Redefining Public Relations

Apparently it’s time for all of us PR people to rewrite our job descriptions. According to a recent New York Times article, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is on a kick to develop a new definition for “public relations.” They’re kicking off a broad-based effort—with a campaign name and logo—seeking comments from the public, practitioners, teachers and students.So naturally, I wanted to know exactly how the PRSA defines public relations.

Here’s their definition:

“Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.”

Ouch! That’s a cocktail party conversation-stopper. Maybe they do need a new definition.

What is PR?

We’ve all heard PR referred to as “spin” and its practitioners called “spin doctors.” This isn’t how I describe PR nor how I describe what I do. I’ve always described PR as a way to help a client share its many stories with the world (its customers, employees, and stakeholders). PR people do this through developing and sharing information and building relationships with the media and others who are in a position to further share our client stories.

The PR process has changed

I think the point the PRSA is really trying to make is that given the changes in technology and communication (read, the onslaught of social media), the process of PR has changed.

I’ll give them that much. No longer are we PR people working to develop relationships (on behalf of the client) with the media alone. And no longer are the media the only ones capable of publishing news about our clients.

With blogs, FaceBook, Twitter and more out there, everyone is a publisher. And everyone, therefore, is capable of talking about our clients on these platforms.

The PR challenges: Old or new?

One of the biggest perceived PR challenges presented by social media is the loss of control over the client’s message. Communication on social media channels is instantaneous and a small misstep can quickly become a wildfire out of control. We’ve seen many companies suffer from failing to deal with these wildfires effectively.

But did we PR professionals really have total control over the message before social media? Not really. You can do your best to provide clear and accurate information to a reporter. You can school your client ‘til the cows come home on how to do an interview. But once your client talks to the media, what that reporter is going to do with your story is anybody’s guess. You hope it will be the wonderfully favorable story you were after. But reporters make mistakes. Clients can give poor interviews. None of that is totally in your control.

So this notion that social media somehow results in a loss of control over the message isn’t totally accurate. Social media just enables the message to spread further and faster than ever before. The real PR challenge is dealing with a “message-gone-bad” quickly.

Is it really time for a new PR definition?

The PRSA expects to unveil a new definition for public relations by the end of the year. It will be interesting to see the result. While they continue in this quest for a new definition, I’ll stick with my own for now, thank you very much. And I offer that social media hasn’t changed what PR is, it merely has given us new tools (and challenges) when doing our jobs. It’s up to us to embrace these tools and technologies so we can make good use of them on behalf of our clients.