A blog by name of Occam’s RazR, written by blogger Ike Piggot, created the Venn diagram at right. Although the article is more about PR and how it easily slides into new territory when its goals overlap, my main concern is with the green “transparent…

There’s a reason why the top publications public relations people aren’t household names. Their job is to make things happen, not to make the news.
Does that apply on blogs and podcasts, too? Are we supposed to be facilitators, or movers an…

Your idea about being “a resource instead of a mouthpiece” actually fits within my graph. Your wanting to be a resource connecting the client with its clientèle fits too. I think you’ll see the best cases of this at work within the Cyan Zone, where the customer evangelist niche resides.

I still hold to the original point, which is conversation works one-to-one - but we’re failing to account for the differences in behavior when that “one” is part of a group or a community. Individuals use a different form of reasoning from the safety and security of their mobs - and they are quick to distrust the outsider, particularly one who wants to sell them something.

As for the Second Life rejection of PR, I want to correct your perception a bit. PRs were not rejected out of hand, only ones that made spurious claims (we were the first to XYZ) and didn’t apologize for those claims. For instance, as an avowed PR person, I was always welcome in SL. So, it was more of an individual problem. Same goes for Wikipedia, it was the actions of one person that caused the total backlash. I have found that many Wikipedians were happy to work with me on my concerns.

In the end, groupthink is always a concern, not just for PRs, but also in other contexts, firememes for example that spread discontent for a particular person or company. I hardly think that it is reserved just for PR.

The larger issue is how does “PR” stand on all three pillars it holds so dear? Communities are rejecting PR reflexively with no opportunity to demonstrate good citizenship.

At some point, we may have to recognize that certain groups are genetically allergic to the idea of being spun or manipulated. If “PR” can’t quantify and define those specific indicators and attributes, then it is less science, more alchemy, and far less convincing about the value of its metrics.

If PR folks don’t fit into a particular social media milieu, maybe they can equip others who can perform that role as a more natural part of their job.

Just because public relations person CAN do something, doesn’t mean they’re the right one for that particular function.