identify crisis doesn't stem from the fact that no one really knows what we do but from the fact that we do so much and increasing every day. Most people think PR is making an announcement and hounding writers to cover us - this is a negative connotation that will hound us until PR actually becomes public knowledge. My prediction for 2012 is that PR will start getting more PR for the PR we do. We will step out from behind the shadows, get bylines and credit for the work we do...." - Trace

"It's not the journalists fault that the companies they work for have broken business models that rely on ad impressions, which in turn forces them to churn out numerous stories a day. Unfortunately they are the ones that pay for it. PR professionals are trying to help them do their job better by giving them new stories that they can cover - yes, not all of them are news worthy but still enough that they can hit their deadlines. For the lack of coverage though, PR is starting to move into the content creation and social media / community management role in order to increase our reach and go directly to the consumer. And with so many journalists being fired and going into PR, we now have 4 PR professionals for every journalist." - Trace