Will Google Wave Eliminate the Need for PR as Media Relations?

Valerie Maltoni at Social Media Today has an interesting post on Google Wave and Public Relations.

If you read this blog regularly (if you do, I strongly recommend you get out more), you know that I don't buy into the whole "social media is replacing pr professionals" sentiment.

In fact, I strongly believe that the US will see the emergence of the "paperless office" and "paperless commode" before social media replaces pr.

However, I do believe that where there is smoke there is fire. Those warning us pr people about social media do have a point.

PR people do need to understand social media better.

Study: Few PR managers, lawyers unemployed

Another reason why choosing PR as a career is a good idea.
This Baltimore Business Journal article shows that the unemployment rate for PR managers is .1 percent.

Lawyers are at 2.3 percent. Of course, what the unemployment rate for junior account executives in pr is not mentioned but is probably a bit higher.

Tracking online word-of-mouth: The people vs machines debate

Research, a UK magazine on (you guessed it, Research) has an interesting debate regarding how to measure online consumer generated content (e.g. my blog posts).

Mark Westaby of Spectrum takes the side of automated measurement. Mike Daniels, director of media analysis firm Report International, takes the side of human analysis.

Here is a snippet:

Even if we did want to track every single conversation, [the] assertion that automated analysis can yield accurate and consistent measures of sentiment flies in the face of research we conducted recently among a global sample of developers, practitioners, academics and users of these tools. We found no system capable of delivering reasonable accuracy levels around sentiment – certainly nowhere near the levels needed for making business decisions.

We have found an enduring demand for human-based measurement programmes – humans can discriminate irony and sarcasm, they can interpret rules, not just follow them, and they are flexible in dealing with new topics and issues… certainly not computers’ strong points.

A truly fascinating debate. Read all of it here:

Ketchum merges with Pleon

The advantage of my fellowship is that I am learning more about the European public relations market.

An interesting development is the recent merger between Ketchum and Pleon.

This creates a firm with a significant presence in western Europe.
It will be interesting to see how the Ketchum-Pleon conglomerate operates.
This is a merger worth watching.

In addition, it will be interesting to see how Huntsworth, the other firm with a significant European presence responds.

These are indeed fascinating times in PR.

A good resource for PR Internships

I came across this website on jobs in Brussels. Due the presence of several EU institutions, Belgium has many PR jobs. Its definitely worth a look and contains some gems:

http://www.eurobrussels.com/index.php