PRPLI – Evolving With the Times
As we continue to celebrate PRPLI’s 30th anniversary, we’re going to explore the past pages of our newsletter and see how the public relations profession has evolved.
One area which is immediately apparent is the impact of changing technology and how PRPLI has adapted to them. At the inception of PRPLI, we printed hard copies of our newsletters which were mailed to members. In the spring of 2015, digital versions of the newsletter began to appear on our website and in 2019 we evolved to monthly blog posts.
While there have been technology and paradigm shifts in corporate environments, some topics specific to PR, still remain relevant for us today. An article from September 1990 entitled, Public Relations, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, probed the never ending discussion on maintaining the integrity of the profession, while the article Talking Ethics in the Winter 2004 newsletter, explored how PR codes are a helpful resource to guide professionals in their business making decisions. Multicultural Marketing was explored in a January 2003 article, a topic that remains relevant given the importance of being inclusive of all audiences when communicating.
Ghosting (a term used to describe the practice of ceasing all communication with an individual without any justification and subsequently ignoring any attempts to communicate) has been in vogue recently but our article in the Autumn 1995 newsletter entitled A lesson: Don’t Burn Bridges, illustrated the importance of staying in touch with former colleagues when leaving positions and always leaving on good terms. Closely related, the article Good Manners = Good Business, encouraged professionals to practice business etiquette by returning emails and phone messages in a timely manner (Fall 2005), a necessity given that communications is intricately woven into our profession.
Back in Spring 1995, before the likes of Instagram, PRPLI understood the importance of capturing great photographs in an article entitled, Say Cheese, which offered tips on picture taking, a topic of importance today given our visually driven mediums.
As mentioned, the greatest change in our industry is the use of technology and PRPLI continuously digs into this topic. In the winter of 2015, we explored how to help clients manage their social channels in the article Navigating the Stormy Waters of Social Media. In the same newsletter, we looked at our favorite tool, the press release. Although still used to disseminate the five Ws of news stories, the article, The Aging of the Press Release, showed how its distribution has drastically changed because of the internet. In the fall of 2016, we shared a new digital tactic in the article Social Media Trends – Live Streaming – What it is and How we can use it, which in the span of four years continues to be embraced by those in the communications field.
For more articles on public relations and technology, please search our newsletter archives on PRPLI.org and be on the lookout for our next installment of Celebrating 30 Years.
