{"id":321,"date":"2007-08-23T17:53:00","date_gmt":"2007-08-24T00:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paulgillin.com\/2007\/08\/qa-for-prsa.html"},"modified":"2007-08-23T17:53:00","modified_gmt":"2007-08-24T00:53:00","slug":"qa-for-prsa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/qa-for-prsa\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A for PRSA"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was privileged to present a virtual seminar this week to the Public Relations Society of America<\/a>. Some interesting questions came into my mailbox after the program was over, so I thought I’d answer them here.<\/span><\/p>\n

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If you’re at the PRSA International Conference<\/a> in October, be sure to stop by and say hello. I’ll be giving a presentation on Monday, Oct. 22, as well as sharing the stage with PR legend Larry Weber.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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Here are the questions and my responses:<\/p>\n


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Sarah writes:<\/span><\/o:p><\/p>\n

I am interested in the standards of new media and wanted to ask you specifically about the emergence of advertising on the new media platforms. Are advertisers gaining traction on these sites? I imagine they are. So then\u2026will the new media have a mechanism for separating edit from ads? More fundamentally, how do I trust that the blogger-citizen-writer is free from advertiser influence?<\/o:p><\/p>\n

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One phenomenon I discuss in my book<\/a> is the emergence of a rich set of ethical standards in the blogosphere, the kind of standards that any journalistic organization would be proud of. <\/span>Basically, deception is considered a high crime, and bloggers who have written for hire have been roundly flogged. <\/span>There are services <\/span>that pay for coverage<\/span><\/a>, but as a rule, bloggers are expected to disclose these affiliations.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

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The question of separating ads from editorial is always a moving target, as it has been in print for many years. <\/span>I believe advertisers and publishers both know that disguising advertising as editorial is bad news. <\/span>Standards for how ads appear on a page are evolving, but our perceptions will evolve with them. <\/span>Just as avid newspaper readers instinctively know how to tell an editorial from an advertorial, I expect the same intuitions will develop online.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Jason comments:<\/o:p>
While Facebook <\/a>is exploding beyond [its origins as a service for students], the core users still base their involvement on personal networks. The majority of my Facebook friends are former students I worked with while a PR manager in academia. Integrating these less than professional interactions with fellow PR pros and even clients makes for pins and needles monitoring.<\/p>\n

No matter how many identities you might have, Google ruins your chances of complete separation. Unless you resort to pseudonyms for your interactions, the transparent society in which we surf will forever dangle the threat of exposure if you like to keep your person and persona separate.<\/p>\n

Can an executive at, say, Ford, share beer jokes with college buddies on his or her MySpace page? Or manage a personal blog about erotic photography while representing Ford on the company blog?<\/p>\n

My questions are:<\/p>\n

1. Do you see potential pitfalls of people juggling multiple identities in the online world?
2. Where should professionals draw the line in becoming a social networking participant on a personal basis?
3. HR professionals are already Googling potential job candidates. Should your Facebook\/MySpace\/etc., profiles be off-limits and how can they be if the information is there and free?