Manipulating the conversation shouldn't be the PR pro's objective

One of my favorite television shows is the HBO series Entourage.

If you haven't seen it, it's about a young New York actor who becomes a movie star and moves to Hollywood with his brother and two childhood friends, who manage his career (hence the name of the show).

In an episode last year, Vince, the star, runs afoul of a movie blogger at a sci-fi convention where he is promoting an upcoming film.

His buddies try to convince the blogger not to trash the movie, but get nowhere. The blogger tells them something along these lines: I started this website to get laid or to get rich, and so far neither of those is happening (sounds familiar, huh?).

So to placate the blogger, Vince's buddies send up a trio of porn star hotties to his hotel room who make sure at least one of those objectives is met. The blogger is putty.


Looking for a little love

I write about this not to encourage HBO's blogger relations group to send porn stars to Wagner Communications' world headquarters, but to illustrate a point: The "pie in the sky" days of blogging as a social cause -- as a "new media" with transparency as its core -- are over.

The episode does a good job of reminding us that many bloggers are just looking for a little love, and they'll do whatever they can to find it. If it comes from a schmoozing PR pro with over-the-top praise and whispers of exclusives, so be it.

The challenge for us as communications leaders is this: We must not allow traditional methods of message control to permeate the new media, no matter how easy it might seem.


It's all about the conversation, right?

In the 14 months I've been blogging, I've read again and again that the whole idea is about "the conversation" ... that blogging is a way to participate in dialog, not manipulate it. I believed it when I first read it, and I still believe it today.

Programs or efforts that try and direct the conversation by giving "friendly" bloggers words and phrases to use are poisoning the well. Rather than doing the hard work of listening and conversing, they are looking for a "below the covers" way to manuever the discourse in their client's direction.

No matter how the apologists try and spin it, the whole approach reeks of old-school PR.


Is there a PR disconnect?

I sense there's a disconnect a mile wide between what many PR bloggers say, and what they are willing to accept as common practice. If you believe in "the conversation," and the importance of "listening," can you on the other hand condone someone who is actively seeking to manipulate the very idea you promote?

Use your voice. Participate in the dialog. Communicate your message. If it's worthwhile, it will find an audience. Isn't that what we believe? Or is that just me?

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