PR Bloggers: Shall we serve cheese with the whine?

Since blogs are essentially online op-ed pages, I'm leveling a challenge to every single PR blogger, including myself.

Do unto others.

I'm weary from reading posts where public relations professionals pontificate to others in the industry about how they are clueless about blogging. Sometimes it seems as if we seemingly lie in wait, eager to pounce on PR people that try blogging, but make mistakes.

Mistakes make good meme fodder.

Then when the industry makes an effort at learning the rules, we simply respond with more criticism and tell them to learn by doing and start a blog. We all know what can happen if someone creates a blog without looking before they leap.

The only thing louder than the buzz around the promise and opportunity held in CGM is the whine from our industry around the need to sit at management's table. It's a classic complaint. Yet when we are put in a position of early adopter, a clear opportunity to offer guidance from a position of authority, we act like children and treat blogging like a club. And, if you need to ask the rules, you can't be a member in this club—unless we like you.

Please. If this is how we act over one facet of the social media phenomenon, we should be sitting at the kid's table instead of management's.

At the end of the day, we all mean well. If you disagree with this post, just remember it’s leveled at every PR blogger, including myself.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and here is mine: Do unto others. Think Reporters without Borders instead of patronizing posts.

tags: public relations, blog, PR

Comments

[Scott Baradell]

I noticed the clubby-ness of PR bloggers -- and virtually all blogger groups -- when I began my blog in March. In a fluid environment, it's an informal way to attempt to establish a pecking order.

[Jeremy Pepper]

You hit on the reason why I killed the Cluelesstrain posts - they were just snarky, and not helping the industry move forward.

The fact is that PR is a cut-throat business, and that has expanded into the PR blogosphere. How dare a large agency think that they can have the leaders of the firm blog, but instead need to have someone in the trenches blog instead? How dare a large agency have a different viewpoint on blogs and podcasts, but open up a practice to work with its clients in the space? That's verbotten unless they are in the trenches themselves. How dare any agency open up a separate practice for blogging, creating a new division that should be just part of overall PR strategies?

Or, how dare that we try to work together to make PR a better place, to push forward PR and blogging and set the standard for working with clients in this new space, with regards to transparency and everything else?

I was speaking to a VP at a large agency, and she noted that there are times that the industry needs to stand together and defend the profession. Often times, though, we prefer to tear down the large agencies, instead of working together.

Plus, I can be snarky any time I want to be in other posts. ;)

[Robert]

Please do serve the cheese as it will help the whiners regain regularity.

[Gary Goldhammer]

Kevin, thanks for a great post and a dead-on assessment.

[Media Guerrilla]

Been ruminating on your post, Kevin, and it's true, we should be looking for ways to cultivate our PR community (both online and offline), rather than looking for ways to tear each other down...well done.

[James Cherkoff]

Well said ;-)

[Constantin Basturea]

Kevin, I don't think it's fair to say that PR bloggers are "whining" while you link repeatedly to Steve Rubel's postings and to an entry written by BL Ochman.

If your posting was caused by Steve and BL's postings, please name them in your entry. If you think that the "whining" is widespread among PR bloggers, please name the culprits, so we can see what they actually said about the PR industry's efforts of "learning the rules".

What do you think it's better for the health of the PR industry: a discussion space where we can voice disagreements openly, or a place where everybody is smiling falsely and is "getting along"? I hope we don't need to start blogging anonymously (as detailed by the "Reporters without borders" handbook you mentioned) in order to say what we want to say...

[Kevin Dugan]

Constantin: Thanks for stopping by. Steve and BL helped inspire the post, but I only referenced myself by name. I thought it would defeat the purpose of the post to call people out individually. The post was aimed at the wider audience of PR bloggers. Google will give you specific “culprits” if you’re interested.

This first hit my radar when Richard Edelman launched Speak Up. Shortly after it launched, several PR bloggers took issue with specifics, including posting frequency, moderated comments and lack of trackbacks. Now that readers see the high-quality, c-level insight it provides, few seem to care whether or not Richard observes all of the blogging guidelines.

The New PR chronicles some PR bloggers commenting on Ketchum. These comments might merit a mention or a link in the post. But in the end, I stuck with a few links to make a point vs. a blogroll (less is more).

If nothing else, the post has created a conversation. Some of it is below, including Jeremy Pepper's acknowledgement of his past contributions to the whine and cheese party.

But I also think blogs incentivize posts that take people to task. We’re encouraged to have an opinion. And voicing a unique opinion, one that goes against the grain, is rewarded with traffic, links and trackbacks (like this one).

On blogging anonymously, I agree. Transparency beats secrecy any day. I highlighted Reporters without Borders for its tactic of using a handbook to help educate a target audience on how to blog. I did not highlight them for the content of their handbook.

Thanks again.