I was looking through the blog archives of the Canadian Council of Public Relations Firms and I found a really great quote in the article PR in a Web 2.0 World. It's a short definition about what public relations is:
"In the simplest sense, we are in the business of helping to build relationships between an organization and its varied publics."
I think that's a great definition. It's short, simple and it can be used to describe most kinds of PR. Nike wants to reach consumers to get them to try new products. The Canadian Cancer Society wants to inform the public about their cause in the hopes that people will donate money towards a cure. Trenton Memorial Hospital wants to work with it's staff so they can be happy with their jobs, and therefore more productive. Whether you are in the public or private sector, profit or non-profit, external or internal relations, this definition fits.
The next part of the quote goes on to describe the role of social media in public relations:
"And this is where the world has changed. Communication is no longer about persuasion; it’s about conversation, and this conversation is happening online... By definition, social media describes the online tools and platforms that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences and perspectives with each other."
Isn't that a much better model for PR? We shouldn't always be in the business of persuading people, we should be having conversations with them.
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