Public Relations is taking a beating, and why is that? I’m going out on a short limb to blame social media (well, and perhaps those doing poor-quality work).

The echo chamber is amplifying and reverberating industry-wide on a global scale with anti-PR sentiment. Those who’ve had bad business experience with public relations are free to share it virally, with vitriol and unencumbered. Negative sells; look at the aisles of the U.S. Congress. The snark and divisiveness are great examples of what gets media attention.

I also blame our brothers and sisters who reside on the media side; pointedly, The New York Times Small Business Blog. It gave carte blanche to a jamoke to blog anti-PR sentiment on a global soapbox and, as a result, he incited an entire profession. (Sorry, no more links being handed out to this dude.) He’s not the only one; you can read many more examples on Spin Sucks; Gini Dietrich does a fantastic job in support of the profession, via Shonali Burke at Waxing Unlyrical where she recently covered the TechCrunch whine at a PR pro. She revisits the same topic a bit deeper March 7 here, on Spin Sucks. “Where is the Professionalism in PR?” Allison Development Group, that’s Erica’s blog, speaks forth on Where’s the Civility?

For all the value and positives PR people deliver (I promise you we do), there are louder and more publicized stories about the schlocks in the profession who lend a bad name to everyone. Then there’s how our profession is defined – I cringe when the Tinsel Town set says, “Call my publicist, and we’ll schedule lunch.”

People believe PR is strictly publicity; couldn’t be farther from the truth. Today, I saw a tweet from the ever-popular @JasonFalls who said something to effect: “I hate it when companies turn down free publicity.” I almost got into a heated conversation and decided to let the stream go by untouched.

As a result of much of the above, I spontaneously posted an article on my blog last week “What Is PR?” There were those who thought crowdsourcing this discussion was a waste of time and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) thought we’d been down this path too many times to count. Then there were those on the frontlines, the youth of this profession, who are confused about their professional livelihood. They’re in the overarching discipline of public relations and they don’t know it.

So, what’s a public relations practitioner to do? I’d like to ask each of you to:

• Be cognizant of this crisis of identity in public relations and strive to educate naysayers, clients, students, employees, and peers about the value we bring and to rectify the name calling (in particular, “flack”).
• Encourage a young person to join the profession that offers a wide array of opportunities across industries and sectors.
• Uphold the profession and wear it as a badge of honor. Do you know that we in PR boast skills that are highly employable and will keep us working beyond retirement?
• Take an opportunity to blog or do a workshop to set the record straight because we are a team that requires “global-raderie.”

Jayme Soulati is president of U.S. Soulati Media, Inc., a virtual public relations firm blending social media and marketing to effect business strategy. She blogs at Soulati-‘TUDE! and also at The SMB Collective. Follow her avidly on Twitter @Soulati or Facebook/Soulati Media.

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