The Case for PR – It’s been a tough week+ for the public relations profession (Toyota). Heck, if you are a member of PRSA it seems they believe it has been a tough year/decade. It inspired the industry organization to launch the initiative ‘The Business Case for PR’ with the goal of driving industry recognition and growth by helping professionals in the field educate key audiences about public relations’ roles and outcomes, demonstrate its strategic value and enhance its reputation.
I find myself defending my profession daily. Ironically, about as much as I found myself defending my previous profession of journalism. Whether it is because of bad apples in our industry (like all industries, we have them), or misunderstanding of the role of public relations – especially in the constantly evolving communication realm. And now it is defense against the comparison between PR spam and STDs (yes – they went there in An Inconvenient PR Truth)
What’s been heartening to see is the rallying of professionals around each other – and their livelihood – and self-policing in a way to keep the integrity of our industry. The latest effort is by PR Practitioner Jules Zunich, who does a fabulous job on her blog showcasing other so-called ‘PR rescue efforts’ as she launches her own initiative – the PR Road Show. Check out her blog for some though-provoking posts and join the LinkedIn group.
10 Elements of Style for Blog Writing – My Strunk&White still sits on my bookshelf, although I gravitate towards my AP Stylebook quite a bit more. Nonetheless, writing guidelines are living documents and as such must be updated with the times. Thanks to Marko Saric for being inspired by Strunk and White to create the 10 Elements of Style for Blog Writing. (The mantra of omitting needless words will be in my head!)
RSS Distractions I could be kept distracted all day by the RSS feeds from ReadWriteWeb, Mashable and Download Squad – but I’m trying to wean my addiction. I’ll keep my Make the Jump recommendations to a minimum!
Via ReadWriteWeb an updated list of leading topic tracking tools for the web. Relevancy is key in our field and the ability to track trends and issues is paramount. I’ve only utilized a few on this list from each category but look forward to kicking the tires on a few more. If you have any feedback on any of them share the love.
A new option to break out of the silo via the constantly probing minds at Download Squad. SiloBreaker – which pulls from news sources, blogs, and multimedia sites to put together a hub of related posts and articles for any given story…. in categories such as Global Issues, Technology, Science, Business, Energy, and World. If real-time search has your head spinning and your industry is concerned with any of the above issues – SiloBreaker may be worth checking out.
Via Mashable the latest move by the growing force that is FourSquare. Admittedly like my relationship with Twitter, it took a bit to get on board (joined Twitter Spring ’08, FourSquare Winter ’10). But I’m intrigued by the location-based social app and it’s potential impact on travel/tourism/economic development/media, etc. It’s becoming a major player in many markets and a game changer for how people experience destinations and their home town. (And somehow it doesn’t feel as ‘stalker tool-like’ as BrightKite)
– Jess
PR Musings 