PR Bloggers: Are we all just full of shit?
Posted by Administrator on September 23rd, 2005
By Peter Shankman | PR. Differently
OK, seriously. No offense to the PR bloggers out there – of which I’m one. But let’s stop for a second. I mean, seriously. We’re not defining Pi here, guys.
I’ve read where some PR bloggers start their day at 4:30 am or something to get the feeds from Europe.
The feeds from Europe? Um, this is PR. There’s no PR stock market that we need to catch the morning UK news. This is Public Relations. Yes, it’s important. Yes, we need to stay focused on the latest information and most up-to-date tactics. But what could someone possibly get and post at 4:30 am that he couldn’t post at 8:00 am, after a good cardio workout and a cup of coffee?
“You ok, honey?� “Oh, yes dear. Don’t mind me. I have to go check the wires from Europe for the few hundred people that will read my blog when they get up at a normal hour.�
Now I’m not totally dissing these bloggers. I just think we need to put things in the proper perspective here.
From what I can tell, it would appear that bloggers fall into three camps. Camp A has the psycho-bloggers – the 4 am posters, the 30 to 40 posts a day which pretty much just link to other things. Included in this camp are the bloggers who find any relevant reason (and often not so relevant) to post to mailing lists and the like about their blog. Someone will post “I have an interview at Edelman. What’s it like?� and the blogger will post something like, “One day I interviewed someone on my blog who once walked by the Edelman offices. You should read my blog to find out.�
Camp B has the non-existent bloggers. These are the bloggers who launch their blogs by emailing the entire world, telling everyone that they’re blogging. They actually issue press releases. They blog nonstop for a week, recording everything in real time. Then they disappear off the face of the earth, and we’re lucky if they update their blogs once a month.
Then there’s Camp C, and I’ll bet that more of you read the Camp C blogs than all the others combined. Camp C bloggers blog when something is relevant. Something important happens – they get the facts, find an interesting spin (as opposed to just posting a link so they can add it to their collection) and make an informative, valuable post. It has information – it has an opinion. It has a point! Imagine that! A point! It goes and adds just a little more information – some information that can be used to help a person learn about PR – or gain some insight into this beast we call a career. It’s like the perfect slice of pizza. Good, not too many toppings, not too seasoned… Perfect.
Perhaps that’s our problem. We’re so busy either putting in tons and tons of ingredients, or watching every single calorie and adding a total of one carb per month, that we forget what we’re really doing up there. We have a stage. Whether anyone comes to watch us perform is dependant on how good we are, and nothing else.
Maybe we just need to be more aware of not only how we’re making the pizza, but how other people like to eat it.
About the author
Peter Shankman runs PR. Differently, a blog that he updates when something actually matters. Granted, some posts of recent note have made references to the fact that he voluntarily jumps out of planes, but other than that, he thinks that people actually get something out of his blog, at www.prdifferently.com.
September 23rd, 2005 at 6:54 pm
Thank you for the good post. It sounds a little like you are ranting about bloggers who have made blogging their addiction for example “live, sleep, and drink blogs.” The Camp A bloggers kind of scare me.
I think it is important to understand that people can blog about anything they want really. But, if they are going to write for the practice of PR then I agree that their blogs should be informative or used as a communication tool with clients or target customers. I think blogging should show a different perspective on things, I think it should tell people information that they may not know and I think it should stir general conversation about a professional topic.
Also, I think the problem of why there are “random” blogs and obsessive compulsive bloggers is because blogging does not have a specific or defined function. I think people can use blogging any way they please but some use it for the purpose of communicating and others use it to tell their daily life stories. It’s hard to define the line of how people should blog because there are no rules to how you are suppose to blog. There are ethics and morals in writing anything but that if left in the hands of the person posting the blog.
Right now, I don’t know if I would consider myself to be any of those Camps because my blogging experience is part of my grade for class. I hope that after my class I will continue to blog and read other people’s blog. I think that they will be very beneficial to PR and that they do serve a purpose in delivering information. I have gained a lot of knowledge through my experience blogging so far. I feel as though most blogs that I read are informative. I would definetly try to be the perfect pizza maker and be a Camp C blogger.
September 23rd, 2005 at 8:40 pm
I will admit I laughed out loud when I saw the title of this posting, because as a PR person who blogs, I sometimes ask myself the same thing. I started my blog (www.employeethinking.com) about five months ago to address a need I saw: practioners of internal communications and employee engagement had very few resources in the blogosphere for tips and discussion on their trade. The focus of blogging on topics related to employee engagement has allowed me to have some fun, but also (from the feedback I get) a relevant source for many out there looking for this kind of thing.
September 23rd, 2005 at 9:34 pm
Peter, I read your post with my tongue firmly in my cheek. I would add a further Camp D, though, to you list - PR bloggers broadly from your Camp C but who consider blogging as a natural extension to all the other ways in which they communicate and converse with other people, including when (ie, the timing) they post.
As a European blogger, I often employ tactical posting where the timing of something I want to publish is an important consideration if I want to get it out there for people in different time zones and especially those in parts of the US. And ‘get it out there’ means in the RSS feed - far more important than the post appearing in the blog itself at a particular time.
That’s no different to how I’d approach many other methods of communicating. It’s often all about the timing.
And that’s no shit
September 24th, 2005 at 1:57 am
Peter Shankman is my hero. First, he is probally over the age 20 and he actually used “dissingâ€? appropriately. Furthermore, he seems as though he would understand and appreciate my motto in life communication which is “Why talk if I have nothing to say?â€? I would be willing to swear that most college classes and Sunday sermons that I’ve sat through in my life could have been summed up in less than half the time. Likewise, some bloggers could make their point in half the time. To borrow from my grandmother’s advice on everthing, “It’s not about quantity it’s about quality.”
Like Peter, I want to make it clear that I too am a blogger so I don’t mean for my observations to be hurtfully critical…only helpfully critical. First, of all I personally feel that public relations is about…public….relations. That traditionally includes a physical presence and verbal and non-verbal communication skills. I don’t think that PR practioners that are “Camp A…phycho-bloggersâ€? are getting as much of a grasp on a variety of the multiple aspects of successful PR as they would if they weren’t on their computers all the time. However, I must say that the “Camp B…non-existent bloggersâ€? aren’t getting a grasp on blogging, a tool that role in the future of PR CANNOT be overestimated. I am a Camp C blogger myself. I feel that Camp C bloggers who blog when something is relevant or important are the most interesting. Likewise I hypothesize that if researched they too would be the most successful PR practioners.
September 24th, 2005 at 2:24 am
Actually, if you just replaced the word “blog” with “press release,” you’d have about the same thing. There are those that issue a press release for everything and those that wait until they actually have something useful to say. Technological advances don’t replace the need for editorial judgement. Like Neville said.
September 24th, 2005 at 10:11 am
Fantastic summary! Thank you so much.
September 25th, 2005 at 5:16 pm
I guess I must fall in Camp E. For years, I have been producing a monthly email newsletter; I have about 5,000 subscribers. I’d write something when it occurred to me, then store it for assembly later into a single newsletter. As blogging emerged, it became evident that the articles in my newsletter were essentially blog posts, and a blog would allow me to publish the article as soon as it was ready rather than waiting for the monthly distribution cycle. This is one point you didn’t cover about blogs, Peter: They can replace older channels in those cases where blogs do a better job than the previous method.
September 25th, 2005 at 10:14 pm
One of the most interesting and entertaining posts I’ve ever read.
Since starting blogging for my PR class at Auburn, I’ve been reading numerous blogs of PR professionals. I can’t tell you how many hours I spend searching for something interesting enough to comment on. So many posts that I read are simply link after link, and I don’t have the patience to look through them all. Like you said, they should be using their own words and their own opinions. If I could have read the majority of the content from your post somewhere else, then what’s the point of ever having written it?
Also, I do realize the benefits of blogging for public relations practitioners, but I’m tired of reading about blogging in their blogs. This type of meta-communication seems a bit excessive to me. If someone is reading your blog, odds are they already are aware of the benefits of the technology. Maybe these professionals should consider targeting other publics. Step away from the computer for a moment and build a relationship with someone. By building that relationship, you’ll be better able to determine client’s needs, which will make it easier to tell him or her how blogging would benefit the organization he or she works for. Plus, since you have a more personal relationship with your clients, they would be more likely to trust you.
I can relate to Dana’s comment on many levels. Like her, if I don’t have anything interesting to say, then I’m not saying anything. This has become somewhat of a struggle lately since I’ve been required to be thought provoking twice a week. I too believe that we should be searching for quality rather than quantity. Who cares that you wrote 50 posts before 10a.m. if the content was slightly more enjoyable than a root canal?
With people like Dana and I coming into the PR field in the next couple of years, maybe there’s hope for the future of PR blogging. Camp C bloggers unite!
September 27th, 2005 at 8:42 pm
[…] In an article from last week’s Global PR Blog Week, Peter Shankman posted PR Bloggers: Are we all just full of shit?. This is one of the most honest, personal posts I have ever read. I am new to the blogosphere, but in my novice perusal, I have seen the range of bloggers he categorizes. I admire those who can blog daily, and still have important things to share…but they are few and far between. […]
October 1st, 2005 at 11:33 am
Peter - I started blogging to keep my skills current, writing and overall tech profciency. It worked. The bizarre side-effects include meeting folks like yourself. Thanks for keeping all of it in perspective. I like living inCamp C. The campers here like to make smores around the fire every night!
October 3rd, 2005 at 11:37 am
Peter makes perfect sense with his divisions (I will put myself in Camp C, blogging only when I have something to say, but passing reluctantly on the S’mores, because they are too many WW points!). I often get anxiety attacks when I see the volume of posting by other PR bloggers, thinking that I’m not being productive enough…but then I relax when I realize that the volume of blog postings is probably inversely proportional to the client hours they can bill.
October 8th, 2005 at 12:14 am
Once again, Peter speaks his mind and says things most PR Practioners wouldn’t publish, let alone say out loud. But did this really offend anyone? Did the community that you targeted get it or did they think you were talking about the next person.
Don’t stop Peter. You have loyal followers that will drink the Yoohoo when you say so.