Your PR Architect

Every day, at least one of the news sources I follow on Facebook posts a link to a non-local story, accompanied by the invitation: WEIGH IN. Or SOUND OFF. Or the ever-popular: WHAT DO YOU THINK? And I think: Go enterprise a real news story. The internet has enough rude, unmoderated comments. The best reporting requires a little hustle on the part of reporters and editors. Ambition. Moxie. The best reporters do this, time and again. But in a Facebook world, it's not enough to report news. TV news affiliates -- and some print-based media online -- now try to augment the good work of reporters and goose their Facebook traffic numbers by inviting followers to "sound off" or "weigh in." This is less vox populi than it is a blanket invitation to banter. Media consultants tell TV and radio outlets they need to "engage" their audiences via social media. Thoughtful online discussions would be one way. But asking viewers to leave under-informed

I have genuine admiration for anyone who's succeeded in public relations for 30 or 40 years. My colleague Ray is one of the best. So I read his blog on the new golden age of PR with authentic interest. Yes, the profession has a new look -- very digital, and often data-driven.  But as I read Ray's comments, I noticed an absence of the most important word in this profession: relationships . He mentions it once, in the context of creating deeper relationships between marketers and PR professionals, and their audiences. In an age where you can swap online analytics with anyone, I'd argue that we're not in a golden age of PR -- because relationships are dwindling. Emails and voice mails are a poor substitute for live, face-to-face conversations. At Cedar Point, OH., "Gatekeeper" is a roller coaster. By Jeremy Thompson from United States of America  (Cedar Point 105  Uploaded by Themeparkgc) via Wikimedia Commons It's important to know the ed

Colleges have the difficult problem of when to disclose the name of a student who's run afoul of the law. Or worse. This weekend, the "worse" happened. A student drowned in the Erie Canal in Brockport, NY. The College at Brockport, a SUNY campus, did the right thing by communicating news of the drowning. College at Brockport's Facebook feed, May 10, 2015 But the initial announcement didn't disclose the student's name, which sent thousands of anxious parents across New York state into panic. Is it their son or daughter?  As it happens, the student's family asked that the victim's name not be released. Which is terribly unfair to thousands of families wondering if their child is that victim. SUNY Brockport needs to respect the family's wishes, but at the same time, reassure parents of thousands of students that their child is not the victim. A few parents' unhappy reactions are captured in the screen shot of the college's

A professional organization had news to share: one of its members had recently earned a U.S. patent for a breakthrough, and they asked a PR practitioner to help publicize the patent. The response? "Oh, we did that story five years ago. Maybe we can just write a blog post." Diego Grez [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org /licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons True, the inventor had applied for a patent more than five years ago. It wasn't exactly a new story. Patents often take years between filing and approval. But the PR person's dismissive reply neglects a few of today's realities. There wasn't a vast social media universe to sell that story, five years ago. There wasn't the intense industry focus on this particular technology that exists today.  And many of the people who could take advantage of the new technology were still undergraduates. And today's journalists who'd cover the story might find it all-new. Th