Is the PR Industry Wired For Change?

The PRSA and Dow Jones/Factiva released a survey of PR professionals and PR students probing PR's acceptance of online communications tools and technologies.

Not a great deal of "news" in the release, as far as I can see. PR pros are "excited" about new online communications channels but fret about the difficulty of maintaining ethical standards.

Both PRSA and Factiva have a ways to go before they are "wired for change," however.

I tried to download the Executive Summary of the survey results to look for nuggets of insight but was thwarted by both the PRSA and Factiva web sites. PRSA's site forced me to register as a "credentialed" member of the media (I seem to have passed the test simply by registering), but then suggested I "search" for the document in their online library. I don't understand why they simply didn't post a link right on the press release. Factiva wouldn't give it up until I registered on their site. I passed on that opportunity.

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Update: Got an email from Dow Jones/Factiva PR saying they had read the post and were forwarding me a copy of the powerpoint presentation. Here it is for you to download. No response to my larger point about PRSA and Factiva not "getting" social media and simply making the information easily available. [BTW, I don't generally believe that all information ought to be free and that you shouldn't have to jump through hoops to get it. We all have to make a living somehow, after all. But in this case, where the PRSA itself was issuing a paper about the state of the industry, I don't see the point in creating barriers.]

Some quick facts from the paper:

• Only about 20% of PRSA members feel their organizations are ahead of others in the use of technology as a public relations tool; most think they’re behind


• Professionals and students agree that online news sites, online video and PDAs have had a strong, positive impact on public relations; professionals also ranked podcasting among the top four [online tools]; students also named professional networking sites


• Professionals and students believe online news sites and blogs present the best opportunities for public relations, but students are more optimistic than professionals about the potential usefulness of social and professional networking sites


• Independent and agency public relations professionals have greater plans to use Wikis, podcasting and social networking sites