PR and the Blogosphere: What’s Going On?

I’d like to follow up on Steve’s post from a few days ago with my own thoughts on the relationship between public relations and the blogosphere.

I’ve done a number of public relations internships over the past few years. I know from experience that it’s a tough field where the difference between survival and annihilation often lies in the turn of a phrase. I have come away from each experience with tremendous respect for the guts, hard work, nerve and creative thinking that it takes to make a career in PR.

That said, public relations as an industry has not yet fully embraced the change that the blogosphere represents. Two examples from my own experience illustrate the general cluelessness that some in the PR world continue to exhibit when it comes to the blogosphere:

One team couldn’t see how it was a problem that the number one Google result for their client was a blog that was spreading blatant inaccuracies and posting leaked internal documents.

Another team attempted to pitch stories to bloggers the same way that they pitched them to traditional journalists. When they met with no response from the bloggers, they didn’t rethink their strategies. They just kept trying the same things over and over again.

It’s really no wonder that in an industry so challenging, some would be slow to deal with change. Most PR folks have enough stressful things going on in their daily work without paying attention the blogosphere. But those firms who have been smelling the proverbial cheese and recognizing impending changes have managed to stay ahead of the curve. This may well be what separates the PR firms that sink from those that swim.