Participatory PR

Back in my college days, when I was learning about how to be a news reporter, I became interested in the notion of participatory journalism. Of course, back then, video display terminals (VDTs) were slowly replacing IBM Selectrics in newsrooms across America, the term referred to journalists like George Plimpton, who would play a role — for Plimpton, it was as a quarterback for the Detroit Lions — and then describe the experience for readers, listeners or viewers. (I was more interested in the participatory style of renowned gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, but that’s a topic best left alone for the moment.)

These days, participatory journalism refers to the readers, listeners or viewers actually participating in the process of gathering and reporting the news.

Now, Micro Persuasion blogger Steve Rubel in introducing another concept: participatory public relations. According to Rubel, it’s a brand of PR in which the flack (and I use that term as a term of endearment, for I am one) moves away from the time-honored practice of “pitching” a story idea to a media outlet to one of contributing and sharing — e.g., participating — in online social networks.

Also according to Rubel, PR agencies aren’t quite ready to give up the pitch for participation. “Many in PR seem to be treating Web 2.0 as simply an extension of the traditional media – another venue for buzz. They are pumping thousands of email pitches into the community every day.”

I just wrapped up an email interview with a fellow blogger who asked me about the state of readiness among higher ed PR flacks to enter into this world of participatory journalism. I’d say we aren’t much further along than our corporate counterparts. At UMR, we’ve been using blogs (here, here and here) to connect with some of our audiences, and to talk about some big changes on campus. Difficult as it has been for some of us (read: me mainly), we’ve dropped our “press release voice” when we blog, opting for more authentic, real tones in our writing — stepping out from behind the curtain, as Rubel suggests all good PR practitioners do. We’ve even posted some video on YouTube, and some staffers in our communications department share feeds from our blogs on their Facebook pages. But we’ve got a long way to go before we achieve Rubel’s vision of participatory PR.

Author: andrewcareaga

Former higher ed PR and marketing guy at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) now focused on freelance writing and editing and creative writing, fiction and non-fiction. View all posts by andrewcareaga