Public Relations: PR pros are not getting social media?

Seems to Chris Clarke (Blog Herald) and seems to me too.

Here are Chris reasons:

...most PR practitioners don’t have time to learn new things. This is probably true of every industry: you’re so busy trying to catch up on yesterday’s work that you can’t even begin to think about what tomorrow will bring. It’s no different for PR, as we’re talking about an industry that hasn’t changed a whole lot historically.

Another reason PR professionals aren’t catching on with social media: nobody is teaching them! Personally, this is my biggest issue. Working in my office, everyone is expected to “get it” but nobody takes the time to teach anyone what “it” is. No matter how much everyone else talks about, unless you sit down with some people and show them exactly what this Technorati thing is, or how to sign up for a del.icio.us or Bloglines account, they will never even begin to understand what everyone is talking about.

At least I am teaching my students in PR what Technorati, Bloglines, Flickr and a Wiki work.

What I think it could help (and I am doing focus on that) is a handbook of the web 2.0. Yep! PR pros could spend hours learning from colleagues what they can get by using interesting aplications and try to leverage them for PR purposes.

A handbook? You may ask. Why if everything is in the internet? I'll say yes, because even user-friendly gadgets need a users manual.

Because it is not only posting contents in a blog or uploading videos that people will reach them... It will be a combination of elements that include technical knowledge and PR experience.

Tags: PR, RRPP, Public Relations, Relaciones Públicas, Comunicación Corporativa, Corporate Communications