Taking the PR out of print

 A study conducted by the good people at the Pew Internet & American Life Project has concluded that a whopping 93% of teens are now online.  Of those, about 64% are using the Internet to post content as widespread as pictures and videos to homework assignments.  Feel free to take a second to pop your eyeballs back into their sockets.

According to a USA Today article on the study “Teens don’t drop old technologies as they add new ones, ‘they just communicate more,’ says Pew’s Amanda Lenhart. ‘And more frequently.’” 

For too long PR practitioners have considered a successful hit to be the front page of the New York Times.  Naturally we want mass audiences, but that’s like wishing for a return to the days of three TV stations.  As media continues its perpetual splintering, the future of PR will be defined not by print but by processors. 

Look into the crystal ball with me. 

In 10 years when these teenagers are young adults, news will regularly be delivered to their mobile phones or directly to their inboxes, not to their doorstep by a paper boy.  These adults will get personalized updates and news that is strictly relevant to them. 

Will a typical press release or pitch get picked up by media the way it might today?  Probably not.  I envision a day when press releases are regularly sent directly to consumers’ mobile phones and PDAs.  Forget pitching media when we can send highly relevant, highly targeted and most importantly, USEFUL information to the people we’re ultimately trying to reach.  What if PR practitioners could send press releases or company updates directly to consumers?  It could very well happen with the way traditional media continues to disintegrate.  And what if those consumers could send PR practitioners direct feedback about the products/brands that we’re marketing?  Certainly this group of consumers will be far more tech savvy than previous generations and the crumbling walls of media will only continue to put marketers and their audience on a much more intimate plane.  If the media, marketers and consumers represent three distinct groups today, in 10-20 years these groups will probably be indistinguishable - instead, we’ll simply be trading information with one another.  And the success of PR will not be about the number of eyeballs but about the quality of information shared and its meaningfulness to those who receive our messages. 

So let’s move beyond those New York Times hits, and let’s try to think about ways to actively reach and engage consumers instead of simply talking at them.  Sounds quite refreshing to me.