Comments on: Online public relations: evolution or revolution?

By: Consultancy and technology : Behind the Spin

Consultancy and technology : Behind the Spin — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:39:10 +0000

[...] Two new books explore the impact of social media on PR practice: we’ve reviewed them both. [...]

By: Rob Brown

Rob Brown — Mon, 18 May 2009 12:02:57 +0000

I greatly appreciated the review. The challenge on whether to cover the things that will date is a real one, but I was motivated by constant requests for practical information – so I decided that it was right to give practical help as far as I was able and within the constraints of the medium. I have no doubt that my book will date and so it should given the subject matter. What has surprised me is that so much of it – even the practical stuff (and I began writing over a year ago) remains so current.

By: Richard Bailey

Richard Bailey — Fri, 15 May 2009 08:06:10 +0000

Thanks for redressing the balance, Craig. I was thinking that perhaps 95% of students (and indeed practitioners and clients) will find Rob’s book the more accessible. Perhaps I should have made this more explicit.

By: Craig McGill

Craig McGill — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:54:21 +0000

I think you’re being a bit harsh on Rob’s book. I’ve been working a review of it and I think he’s written a book that’s perfect for the 95% of PR operators and clients out there who don’t understand the social media dimension – and while it may date quickly, I believe Online Public Relations will as well due to the nature of the beast at the moment.

By: Pinnacle PR blog | Here today, gone tomorrow

Pinnacle PR blog | Here today, gone tomorrow — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:53:45 +0000

[...] here’s a useful review of two of the latest offerings on slices of dead [...]

By: David Phillips

David Phillips — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:24:56 +0000

As always, so kind. Thank you.

By: Richard Bailey

Richard Bailey — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:52:05 +0000

I applaud you for limiting discussion on tools (this is better done online) and for focusing on the abstractions: concepts and theories.

I’ll be using Online Public Relations as a core text when teaching corporate communication and PR planning, not just online PR and social media.

I’m confident you’ve produced a book that will stand the test of time (though I can’t see ten years ahead) and will give us ideas and discussion points for years to come.

By: David Phillips

David Phillips — Thu, 14 May 2009 10:09:26 +0000

Richard you are very kind and thank you. Perhaps we were, as you say, suckered by the Wispa campaign but the nature of online transparency will tell all in due course.

I am delighted that Rob’s book came out at the same time (almost) I think they are a companion set. We just could not deal in depth with something like Google Alerts as he could partly because, with a decade between editions, we did want to present theory that would last. This limited the extent we could examine practice extant.

Evolution or revolution in PR practice? If the former then at the speed of a billion people online where a high proportion are actively involved in making the revolution happening.

All the way through writing the book, we were constrained and wanted to write an even more serious (but much longer) text. Your name kept coming up in our discourse as we did so.

There is so much that is missing. The thinking of Yochai Benkler should have a place in the PR syllabus as should the work of Jonathan Zittran on Network Neutrality. Dutton’s (2009) The Fifth Estate Emerging through the Network of Networks surely is a ‘must read’ for PR students. There is so much we just could not include.

From a personal perspective, writing this book brought home to me the need for first and second degree Online Public Relations courses to meet the needs of the PR industry. There is also a need for more research. As a practitioner, I am very well aware of the need for senior consultants to advise board rooms who have a grounded as well as a practice perspective.

I am not sure if there is a University bold enough to do this in the UK and do not see any significant representations from CIPR/PRCA demanding such capabilities.

Thank you for an excellent review.

By: Richard Bailey

Richard Bailey — Wed, 13 May 2009 18:01:18 +0000

Excellent – astonishing, even – book, Philip. There are a few things that didn’t make it into the over-long review above: I think you’ve been suckered by the Cadbury’s Wispa campaign. Surely this was a good old-fashioned publicity stunt (rather than a genuine reaction to the groundswell of public opinion). Think Sainsbury’s Cake-inspired renaming of pollack as colin (though this operated through the traditional media rather than through social media).

By: Philip

Philip — Wed, 13 May 2009 17:31:56 +0000

Thanks, Richard, for such a perceptive review. As someone who has long struggled with the Whig/Grunig view of PR I am a little surprised to be identified with a counter-factual view that parallels the two-way symmetrical model! Unfortunately, though, I think you are probably right, or at least on the right lines…