PRSA doesn’t get social media, or the web for that matter

By Len Gutman on August 18th, 2008 In Social Media

PRSA LogoAs a member of PRSA I received my copy of the Summer 2008 issue of The Public Relations Strategist in the mail this weekend — I’d link to the magazine on the Web but, well, it’s not there — and that’s my point.

I really wanted to share the article “Take the Groundswell Technology Test: Tools for Building Relationships” with you as we’ve mentioned Forrester Research guru Charlene Li many times on this blog. The article discusses several key points about not “how” we use Facebook, Twitter and the like for PR, but “why.” Bottom line, it’s relationships stupid.

But back to PRSA. It doesn’t gain anything by keeping these articles behind the members-only firewall. In fact, it is missing a great opportunity to showcase itself through social media — the very freaking thing this particular article suggests is the new wave of public relations itself. Oh the irony. I’m tempted to scan the article and post it as a PDF just to make a point.

I know the venerable old guard will come back and tell us they do put a sampling of their articles on the Web. OK, so the magazine came out this weekend — where’s the dang article? This is 2008 not 1994. Posting articles on the Web should be part of the publishing process not something to get to in a few days or weeks. Or perhaps they’ll whine they don’t have the “resources” to do this because they are, after all, a not-for-profit. Bullshit I say. Stop publishing that old-school Tactics newsrag and spend some energy on joining this century. The PRSA Web site is an embarrassment to the profession in terms of style and content. No social media strategy, no blogs, not even any discussion boards as far as I can tell. Is the site DOS-based?

Oh, nevermind, they do have “affinity groups.” Wasn’t that popular in the 1960s?

I sure hope PRSA reads this and lets us know they are in the process of a major Web re-design and overhaul. I’m not bitching about the content guys, just the delivery.

PRSA doesn’t get social media, or the web for that matter

Comments

Laurie Perez Says:
August 18th, 2008 at 9:16 am

The weakness of their site underscores the brilliance of the Valley PR Blog. Keep shining :)

Felice Says:
August 18th, 2008 at 11:09 am

Look for state-of-the-art upgrades to prsa.org and phoenixprsa.org next year.

Felice Says:
August 18th, 2008 at 11:10 am

P.S. Hopefully the upgrades will be as savvy as Valley PR Blog. :-)

Wake-up call for “DOS-based’ PRSA « Says:
August 18th, 2008 at 11:13 am

[...] here is the full post –I mean rant. [...]

IABC member calls out PRSA on social media » Hoipolloi Report Says:
August 18th, 2008 at 11:22 am

[...] Read his full post. [...]

Richard K. Says:
August 18th, 2008 at 2:16 pm

Next year?

Imagine if the Olympics said we’ll have the scores next year? Or we’ll know who’s president next year.

One aspect of public relations is dealing with the media. The media deals in immediacy. Read “Deadline Every Minute: The Story of the United Press” I know – what is United Press, but most of my friends worked for them at one time.

Arthur Yann Says:
August 19th, 2008 at 10:03 am

You make some excellent points. The good news is that PRSA understands it must do a better job of using social media to engage and build relationships with its members and industry observers. Our 2008 – 2010 strategic plan acknowledges as much, by calling for “generating dialogue on critical issues through social media channels.” Accordingly, we have begun to dip our toes into a few 2.0 technologies, and several others (beyond blogs)being discussed, as well. Oh, and we’re redesigning our Web site, too. Suggestions, of course, are always welcome. Cheers!

(Arthur Yann is vice president of public relations for PRSA.)

Felice Says:
August 20th, 2008 at 10:41 am

Hello Arthur,

Congratulations on your new position with PRSA, and thank you for your quick response to valleyprblog.com. It is most appreciated.

Felice Appell, APR
President, PRSA Phoenix

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