I pulled out my scruffy copy of The Cluetrain Manifesto the other night and re-read the first essay. I was surprised at how fresh it all seems even today nearly ten years later. When it arrived on my desk, the book articulated what I was seeing and experiencing during the early implementations of the interactive Internet (around 1993); a large pool of people sharing experiences, tips, ideas and building a community.

Cluetrain revealed to a lot of people the paradigm shift that has become today’s social media Internet. Today the book is being trashed a bit by critics who see the notion of the ‘amateur internet’ as dangerous, short sided and doomed. Even going as far to predict social media will lead our society down a path to destruction. They argue that blurring the lines between the personal and the social has created a sort of huckster cult, which needs – almost demands – its members uncover their subconscious id in a raw exchange of energy and exuberance. A world relegated to PR feel good phrases and social expression; devoid of ethics or morals.

In his book, The Cult of the Amateur, Andrew Keen warns that Cluetrain’s essays encourage a decay of the tenants of society – ethical mores, traditional roles and abstract ideas of truth that have long defined our communities. Keen believes that engagement and “participatory” social tools undermine innovation and creativity. In short, he thinks Cluetrain is a bunch of hooey.

Cluetrain didn’t reveal a new world order and create marching orders for the masses to follow. It simply revealed that the lines between community, citizenship, the customer and conversations were starting to blur. People were starting to realize they didn’t need to seek permission to participate. I don’t recall there being a secret handshake or anything; just honest attempts to show that people were seeking a way to connect, learn, debate and communicate.

So where does this leave public relations? According to Keen, if you know how to speak well and smile, then you’re in.

Social media tools allow public relation practitioners the ability to enable people and institutions to come together for an honest exchange of ideas. And then get out of the way and listen. There will always be those people who stand out and whose opinion seems to matter more than others. But that doesn’t mean those are the only people we should listen to. Using social media tools, public relations can continue to help match up the emerging influencers with people seeking information, input, and possibly to be influenced.

Controlling the message, like the critics of Cluetrain advocate, leads us back to the notion of using public relations as a way to carry on a one-sided conversation; the realm of the blast fax. I’ve said before that that the press release as a shotgun shell, blast rocket is long dead. The one-sided model never worked and never should have defined public relations. We shouldn’t have been spamming fax machines all those years and we shouldn’t be spamming email either. I don’t want to go back to that era. Additionally, I don’t want to be spammed and or left crap in my social media tools either; it’s a balance that doesn’t require a twitter every 10 seconds.

The public relations leader doesn’t need to control the message nor shape it. Public relations practitioners need only listen, engage and carry on a two-way conversation with publics to succeed. Public relations can better focus on telling the truth, listening, admitting errors or mistakes, and defining the expectations the industry has for being transparent, honest and authentic. Sometimes that can be done usual social media and other times it requires actually walking up to someone and talking to them face-to-face.

In that regard, I don’t think social media should be discounted because its users are amateurs who don’t carry a media ID card or can’t edit their blog posts. If you wish to encourage debate, seek input, explain positions and develop a following, then re-read Cluetrain, chew on its nuggets of inspiration and do whatever you can to start a conversation.