Behind The Spin

New media and old skills: the way ahead for PR

Weblogs and other social softwares are changing PR - and staying ahead of the game can offer opportunities for students looking for first career break. If PR is about projecting a reputation, a showcase blog can be a help, writes Philip Young

How and why PR should sharpen up its focus

The business community views public relations with uncertainty and even mistrust – a situation unlikely to alter as long as too many definitions of PR allow too many types of practitioner to cluster under a single umbrella title. What is needed is to find a single coherent definition of PR, with a clear methodology that is comprehensive and understandable to both supplier and customer. Chris Taylor suggests an answer.

Not another survey...

Here's a challenge for Behind the Spinners... How do you get PR practitioners to fill in an online survey? I am a lead researcher for EuroBlog 2006, a pan-European Survey backed by the European Public Relations Education and Research Association and we are trying to capture a snapshot of what practitioners (sorry, they must be practitioners, not students) think about web logs. It is an adacemic survey that has to be broadly similar across every European country so we can't  incentivise responses (no chance to win a free i-Pod!) but we do need to persuade people to take the trouble to go online and spend about five minutes filling it in. Without giving too much away, the responses from just two countries have dominated the results so far (and no, the UK is not one of them). How do we change this - any ideas gratefully received. And if you have any contacts within the industry, please ask them to spread the word. Thanks, Philip

Isn't public sector PR a bit boring?

About halfway through her first year studying PR at Leeds Met the realisation dawned on ALICE EDMOND...

I didn't want to work in a PR consultancy. Before then I don't think I'd really considered all the different options, but when I did I decided I wanted to work in-house, in the public sector. My reasons? The range of work, the unpredictability, but most of all the feeling that what I'm doing is worthwhile.

Have you got what it takes

It often seems that PR degrees are chosen by students who don't quite know what they want to do next.

Throughout my studies, I came across those who would do the minimum required to pass the exams. Their approach was different to mine, writes VALENTINA NOBILI.