I Knew That Fail Whale Looked Devious....

Nothing has quite fired me up more than when I checked my Google Reader the other day, only to find that in my “MediaBistro: PRNewser” feed was an article with this offending question “Do We Need PR Anymore Now That We Have Social Media?” If I wasn’t going to sound crazy at work in my little cubicle, I probably would have jumped up and yelled, “UM, YES?????”

I calmed myself a little bit when I realized that the article was sparked from a panel discussion called "Is Social Media Killing PR?" which recently took place at The Horn Group to address the issue of social media and PR’s relationship.

The event was inspired by the growing number of blogs questioning the necessity of PR in this time of a social media boom. As the Horn Group described the event in an online invitation:

“Jason Calacanis thinks you should fire your PR agency. Robert Scoble thinks you should ignore it. Michael Arrington says PR is "broken." Jeremiah Owyang sees value in it, but has challenged PR people and their critics "to engage in a head on discussion".”

Possibly feeling the same sense of fiery objection that I did, Girls in Tech and The Horn Group got together, gathered a panel, and decided to tackle this issue head on against critics of PR and with advocates of the profession (you can catch a liveblog of the event HERE).

A great point brought up is the fact that social media is a TOOL. Public relations is so much more than that. In public relations, we use every communication tool at our disposal to get a message out to the public. We have strategy, we have tactics, and we have contacts that ordinary people may not have the access to.

There is one way I feel that social media could threaten public relations: if as professionals, we ignore its importance as a tool and do not make the effort to learn how to use it in the right way. Already though, agencies are working to understand the growing medium to its fullest.

Padilla Speer Beardsley, for instance, has created a team of social media experts within the agency called the SMERF team (Social Media Elite Response Force). The team holds frequent meetings to share new social media findings, and to educate those in the agency who wish to learn more about different types of social media. In the crunch of a new client pitch, the team can be called upon to generate ideas and help others understand the medium. In December, the group plans to hold a Social Media Boot Camp, so that all who wish to become proficient with this tool, can. (I get to give a speech about Twitter…. I love my job).

If agencies keep up to date on this medium, then I see no reason why we can not coexist peacefully, despite the grumblings of Jason Calacanis and others. Social media is another tool for strategic communications to use to spread a message. In the end, what really matters is that you have a good message that people are willing to listen to and take seriously. Kara Swisher of the Wall Street Journal’s “All Things D” said it best at the end of the panel discussion:

“What's important is that you're representing a company that genuinely has a good product. You cannot (do) PR (on) a crappy product and it doesn't matter how many press releases you get on a website. All that really matters is that you have a really good product. I don't remember the last time I picked up the phone and went ‘Oh my God, it's a communication tool...’ Focus on the product!”