Clan mentality hits PR world
Richard Edelman of PR giant Edelman Public Relations Worldwide is saying the smart PR pros will put their money in chat rooms and blogs instead of media relations. Ben Silverman of PRFuel seems to think he’s mildly insane… Okay sure, saying we can afford to bypass the media is probably going way too far, not to say extremely dangerous.
Still, there’s something disturbing in what Edelman has to say.
When asked who they trust more when it comes to getting information, 56 per cent of U.S. respondents trust "a person like yourself" in the most recent survey, up from just 22 per cent two years ago. It’s very rare to see such radical shift in social research over the course of just two years.
The study seems to focus on attitudes toward corporations (Edelman’s main clients) so the data may not translate well in the world of values, but it seems to go in the same direction as Environnics’ 3SC social studies: in the U.S. at least, people look more and more to their peer group for reassurance, consumer choice and the like.
With the multiplication of specialty channels and the more partisan orientation of many media outlets (Fox News, Clear Channel, The National Post, Le Devoir), I fear people increasingly go for sources that will reinforce what they already believe in, instead of challenging their perceptions and forcing them to think. If that turns out to be correct, it has two PR implications:
1. Changing peoples’ mind will get increasingly difficult using traditional techniques, even those who are only weakly committed to an opinion.
2. Covert methods (shielding one’s identity as PR agent, front groups, etc) will become increasingly effective. So far, "trying to influence people who keep (…) blogs, and post messages in Internet chat rooms" (Edelman's words) has meant posting messages under several identities to hype a product.
I like spinning reporters! I don’t want to spend my time pretending to be some guy who signs his messages "Gandalf" hyping the latest game console in some nerdie’s blog.