There’s big news in the public relations industry this week as the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) recently announced that they are embarking on an international effort to modernize the definition of public relations. Chartered in 1947, PRSA is the world’s largest and foremost organization of public relations professionals and boasts a community of more than 21,000 members across the United States. Their current definition of public relations — “public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other” was last updated in 1982, before Twitter, before Facebook, hell, even before you had a computer at your desk. Technology has changed a lot over the last 30 years. So to have the ways in which organizations and their publics relate to one another, it’s definitely time for a change.

Adam Lavelle, a member of the board of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association and chief strategic officer at the iCrossing unit of Hearst, agrees. In the New York Times article linked above, he says:

“Before the rise of social media, public relations was about trying to manage the message an entity was sharing with its different audiences. Now, P.R. has to be more about facilitating the ongoing conversation in an always-on world.”

Unfortunately, ever since the days of Edward Bernays, public relations has had its roots in “managing the message.” Public relations grew out of propaganda, spin and manipulation — no wonder we’ve had an image problem for the last 100 years! Too many public relations practitioners have become so focused on the message that they have totally forgotten the relations part of public relations. As The Cluetrain Manifesto taught us way back in 1999 (also before social media), “public relations does not relate to the public; companies are deeply afraid of their markets.” From press releases that sound like this and media pitches like this, public relations practitioners have gotten lazy, hiding behind words and messages instead of building an actual relationship.

PRSA (disclaimer: I’ve been a member of PRSA or PRSSA since 2000.) should take this same advice while redefining the definition of public relations. The words might end up being totally accurate and insightful, but if public relations practitioners don’t also change their actions, the perception of the industry will never change. I hope that all PRSA members would realize the perception of public relations is about more than words — it’s about actions. And with that, here are ten actions that I’d like to become part of the new definition of public relations:

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I was eight months pregnant with my third child and one of my daughters, then 16 months old, looked at me and said, “Mommy, you don’t have a belly button.” Really? I didn’t need to be reminded of the fact that I wasn’t my trim self, but nevertheless she stated the truth, ugly or not. We all have those “kids say the darndest things” moments. In fact, there are a number of books on the topic, some of the most popular by the talented Bill Cosby and Art Linkletter. As they point out, children have the innate ability to state the truth at the most inopportune times, even if it hurts.

A debt crisis, global economic uncertainties, war in the Middle East, earthquakes and hurricanes — everyone is dealing with some sort of uncertainty in their lives. This is the time to communicate more than ever and to tell the truth to your associates. The truth is usually much less scary than the rumors flying around.

As public relations professionals, we have to be able to communicate the truth, even if it hurts!

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Ethics is the backbone of public relations. After all, how can you build relationships and trust, if you don’t do it in an atmosphere of integrity and transparency? Lately, however, the growing array – and popularity of – social media tools has created some new ethical dilemmas and uncertainties. How does the PRSA Code of Ethics apply to tweets? If I do Facebook on my own time, what right does my employer have to complain about – or perhaps fire me for – what I say and show? The fact is, much of social media is uncharted territory. We know the rules for traditional media. Now, we’re trying to figure out if, and how, they apply in the new media world. There’s a lot of blurriness out there – between news and opinion, news and entertainment, privacy and “sharing” with Facebook and Twitter friends.

If you’re in the field of health care, things can get especially complicated. At the annual Health Academy Conference in Washington, D.C., April 27–29, a panel of top health care public relations professionals will delve into “Ethics and Today’s New World of Health Communications: An Interactive Look at What’s Right, Wrong and Just Depends.”

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Dr. Larissa Grunig and her husband, Dr. James Grunig, lectured about the importance of measuring the relationship in PR at the Third Annual Grunig Lecture.

“Grunig” is a name I saw in textbooks when I took my PR prerequisite courses. The name is legend, synonymous with PR research, excellence and theory.

So when I saw that PRSA hosted an annual “Grunig Lecture” (let alone that the series is in its third year!), I positioned my time to attend the session.

Like a well-balanced communications team, Drs. Jim and Lauri Grunig taught us attendees about the importance of relationships in PR — not only through their research, but also through their example.

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Timothy Coombs and Sherry Holladay, both of the University of Central Florida, presented their case study content analysis of what they called the Kindle crisis from summer 2009.

Using a quantitative content analysis of postings published within an established Kindle community, the researchers looked at items published in the forum over a 2-day period that discussed the CEO’s very direct and unorthodox apology for their misstep.

The scholars classified each post as to whether the post noted the author owned a Kindle (indicated ownership, indicated was not an owner, did not mention ownership) and impact to behavioral intention (said the apology would change behavior, said apology would not change behavior, did not indicate any behavior change based on apology), among other variables.

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