CommLog

There's an interesting conversation about PR and new media going on in the blogosphere right now. First read this by David Weinberger (one of the Cluetrain authors). Among his points:

Now I think PR is entering a phase where it sees itself as helping companies with their public relationships. ("Public Relationships — Adding hips to public relations"?) I first heard this term at EdelmanPR (disclosure: to whom I'm a consultant), but I don't know who coined it. I find the phrase useful because it asserts a connection to traditional PR while pointing to a new dominant possibility. It implies, in line with Tim's thinking, that PR needs to get out of the intermediation business. It means that more voices have to be allowed to speak from within the corporation, since relationships based on a committee-produced controlled voice will fail. It explains why blogs are such a useful tool: They are public relationships. It assumes there's persistence to the relationship, not merely press releases thrown in our faces whenever the company has some new crap to flog. It assumes mutuality. It relies on the relationships being based on frankness and transparency.

I heard him make this point at the PR Seminar, and at the time it seemed to strike many of the PR folks there as an insight. David's post (and you should go read the whole thing) was prompted by this post on "The New Public Relations" by Tim Bray, which also prompted a critical post from Chris Edwards. Follow those links, too. The points about PR are worth reading, and they illustrate how blogs are conversations as well.