It was not long after this BusinessWeek cover appeared on newsstands in the Spring of 2005 that I began reading blogs. As I had mentioned previously, I was growing increasingly uncomfortable with my lack of knowledge of the blogosphere and social media tools in general. As the sub-head reads: Catch up...or catch you later. I headed the warning, and I'm very glad I did. (Note: BusinessWeek updated its article earlier this year).While some may regard this as harsh, I don't believe you can serve today's public relations client without a working understanding of social media and the broader discipline of digital communication. And clients shouldn't pay hundreds of dollars an hour for PR-lite. Now if you're reading this blog (along with many others I hope), you've already taken steps toward becoming more educated about how to leverage social media to build important relationships for your clients. This is a good thing.
Over the next several weeks, I'll walk you through my personal social media journey. One that started with reading blogs, later writing one, and then testing a number of social media sites, where by trial and error (with an emphasis on error), I began to understand the power of these incredible tools. If you're comfortable taking a journey that will likely never end, come aboard.
As I recount my experiences, I look forward to you sharing yours and our learnng from one another. If we play our cards right, we'll illustrate how a blog can serve as a powerful (and inexpensive) professional development tool. I look forward to our conversation over the coming weeks.
