Richard Edelman writes that his public relations firm and Technorati are cooperating on a survey of bloggers to be emailed out at the end of next week. Their intent is to improve relations between bloggers and PR professionals, which have strained a bit lately. Findings will follow on the Edelman Web site on October 6.
“We are going to ask bloggers how we can get the relationship right, how PR companies can help them rather than annoy them, how we can improve the conversation, how we can earn their trust.”
I have received an advance copy of the survey. It asks a lot of MediaMap/Bacons-esque questions like: “How often do you write about companies, their products or their employees?”; “Would you like product samples from companies in order to evaluate these products on your blog?”, “When looking for product information, which do you trust most?” (e.g. press releases, blogs, etc.) and more. The questions are akin to what the media directories poll journalists on all the time.
Richard, while there's nothing inherently wrong with this survey and Edelman's intent is noble, I really don't see what this effort will get us other than amalgamated data. In fact, it goes against the grain. The blogosphere is a dispersed medium of individuals. This effort aims to paint a picture of what the “average blogger” wants/needs when there really is no such thing. In this world, everyone is unique.
We don't need more data. What our profession needs is hard experience. We need to get more PR professionals to blog the way we do. That's the best way to learn. H&K has the right idea here, although I am not nuts about their barriers to entry. I would love to find a way all PR bloggers can partner to evangelize, train and immerse PR professionals in the world we live in every day. A survey isn't the answer. Next week's Global PR Blog Week is one such step. Let's work together to develop others.
Technorati Tags: Edelman, Technorati
