I like the idea of that industry using online tools to connect to the right people, and to avoid annoying the wrong people. I like the attitude that this PR firm expressed. I can see several ways in which social networks can enhance the process. For example, one bright PR person saw me post that I was researching Ajax technologies and sent a friendly offer of her company's tech staff.

But I fear that online communities are just as likely to be used poorly as are the other, older methods of PR. Because PR done well doesn't change, even if the communication medium does; and PR done poorly quickly becomes spam to the wrong recipient, no matter which medium is used.

For example, it doesn't work to e-mail thousands of press releases and to hope that three of them land well; why will it work any better to tweet about what a client did or to post it on digg? The stadium with 50,000 baseball fans and including four doctors is happy to step back for one life-threatening emergency, but they're not going to stay quiet if there are 30 not-really-emergencies during a game.

In the long run, the business process for successful PR people won't change at all, even if the tools do. No matter how they reach me initially, their job is still about creating relationships with journalists. PR people with poor skills will be equally bad no matter which technology they use. The good ones find out what the journalist writes and cares about, and offer something that helps her do her job well. The PR people who do that are golden, in my book, and I'll go out of my way to answer any e-mail message they write. It doesn't matter overmuch whether that contact is made by e-mail or twitter; the job is still the same.

(Maybe it ought to go without saying, but these opinions are my own, not necessarily those of anyone else at CIO.)