Photo Courtesy: Dakota State University

Stop the presses on that new PR Book. We’re heading for PR 3.0. Whatever that means.

PR Week coined that moniker, presumably to talk about how PR’s growth is steering the industry toward new heights. Perhaps the magazine’s editors were hoping to sound hip and leap over PR 2.0. I still haven’t figured out what PR 2.0 means and most of my fellow professionals are still grappling with PR 1.0. I sure hope this doesn’t imitate the New Coke v. Old Coke debate.

If Social Media has done anything for the industry, it has opened the door to new communication channels and tools. But, and I’m trying not to be a pessimist, not too many PR folks are using these social tools. And judging from a Forrester survey, 52-percent of the general population is “not engaged” in social media either. Sure, that leaves 48-percent presumably engaged, but still too low of a percentage to claim everyone’s jumped in the fray and too soon to claim PR should dump everything to focus on social media.

Certainly communication tools are changing, but that leads me back to my usual mantra: Communicate folks! That’s what we do. Engage people in conversations. I don’t care if you’re blogging, sharing a drink in Second Life, or posting messages on the backs of camels, if you’re communicating, engaging and reaching out to individuals, then it’s a good thing.

We all seek social outlets for communication. We make actual connections when our overtures are met by others who enjoy our company and seek to share our experiences. Public relations has allowed many people to make connections, even though they may not have intended to be part of the conversation. That is not to say they were manipulated. It means that PR allowed them to be introduced to a person who eventually became a partner or friend.

I engage in social media, but I don’t make it the main course. Like everything else I use it to flavor my conversations and overtures to various publics. If that is PR 1/2/3/4/5, let’s call if that. However, I’m just not sold on the idea that PR needs any moniker or special number to show its value or to mark its evolution.