Never has a version number incited such an emotional response from both extremes. We began to see this with the popularization of "web 2.0," people embracing it wholly and without thought, and others denouncing it for being pure hype. Now that the 2.0 suffix has been applied to PR, the praise and vitriol begin flowing once again.
Stuart Bruce chides Weber Shandwick for jumping on the PR 2.0 bandwagon, in his blog "A PR Guru’s Musings," saying:
However, after getting noticed I then always point out what a stupid idea PR 2.0 is. This whole PR 2.0 or ‘New PR’ is such a pile of garbage. What I’m doing is simply an evolution of what I’ve always done.
Fair enough – he’s right. Online PR, new media PR, social media PR are just extensions of what we’ve all been doing for years – at least to some degree.
However, while the profession hasn’t changed, the public has. The internet changed things when it began to become popular near the end of the 90s – what we’re seeing with the new social media trends is a next step in that evolution; a jump from where we were to a society of publishers, and a new set of rules.
With respect to Stuart, who, from what I’ve read is an extremely intelligent guy, the new PR, PR 2.0, or magic internet public relations – whatever you want to call it – is important, and is something that needs to be differentiated. It’s always going to bear resemblances to the original, but the 2.0 suffix isn’t about a sequel, it’s about an evolution – it’s about adapting to the social environment which has been carved out by the proliferation of technology, and understanding the new rules of the game.
Pitching bloggers IS different than pitching media. Social networks ARE different from real-life networks. Fail to recognize this, and you’re not going to be effective as a PR person… and that’s something that gets truer every day.
Yes, PR 2.0 is a buzzword, and it should be treated as such – to throw out everything we know about the profession and to dive naked into the new media pool would be stupid. But we also can’t ignore the importance of the distinction.
Soon, PR 2.0 will just be PR… but for now, it’s way of calling attention to the disparity between the old guard of PR pros who are still stuck in an old media frame of mind and the more tech-savvy crowd who understands the importance of online tools beyond Google.
