From the time I started my first "formal" public relations job, I got the feeling that being a PR professional was some sort of secret society. Unfortunately, that pervasive view has not helped the old generation of PR professionals learn how to deal with the new media that's so pervasive in our work lives.
The new professionals being cranked out by old-school PR programs are receiving mixed messages. A professor at an Arizona university pulled Todd Defren's brilliant PR-Squared blog from her reading list. Odd, old school pitches are being received by bloggers from stymied PR people.
The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is endlessly discussing the importance of learning new media, but most in the upper eshelons of the organization are not big new media users. They've voted two years in a row to disallow in inclusion of board members who don't have an APR designation. In my mind, this is similar to requiring all politicians to have a PhD. It's simply ill-advised to have so many people from such an insular background leading an organization.
So, my simple question is...when? When will rank and file PR professionals learn and practice their social media skills? I know a lot of people already have, thousands of excellent professionals. The folks I'm talking about are the 40-50-60 year olds who have been in the business for 25+ years. Where are they?
Thank you very much for this blog post. I found it really interesting. Especially the fact about PRSA board members requiring their APR.
I am a 31 year old Canadian practitioner, and I just received my APR this December. Though it is not mandatory for Canadian Public Relations board members to have their APR's, it is strongly encouraged.
If there is a concern that "an old guard" is running the board, and younger professionals aren't getting board representation or recognition, shouldn't the APR program be promoted to younger professionals as a valuable designation to have?
I had a goal of taking the APR because to me, it is represented the highest level of dedication to my profession. Though I am the first of my colleagues to achieve this designation, they have been encouraged by my success.
There may be other people with a similar attitude who in the next few years will qualify for the APR and attempt to gain a board position and instigate a cultural shift from the inside out.
It will be interesting to watch over the coming years.
Posted by: Danielle Kelly | February 10, 2011 at 04:34 PM
Danielle, I took the classes through my local chapter, which were valuable at the time, but soon after that, witnessed the sea change that is changing our profession forever. I don't think taking the APR would improve my overall knowledge of the field now, and it certainly would do nothing to to increase my knowledge about new media. Since in my consultancy about 75% of my business is new media, I decided that having the APR would take more time and effort than it was worth. Also, I think the APR has a name recognition problem, so few people outside the profession even know what it is. I've asked a few recruiters what they think, and they said they have never been asked to eliminate a candidate without their APR. Thanks for your comment.
Posted by: Claire Celsi | February 10, 2011 at 05:06 PM
Shhhh...Claire. You are exposing something here. It's called...follow the money. And that "new media thingy"? Never work. Never! Nice post...
Posted by: Michael Libbie | February 11, 2011 at 07:59 AM