Deirdre Breakenridge

I read so many great articles when I was on vacation last week. The article, “Drupal vs. Joomla” I thought was especially helpful. It appeared in the June issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. Now you’re probably wondering why I would be so enthusiastic about an article (really it was a chart) on content management systems.

I took a vacation this week for some rest and relaxation. With vacation comes time to reflect and self-evaluate. It’s already the end of June and I thought it would be a good idea to check on my progress toward 2010 PR and social media related goals.

Did you know that if Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest in the world after China and India?  Facebook’s global growth is explosive and for many professionals, it’s difficult to find a book that captures the intricacies of Facebook without being overwhelming, offers the opportunity to learn how to create community [...]

On June 11, I had the best post college experience that I could ask for and attended PRSA’s T3PR Conference in New York City. Having been a PRSSA member that attended a conference this past February, I was completely blown away from what I experienced. Between my moving back home, I unfortunately missed the pre-chat [...]

Last week was the PRSA T3PR Conference in New York City. Attendees gathered from around the country to hear several well-known authorities in PR and social media speak on a variety of topics. The topics were diverse from Sarah Evans (Sevans Strategy) educating us on what’s next in technology and Justin Levy (New Marketing Labs) updating participants on the very latest Facebook tips to Christine Perkett (PerkettPR) giving new insights on what it takes to become a PR influencer and Ed Schipul (Schipul the Web Marketing Company) educating us on building an online brand. The conference was captured via the hashtag #techprsa.

I met David Spinks (@davidspinks) in May at the PRSA Digital Impact Conference in New York City. I felt like I already knew David just through our interactions on Twitter. After meeting him IRL and learning about his company, Scribnia, I thought it would be interesting to have a Q&A with him to find out more about an organization that helps PR professionals find and rate bloggers.

I spoke at the PRSA Leadership Rally over the weekend to discuss PR 2.0, social media communications and Putting the Public Back in Public Relations. It was a great conference with approximately 150 incoming PRSA leaders in attendance. I introduced to the group an exercise that I call “The Making of the Hybrid,” which focuses on individual, communications career development. The exercise gave examples of the differences between the traditional strategic PR communicator and the Hybrid professional. As I moved through my presentation, I asked the audience to rate themselves, with respect to their own roles, responsibilities and professional career development (traditional vs. hybrid).

I’m leaving for Washington next week to speak at the Vocus User’s Conference. My topic is “PR Past to Social Media Power.” Looking back, as I traveled down my own PR 2.0 path, I heard many people say that PR was dead. I believe PR is very much alive. We’re changing, growing and experiencing an awakening or a rebirth in our industry. Despite the stereotypes about our work being PR spin and hype, if it wasn’t for a strong PR past, which gives us a solid foundation in strategic communications and relationship building with the public, there would be no opportunity for “social media power” to propel us forward today. From our ability to plan and execute strategic communications to our measurement practices and accountability, PR has a gained big stake in social media. Notice, I didn’t say we own it, because we all know that no one can own social media.