PRSA blog slam too tough on association intent

By on January 27th, 2009 In Social Media

prsay

I’m never one to shy away from slamming the “establishment,” but unlike 123SocialMedia President Barry Hurd I try to wait for a valid reason. Hurd slams PRSA at Ragan.com today for launching a blog when it already has multiple social media avenues to reach its membership. Under the headline “Is the PR industry killing itself?” Hurd writes:

“Can’t we just agree the 15,000 communication professionals there [MyRagan.com] already tackled that beast? or what about the 471 different public relations groups on Linkedin, where the largest group is over 25,000 strong?”

I don’t think PRSA is trying to “own” the conversation as Hurd asserts. I think it is simply trying to offer a new avenue for members to have conversations with PRSA leadership. Admittedly PRSA should have done this a few years ago, but better late than never and frankly it’s a pretty nice blog — visit it yourself at http://prsay.prsa.org/.

I don’t know about Hurd, but I’m still out here trying to convince businesses to blog AND establish a presence on Facebook, Twitter, etc. if appropriate for the business. I believe the best use of social media comes from a combination of various outlets. I’m not sure I’d pay 123SocialMedia for their misguided advice if Hurd’s approach is typical. He even gets nasty toward the end of his diatribe, lecturing PRSA to:

“Learn faster. Don’t fluff things. Join the conversation. Don’t try to own it. Accept your faults. Learn from your mistakes. Don’t claim to be an expert, be wise enough to know when you are not.”

Hurd’s logic runs counter to mine. I agree no one entity can own a conversation, but that’s precisely why we should all grab a piece. Valley PR Blog doesn’t claim to own the conversation about PR — we’ve just tried to carve out a piece of the conversation, in particular the piece that’s relevant to PR folks in Arizona. And I don’t see where PRSA is trying to own the national PR conversation just by launching a blog. In fact, I think there are things only a sanctioned PRSA blog can offer the PR community. So I’m looking forward to joining the conversation on PRSAY.

Comments

Barry Hurd Says:
January 27th, 2009 at 3:10 pm

Len,

Love the commentary and conversation.

If you don’t feel that publishing a press release with a 404 link error to the client site claiming to be leading PR in social media, I’ll ask the simple question:

**Would you expect to keep a client if you sent out a release that had multiple technical issues that are 100% contrary to the press release?

I wouldn’t. In fact I would be waiting for a cancellation letter from the client the next morning.

I actually recommend that most companies have multiple points of presence online. I advise them to present themselves without making claims, especially when acting as leaders in an industry.

Having watched the PR industry evolve in this niche, I don’t think it is particularly nasty to critique a press release claiming to be “leading the charge” when it is really at the end of the rally.

Having multiple errors in a singular press release was the spark that ignited a powder keg.

As a supporter of social media, I feel obligated to protect users from following such claims. I would like to see as many PR professionals make it through the communication evolution without making such mistakes themselves.

~Barry Hurd

Len Gutman Says:
January 27th, 2009 at 3:28 pm

Barry,

Obviously I agree that having the 404 error was a mistake, but the gist of your post on Ragan was not about errors but about why PRSA is too late to the dance and shouldn’t have bothered launching a blog. At least that’s what I got out of your comments.

If you really wanted to bitch you might have mentioned they only have two measly posts since launching! ;)

Len

Barry Hurd Says:
January 27th, 2009 at 4:04 pm

I could add that to the list of errors… but that is just it:

It ended up being a list of errors. I didn’t feel like sitting down at the computer and writing an essay on PRSA social media mistakes.

I would actually say that the largest error is failing to have a cohesive strategy. Twitter, YouTube, Blogs, Facebook, Linkedin, etc, etc…

Too many ingredients without a head chef to make something masterful of it.

Most of the conversation was off MyRagan on twitter and some other blogs. MyRagan picked up the story a few days later.

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