After my recent posts on the atrocious ‘R’ word..I thought all my readers could use some laughs.

April Fools Day has always provided a license to the media to print and broadcast bizarre and fanciful tales.  From television revealing that spaghetti grows on trees, to advertisements for the left-handed burger, the tradition of April Fool’s Day stories in the media has a weird and wacky history.

This year more than ever social media has followed in the footsteps of its conventional cousin. Here are some of the best..

Youtube’s ‘Country Filter’ has resulted in UK viewers getting Australian settings all videos they view, resulting in inversion of clips and text.

GMail has introduced an autoresponder that reads and responds to your e-mail so you don’t have to.  The problems kick in when two parties both turn it on “two Gmail accounts can happily converse with each other for up to three messages each. Beyond that, our experiments have shown a significant decline in the quality ranking of Autopilot’s responses.”

Labour MP Tom Harris backs a blogging counter terrorism bill “from April 2010, every British blogger will have to submit each post for official approval”.

The Guardian will publish its content exclusively on twitter consigning the print editions to the footnotes of history.   The Guardian and Twitter will also launch Gutter, a service designed to “filter noteworthy liberal opinion from the cacophony of Twitter updates”.

….Oh and the entire internet is being rebooted.

Press F13 on your keyboard to access a complete list of the best social web April Fools pranks

Two mentions of the dreaded ‘R’ word two posts in a row? I know, its practically a curse word but I feel that this topic requires a lot more space on this blog as it is obviously a huge concern for everyone at  large, but more so for the soon-to-be-graduates and job seekers reading this.

Economists predict that this coming year will be tougher than the last for this economy and others such as Australia. There has been debate about whether the vast Down Under has been affected. If the turn out at this weekend’s Ausi expo is anything to go by, many are contemplating fleeing southwards in search of greener pastures (or at least less arid ones). I say, fear not, for the key to survival is determination, being smart, creative and brave.

The job market doesn’t seem very welcoming for fresh grads as unemployment numbers soar. However, many of the agency cutbacks in the PR and marketing industry are higher up the corporate ladder. Having learned from past economic slumps, companies have not halted graduate recruitment, as they realize this will only create a talent/ human resource gap in the future. So don’t bid your ambitions farewell just yet.

Another silver lining in the financial dark cloud is the rapid growth of the digital industry. The government has plans to pump investment into the industry, which ensures that it shall continue to thrive. That ties in with the immense impact social marketing is having on the media landscape. Going digital is clearly the way to make it through the current fiscal droop.

If that doesn’t put a smile on your face, how about this- as Harvard Business School Professor John A. Quelch noted recently:

“It is well documented that brands that increase advertising during a recession, when competitors are cutting back, can improve market share, and return on investment at lower cost than during good economic times.”

This rationale applies equally well to PR and money strategically spent on PR can have the result Quelch notes above. Your clients and potential clients still have their needs and will be looking to fulfil them. Maybe with a lesser budget, but they are still out there looking. This is a clear indication that PR is not perceived as a luxury in times like these. We just have to be more creative about how we go about it.

Since the recession hit (find the gloomy facts here), I’ve had more moths than money in my proverbial wallet. While it isn’t the best news for my finances, it could actually bode well for the PR industry.

The reinvention of PR

According to some well experienced PRs, this could be a great opportunity for the profession to reinvent itself. Over the past few years there has been ever increasing pressure on PR to wake up and smell the coffee as far as the social media evolution is concerned. In short, we obviously need to adapt to these changes. Some have been quicker to respond than others. However, this is not the trend across the entire PR industry. The hook eyed critics and observers have noted that many traditional agencies ignore this, mainly due to fear of the unknown. A recession will compel agencies to get their houses in order, and adapt or die! So in reality, the recession would be of benefit to the industry, extricating the quality, digitally savvy from the second-rates.

Increasing importance of personalised relations

As I have mentioned in my previous posts, PR has always been about engaging with people. It has not always been so, and observers feel that the rise of social media has finally put the public back into PR. However, within this ‘public’ a personal touch is more important than ever. Owyang, senior analyst at Forrester, in his blog talks about PR folks becoming their own hubs, where “they’ve developed real relationships with influencers regardless of who their client list is”. An excellent example of this in practice is Micro PR which is one of the blogging platforms that makes it simple for PRs to  personalize their services If you’re looking to hire a PR who ‘gets’ online PR, it’s becoming easier and easier to spot them. It clearly shines a light on who is active in social media and who is just talking about it.

The death of the traditional pitch

Its official- the pitch is dead. PR practitioners have mastered this now dead pitch process. They take the time to thoroughly prepare and rehearse a perfect delivery weeks in advance. However, numerous brands will have realized that this long-established method is not always the best way to select a suitable PR representative. More often than not, the team that presents is not even the team you end up working with. Once they bag the clients, enthusiasm for the project shifts to the next exciting pitch coming round the corner.

With increasing budgets cutbacks, and return on investment being vital, platforms like word of moth and networking will become a more extensively used to route to win over business. Additionally, with the convergence of all elements of digital media, new business shall be won through collaboration with partner agencies. United we stand, divide we fall will take on new meaning! Riding solo is no longer an option for agencies who strive for success.

Finally….CEOs need to set PR higher on their agenda

Referring my previous post on the changing role of communications professional in a globalised world, CEOs need to tap into the true power of their PR resources. Additionally, in order to make the most of their PRs they need to make it a two-way relationship, with PRs playing an integral part in managerial decision making. In a recession, brands who continue to see the importance in PR will need to make sure their investment is working harder for them, which means CEOs devoting more time to it. PRs cannot pretend to be the CEO – and so they will need to make more time to engage in these conversations around their brand.

**This is in no way an exhaustive list on the future of the industry, but a few humble observations made through research and consultation. Please feel free to add to it..

The face of communications, relationship building, listening and mutually beneficial dialogue has been fundamentally changed by the rise and rapid advancement of the digital world. Like never before, the internet, social networking, mobile devices and a myriad of communications technology are bringing people and organisations together.

New Media, Web 2.0, Rich media, Converged, Digital…. whichever phrase one chooses to utilize, this topic is of great significance to the practice of public relations, whether they are in-house or consultancies.

I find the dynamic and ever changing nature of the digital realm continually fascinating and have developed a particular interest in Public Relations and New Media. Everyday I am learning more about this PR practice of leveraging online media and using search and the social web as channels of communication, engagement and influence.

In my view, the digital platform has several advantages in that it is multi-channel, conversational, transparent, integrated, fast-moving and international. All these elements compliment the existing strengths of the PR industry placing it in a prominent position in the communications field.

In the bid to create and sustain relationships of mutual understanding between an organisation and its relevant publics, within an increasingly ‘transparent’ world, the digital landscape gives us valuable tools to create these conversations. Through the digital world, we have the ability to reach all our target audiences simultaneously. It also offers an affordable, quick and simple way to evaluate the impact of our communications, finally demonstrating that PR can support sales and business development.

For forwarding thinking PR practitioners, understanding the relationship between, and the subtle distinctions of new media, will considerably increase their opportunity to generate positive coverage and great results.

I thought a great way to kick off the launch of my very own blog would be to answer some ongoing questions.

Recently, some of my ‘Science-y’ friends (we are a huge pack of nerds ) have been asking me what it really takes to be in the PR business. Is a degree really necessary? Does one have to have certain character traits? Is it really that difficult to run a campaign? Is it more difficult that designing a machine that refines crude oil or performing surgery? The prehistoric argument pitting science against the arts; it would take many other blog entries to really do justice to that long winded discussion.

Within the wide field of communications, there are ongoing debates about the real definition of PR, especially in light of marketing. Whether PR is defined as a discipline in its own right, or simply a marketing function is yet to be established by PR and marketing practitioners. I wonder whether a consensus is even possible. For now though, I will focus on PR as it is practiced in most consultancies.

A good place to start would be with a definition. What is PR? PR is defined by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations as “the discipline which looks after reputation, with the aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and behaviour.” Essentially, it is the presentation of information about an organisation or individual to the outside world – to the media, and the public.

The theory of PR, keeping a good reputation, is simple. The realities are often more challenging as companies are rarely blessed with an ideal public profile at all times, and, at worst, can face an uphill struggle to change a strongly negative opinion into a positive one.

To be successful in PR, you need a wide range of at-times contrasting skills. I degree is not necessary, but it is advisable. Perhaps the most essential ability one must have is that of effective communication, for liaising with colleagues and clients. You need good organizational and administrative skills, as PR campaigns are often layered, multi-faceted and complex, and involve significant amounts of administration.

Creativity is a must, whether you are devising a stunt to raise awareness of a product, or writing copy for a press release, to take two instances.

In addition to all this, working in PR is often quite demanding, especially when an event or a launch is coming up. You’ll need to be able to cope with and perform under this kind of pressure – and be willing to work long hours at times.

To add on to that, people working in PR have to be a jack of all (relevant) trades. They need to be able to assimilate a suite of information relevant to the sector they work in. For example somebody working in investment PR will need a grasp of basic financial concepts but more importantly of different firms’ positions in the marketplace, and their images in the eyes of customers, competitors, shareholders, the media and the public at large.

As well as the challenging aspects noted above (and because of them), the rewards in PR, if a campaign goes well and your client receives great media coverage and is over the moon, make this a highly satisfying career!

Clearly, PR practitioners tackle a wide range of tasks and clients. In a nutshell, PR IS RARELY EVER DULL!!!