Stop Reading PR Blogs

October 7th, 2009 | Author: Parker Mason

Earlier this year, I suggested that PR students wanting to get involved in the online world should avoid starting a PR-focused blog.

Now, I’m going to suggest that we all stop even reading PR blogs. They aren’t that representative of the real world—the wilds of the internet.

Rather than focusing on how this tightly knit community (I believe David Jones referred to it as a “circle-jerk” on Inside PR) does things and communicates, why not spend that time getting more involved in understanding the way actual people use the internet?

Learn how your clients’ audiences look for things online. Learn about what they’re interested in. Become passionate about what they are passionate about, or at least try and understand their passion.

I’m willing to bet that most of you don’t spend your evenings re-reading your old PR textbooks (nor do you buy the latest version every year), but that you probably do browse your region’s daily newspapers on a regular basis.

Do you have any idea how few people care about RSS feeds? How many of your friends (outside of those involved in the communications industry) actually care about Twitter or even understand what it does?

Forget case studies. Forget best practices. When is the last time you did something truly new and interesting?

-Parker

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Posted in CPRS, Careers, Communications, Getting Started, Marketing, News, Online, Social Media, Technology | Tags: circle-jerk, Communications, Public Relations, RSS, students, Twitter

2 Tweets 3 Other Comments

• BlogCampaigning:

  October 7, 2009 at 1:15 pm

  Stop Reading PR Blogs http://bit.ly/3GQSA

  This comment was originally posted on Twitter
• MarkoMinka:

  October 8, 2009 at 6:37 am

  Stop Reading PR Blogs http://cli.gs/HXVMzb There is a hint of true behind this slightly exaggerated headline.

  This comment was originally posted on Twitter
• Amanda:

  October 8, 2009 at 8:38 pm

  Sage advice, Parker. I’ve had my fill of the naval gazing. Over the course of this year I have found that instead of reading all of the posts in the “PR” folder of my Reader, I am referring to blogs when I am looking for best practices, guidance or advice. Instead I find myself reading blogs about my interests outside of communications, which actually helps me do my job better than a bunch of self congratulatory blog posts about social media and PR.
• Jess Bennett:

  October 9, 2009 at 12:29 pm

  Hi Parker,

  Thanks for this post. It’s a ballsy one, but I think you hit the nail on the head. I’ve noticed that a lot of my favourite social media and public relations blogs have had dwindling content for the past couple of months. Perhaps the novelty of these dialogues has worn off somewhat or we’ve reached the tipping point where there is little left to be said.

  I believe you mentioned this in your presentation at the Canadian Institute: that dialogue needs to be replaced by action.

  Communications people talking to communications people can only last for so long. Eventually we have to step outside the bubble (or ‘circle jerk’ as DJ says) and engage with the community at large.

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