Exitlog | Leaving Impressions

We need tech-savvy kids not the clichés. When it comes to educating the PR hopefulls of tomorrow universities are failling. Most PR and communications courses were woefully unprepared for the reality of the public relations.

From the previews of the latest films and music to the names of footballers and politicians the press can’t name for legal reasons these fresh recruits are already exposed to digital PR. So where is the formal study and practical use?

Traditional PR is dying. The old techniques are a fading force with many practitioners spent. Column inches? It is method in decline. We certainly don’t need any more old hacks. Nor do we need a new generation practising the tired, old strategies.

The Internet has changed the way we interact with communications. Technology has begun to liberate the public from timetables and publishing schedules. Opinions are manipulated at the speed of a mouse click. Digital Marketing was always going to herald Digital PR.

Is PR to join the list of the other dead languages? At this rate, yes – but it doesn’t have to die just yet. Instead let’s take time to teach the kids that digital PR is fact of life, and of entertainment.

Originally published in PRWeek, 6 October 2006