Communication Overtones Comments
Ideally, all of these new Social Web/Social Media sites would save you so much time that you would be free to go out and have lunch with your customers. Ot to have a cup of coffee with them in the morning.
Somehow, it doesn't work that way - we spend more time on these tools than we expect - more than we should, even.
The extra "reach" these applications offer does not come without a cost - we are spending time building up social systems, instead of relationships.
It'll be interesting to see how much this affects not just PR, but society.
I think right now we don't even know what we don't know about the long term affects of Social Networking Systems.
Rob
Rob; I would have to agree. I think I read this in a story recently, but things are moving so fast, we don't even have the time to contemplate their impact before we are on to the next big thing. I especially like your reference to social networks vs. relationships. These are very different things.
OK, yeah, you're smart. 
The Social Networking stuff should never be a substitute for elbow grease. A few years back I worked in politics, and the first couple of campaigns I worked on were local. I wound up knocking on a lot of doors. The person who knocked on more doors almost always beat the person who put the most ads in the local paper. Now we have this thing called the internet, but it really hasn't changed who wins in the New Hampshire Primary. Seriously, it hasn't. You have to knock on doors and build relationships to win New Hampshire.
One difference I am finding with social media is occasionally (actually, often) you're not the one initiating a discussion. So the dynamic is different. But that doesn't change anything when it comes to the importance of relationships.
When I'm pitching a client, the less lingo i use the more successful i am. the core principles of communications haven't changed. relationships matter. know your audience and give them what they want. be honest, transparent and respectful. it's only when you stop listening to these basic rules that you have to start hiding behind futuristic (and often fake) terminology.
Great post. Thanks for the hat tip!
but still meeting the mediaperson in person will always help in understanding him/her and what he looks forward to and what his/her level of understanding...
We should leave the social media tools as another was of effective and fast communication, since you still are editing your response. Similarly, in a one-on-one meeting will be very difficult to edit those reactions, specially if the other person is reading and judging you thru your body language
Thanks for making me feel so old, Kami. Like your client, I recall making those visits with news releases or media kits in hand (circa 197
. And on occasion, I actaully made a personal connection with a writer or reporter. But fact is, journalists were busy back then, too, and very often they didn't have time to see me, or if they did, they seemed annoyed at my dropping in unannounced. More often than not I dropped the news release with a clerk and moved on to my next stop. Terribly inefficient, though it did get me outta the office.
It's easy to wax eloquent about old days. But I find the Web saves lots of time -- mine and the person I'm trying to reach. And as the blogosphere shows so well, it is possible to establish relationships in a virtual world, using emails, phone calls -- even comments like this one!
Some great insights here, especially from the "old" folks who have been around the block a few times As Davis and Moksh point out, the tools should be used for a purpose rather than using them just because they are there. They do tend to let us get a little lazy.
As for Bill's comment, he too is of course right. Today, I have real relationships with people that started online (my husband for starters), but at some point you have to get beyond the computer and build the relationships in the real world. In other words, it needs to extend beyond the screen. Now that I have met a number of my blogging buddies in person, I even further see the value of the face-to-face connection. There is a reason blogger conferences are so well attended.
This isn't new. I came all the way to San Antonio to have a conversation with Kami.
I still deliver some items by hand. It depends on the story. The fact that my major daily is literally across the street doesn't hurt either.
Kevin; Well, you are an old fashioned kind of guy. BTW, congrats on your PRSA award for the Bad Pitch Blog.
It's sort of like "latch-key" kids as a result of the wave of divorces and double-working parents that we went through in the last two decades. We just have no ideas how these social media tools, virtual environments, and constant attention to things "inside that little box on our desk" have screwed up us or our children...
Only time will tell...
A dark tale Dee, who knows its effect, but I think that we miss something if we don't realize it is about relationships and not networks. More on that soon.
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