Deirdre Breakenridge recently posted in her blog the article 'Are You a PR 2.0 Champion?' which created a space for me to reflect upon my own journey in learning about social media and its impact on communications and 'new' PR.
Essentially, she says that because of the way technology and social networking are transforming the art of communication and redefining relationships, the new PR practitioner needs to be a social media expert, a market analyst/expert and also a conversationalist and listener. These I agree and buy into, and you can read more about my thoughts on these issues on 'The Fall of Communication and the Rise of Dialogue in the Web 2.0 Era - Part 3.'
Deirdre also states that the new PR practitioner must also be a web marketer, customer service representative, a relationship marketer and a viral marketer. It is really a convergence of responsibilities brought about by the more intimate conversations with our customers (D2C) due to the blurring of lines between social networking, PR, marketing, all fueled by the push of technology.
How do you know if you are ready to champion for a change to the way we communicate?
Deirdre provides a checklist. Do you:
- actively listen and engage in social networks?
- try new technologies as they’re introduced (set up new profiles and test various social networking communities)?
- have RSS feeds, and use social media tools including widgets, wikis, podcasts and streaming video?
- have a list of favorite bloggers and also comment on their blogs?
- share interesting blog posts and other news/information with members or your social networking communities?
- blog?
- ask questions so that you better understand social media and also answering questions to help your fellow peers?
- share valuable information to help people to make decisions?
So how did you fare?
For me, I must say that I’m able to put in an unequivocal ‘yes’ to most of the questions, Though I should qualify that the level and degree of involvement in each question are a different matter altogether.
I consider myself new to the social media scene and it’s been such a massive challenge trying to build an understanding from scratch. Oftentimes I feel like a fish out of the water, or one trying to swim upstream.
I’ve a traditional PR background back where I came from, and yes, that includes a heavy emphasis on media relations, speech writing, event management and those kinds of things. And I didn’t really start engaging with social networking until I came to the U.S. for studies because it was my colleagues who urged me to join their Facebook group to keep in touch.
While I didn’t baulk at the idea, it certainly took me a while to get warmed up to it. A few weeks into it, I remember a friend who wrote me on FB asking me what sort of a Facebook account is it without a face… how I’ve grown roots in it since then.
Today, I’m also maintaining a presence on Twitter (and learning how to be a productive tweeter without spamming others!!!), Flickr, LinkedIn, and many other platforms.
We must be prepared to learn and re-learn if we go down the new PR track. It must be a brand new mindset with an attitude towards openness and preparedness for dialogue and community participation.
With the way the Web and social networking applications are growing today, nothing less will do!
I’m glad I stepped in to learn and get engaged already. I think I am a champion for productive and gradual change.
What about you?