For my money, the answer is ‘true’ but the changes are not those which most of the people working in PR expected. I’d go further and say that many PR professionals have yet to understand the real nature of the change.

Four or five years ago, the Internet seemed to pose a threat to PR people who were cast as the estate agents of the communications world – charging a fat fee but not always adding obvious value. If you cast your mind back to those heady days, the Internet was expected to ‘disintermediate’ almost everyone – in other words eliminate the middleman. And what are PR people if not charming middle people, armed with free drinks, pleasant smiles and a nice line in small talk?

But PR people are still with us, hanging on in there alongside all the estate agents and other dodgy professions like them. The Internet has had surprisingly little impact on the relationships that PR people enjoy with journalists. True, it’s now possible to do some smart things like deliver PR photography electronically straight to news desks, but most editorial coverage is still generated by human to human, (rather than Web site to journalist) interaction.

In any case, we’re living in an anti-information era. We spend our time complaining about too many emails to absorb, too many memos to read, too much background reading to get through. The old-fashioned ‘more information to more people for less money’ proposition no longer washes. PR people are learning from their colleagues in advertising who have already begun to realise the difficulties of operating in a world that is jaded with information-overload.

Looked at in 2001, the potential role of the Internet in PR is different. Of course it provides an effective, cheap way to disseminate lots more news to lots more people but, more than ever, you will need cunning PR people to develop and spin the stories before you go off and squirt them all over the planet.

Where the Internet is beginning to exert a real influence, though, is in terms of the relationship between PR people and the businesses they serve – whether that relationship is between a PR agency and its client or between the in-house PR team and the rest of their organisation.

PR has often been treated as something of a black art, its practitioners left to their own devices to carry on their curious business. The Internet offers the opportunity to de-mystify PR and make sure that it’s firmly aligned with the goals of the business, rather than purely the self-interests of PR people.

Am I cynical about the value of PR? Not at all. PR is a tremendously powerful and cost effective weapon in the marketeer’s armoury. But I am sceptical as to whether sufficient effort is spent aligning the goals of PR with those of the business and I’m convinced PR can be conducted more effectively.

Consider, for a moment, the emergence of Internet-based collaborative workflow technology. Once upon a time, developing PR materials represented a logistical headache, and PR people spent too much of their time chasing paper and sending different versions of a document backwards and forwards for approval. Now, a document can be posted to the Internet once with others involved in the approval process reviewing and editing online.

The element of paper pushing is banished forever, and this ought to free PR people up for their real job of developing compelling stories and messages – rather than drowning in paperwork.

The Internet can introduce more systematic work processes. PR does not generally worry its head about audit trails, but a professional business demands that people are accountable for their mistakes and, more importantly, that the organisation can learn from those mistakes and absorb their lessons within the corporate memory.

The most significant impact that the Internet will have is that a company’s PR knowledge base can be transferred from the heads of people and put online. This PR knowledge base is actually an enormous corporate asset and ought to be both better protected and made more easily available.

This process is only just beginning. The technology to enable this change is only just emerging, and many PR companies are yet to grapple with all the new opportunities. Some will inevitably miss the boat while their competitors realise the new capabilities and use that insight to strengthen their market position.

The PR business, in short, is a sector where smart deployment of Internet technology has the potential to deliver massive advantage to agency and client alike.

Roderick Banner
CEO
Banner Coroporation Plc
http://www.b1.com

I may have caught this one a little late, so hopefully my input will still be of some value.
I agree with a lot of your points Roderick, and perhaps your view how and why PRs conduct themselves is valid. I think you could have added at least another 10 to your list of dodgy professions. My take is on the subject is great people do great work, and it is as simple as that. Performance/results based fees are one sure way of really demonstrating how effective PR can be. It's the way we work and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

To answer your question, the Internet changed PR a 'very' long time ago. The Internet has changed communications full stop, without question. Communications are now predominately technology driven, and the quicker communications professionals understand this the better. In doing so, the easier we will find it to research, collate and disseminate relevant and targeted useful information and data.

To dismiss distribution services is premature and a little short sighted. If used correctly they have their place within the right strategy and can support / enhance a campaign and/or promotion. When I use these services I am definitely thinking long-term and about the audience and recipients, 'not' the scatter gun approach. I always target specific and relevant media first and believe that exclusives are key.

There will always be a requirement for PR professionals, it's just that their role has changed and will continue to do so. If they are not online and interacting with media professionals as well the clients target audiences, they are failing. Chat rooms, forums, newsgroups and even Weblogs all mediums that all communication professionals should have an interest within.

I recommend that organisations always consider the following, and for each release, aiming to create a mini-strategy with timelines. Each press release is different, so they should be treated as such.

Look to:

- Target your press release
- Use relationships that you may have and liaise with known contacts and offer exclusives offline if possible
- After your offline exclusives have achieved coverage look to take the news online
- Timing is crucial to make off and online integration seamless, so consider using embargoes with resources that you know will hold and then publish your news at the same time [or near enough] as it hits offline resources
- In doing this ensure that you identify those resources that turns around solid newsworthy press releases quickly

As discussed in the post in another forum, the following will make a huge difference with the product/service you elect to use.

Consider:

- Whether the story is consumer, trade, business, technology - or a combination of these
- The nature of the press release
- How you intend to communicate with offline media, and then integrate it online as the story breaks
- How you are going track and measure the success of the release
- How you are going to open and maintain relationships

If you think about using a 'paid' distribution service, do your research thoroughly. Some are not what they appear and don't bring back desired results. Ideally you need to pick a service that feeds its information into resources that used by newswires like Ananova http://www.ananova.com, NewsNow http://www.newsnow.co.uk, Moreover http://moreover.com etc. Some you can interact directly with [Ananova], others you need to place online PR within other resources before it is picked up by the newswires and distribution services do just this.

Look to achieve off and online coverage, and don't focus upon online coverage, you should be aiming to integrate it - always.

Resources that you may post press releases for free include:

Pressbox.co.uk
http://www.pressbox.co.uk
[PressBox still hasn't reached its full potential and there is so much that it could do, but in terms of posting press releases and them being seeded with search engines, it's great, and works as we expected.] Enquire about the distribution service and ask others that have used it.

PR Web
http://www.prweb.com
US based, but has a UK section

Webwire
http://www.webwire.com

However, there are similar resources to the above, and you need to locate those as well, preferably those that are free to post to. With in-depth searching you'll find industry specific resources.
Be careful of what you do post. Check and double check that your information, press releases etc., are error and free and are not libellous. With some resources, once they are posted, then they remain until they are removed. Ensure that a fresh pair of eyes reads through it. If you are familiar with Wayback at http://www.archive.org, then you will understand.

You need to find 'more' resources like the above and especially those that are applicable to your industry, sector and markets, so that you can seed your information and press releases in there, adhering to their FAQs and terms and conditions. Press releases distribution services [off and online] include PR Web [US] as above, but there are plenty of other and UK specific resources.
Resources you may wish to consider to distribute releases, locate features and receive the latest up-to-date leads will include:

Eric Ward's URLWire
http://www.urlwire.com

EuropePR
http://www.europepr.com/

PR Newswire
http://www.prnewswire.com

Sourcewire [IT/Internet/Technology]
http://www.sourcewire.com

Waymaker
Quite a few products here e.g. MediaDisk for press release research and distribution and Advanced Features for feature research and interaction.
http://www.waymaker.com

WebitPR
http://www.webitpr.com/

You will have to evaluate these resources above, and determine whether they are relevant to your press release.

Some tips for the above:

1. Take care and time to research and choose the tools carefully before you begin.
2. Ensure that you receive solid testimonials, references that you can verify yourself.
3. Does the service have good reporting and tracking?
4. Have you tracking and measurement set up on your website?
5. Have you thought about assigning trackable URLs to measure clickthroughs and so on?
6. How are you going to ensure that you can build upon relationships with recipients if you elect to use a distribution service?

Have a look at the links at UK Press at http://www.ukpress.org/links.html, you may find some useful.

Regards

Tim Gibbon
Account Director, Elemental PR
E: timmy_gibbon [MSN & Yahoo! Messenger ID]

Integrated Multi-Channel Public Relations
& Strategic Marketing Development

On 18:46:37 19 November 2001 xav1 wrote:
>Lots of words - but not really sure of the point you are
>trying to make here.
>
>If it is that the Internet will do away with PR types...
>well I am not too sure. There have been for a while
>electronic distribution services and they don't work !
>They send out information rather randomly and of course
>are no good at getting in people's heads (ie the media
>types).
>
>PR is a business. My friend is in manufacturing and who
>does he try to deal with - surprise, surprise - those that
>he is friends with. Of course a journalist will deal with
>a person they know and trust rather than an electronic
>machine !
>
>Perhaps if you gave us a shorter comment I could answer
>your query more effectively.
>
>
>On 09:50:18 20 September 2001 rodbanner wrote:
>>For my money, the answer is ‘true’ but the
>>changes are not those which most of the people working
>in
>>PR expected. I’d go further and say that many
>PR
>>professionals have yet to understand the real nature
>of
>>the change.
>>
>>Four or five years ago, the Internet seemed to pose a
>>threat to PR people who were cast as the estate agents
>of
>>the communications world – charging a fat fee
>but
>>not always adding obvious value. If you cast your
>mind
>>back to those heady days, the Internet was expected to
>>‘disintermediate’ almost everyone –
>in
>>other words eliminate the middleman. And what are PR
>>people if not charming middle people, armed with free
>>drinks, pleasant smiles and a nice line in small talk?
>>
>>But PR people are still with us, hanging on in there
>>alongside all the estate agents and other dodgy
>>professions like them. The Internet has had
>surprisingly
>>little impact on the relationships that PR people
>enjoy
>>with journalists. True, it’s now possible to do
>>some smart things like deliver PR photography
>>electronically straight to news desks, but most
>editorial
>>coverage is still generated by human to human, (rather
>>than Web site to journalist) interaction.
>>
>>In any case, we’re living in an anti-information
>>era. We spend our time complaining about too many
>emails
>>to absorb, too many memos to read, too much background
>>reading to get through. The old-fashioned ‘more
>>information to more people for less money’
>>proposition no longer washes. PR people are learning
>from
>>their colleagues in advertising who have already begun
>to
>>realise the difficulties of operating in a world that
>is
>>jaded with information-overload.
>>
>>Looked at in 2001, the potential role of the Internet
>in
>>PR is different. Of course it provides an effective,
>>cheap way to disseminate lots more news to lots more
>>people but, more than ever, you will need cunning PR
>>people to develop and spin the stories before you go
>off
>>and squirt them all over the planet.
>>
>>Where the Internet is beginning to exert a real
>influence,
>>though, is in terms of the relationship between PR
>people
>>and the businesses they serve – whether that
>>relationship is between a PR agency and its client or
>>between the in-house PR team and the rest of their
>>organisation.
>>
>>PR has often been treated as something of a black art,
>its
>>practitioners left to their own devices to carry on
>their
>>curious business. The Internet offers the opportunity
>to
>>de-mystify PR and make sure that it’s firmly
>aligned
>>with the goals of the business, rather than purely the
>>self-interests of PR people.
>>
>>Am I cynical about the value of PR? Not at all. PR is
>a
>>tremendously powerful and cost effective weapon in the
>>marketeer’s armoury. But I am sceptical as to
>>whether sufficient effort is spent aligning the goals
>of
>>PR with those of the business and I’m convinced
>PR
>>can be conducted more effectively.
>>
>>Consider, for a moment, the emergence of
>Internet-based
>>collaborative workflow technology. Once upon a time,
>>developing PR materials represented a logistical
>headache,
>>and PR people spent too much of their time chasing
>paper
>>and sending different versions of a document backwards
>and
>>forwards for approval. Now, a document can be posted
>to
>>the Internet once with others involved in the approval
>>process reviewing and editing online.
>>
>>The element of paper pushing is banished forever, and
>this
>>ought to free PR people up for their real job of
>>developing compelling stories and messages –
>rather
>>than drowning in paperwork.
>>
>>The Internet can introduce more systematic work
>processes.
>> PR does not generally worry its head about audit
>trails,
>>but a professional business demands that people are
>>accountable for their mistakes and, more importantly,
>that
>>the organisation can learn from those mistakes and
>absorb
>>their lessons within the corporate memory.
>>
>>The most significant impact that the Internet will
>have is
>>that a company’s PR knowledge base can be
>>transferred from the heads of people and put online.
>This
>>PR knowledge base is actually an enormous corporate
>asset
>>and ought to be both better protected and made more
>easily
>>available.
>>
>>This process is only just beginning. The technology
>to
>>enable this change is only just emerging, and many PR
>>companies are yet to grapple with all the new
>>opportunities. Some will inevitably miss the boat
>while
>>their competitors realise the new capabilities and use
>>that insight to strengthen their market position.
>>
>>The PR business, in short, is a sector where smart
>>deployment of Internet technology has the potential to
>>deliver massive advantage to agency and client alike.
>>
>>Roderick Banner
>>CEO
>>Banner Coroporation Plc
>>http://www.b1.com