Why PR Isn't Dead (And Facebook Might Be)

Josh Quittner of Fortune's Techland writes this (my emphasis):

What’s surprising here is the speed with which this thing is coming undone — and the ease with which it could have been avoided. What’s harming Facebook - perhaps to a terminal degree - is enormously bad PR. For a social media company, these folks don’t understand the first thing about communication; they have alienated the press by being arrogant, aloof and dishonest. Their idea of press relations is sending a stupid message to a What’s New at Facebook Group that directs you to another website for a canned statement.

And it is killing them. That bad press extends from the blogosphere to mainstream media. No one who writes about Facebook likes it anymore. And while that might seem insidery — who cares what the press thinks? — it’s having dire repercussions. For one thing, advertisers care what the press thinks. Bad press is causing advertisers to jump ship. And that’s begetting even more bad press. It’s the opposite of a virtuous circle; it’s an economy being undone.

Comments

[Ike]

The comments to Josh's piece are far more entertaining. The Millenials are out in force, taking extreme umbrage at anyone who dares to attack their little Facebook.

They wax poetic about Facebook like Gollum does his precious little Ring.

[Mary Hunt]

Ya know things are bad at Facebook when a CEO of a large industrial company told me yesterday that Facebook will be dead soon. This is someone who barely uses email. Somehow the story has reached his level. His comment? "All the tech groups that have done well had an older person at the helm who provided parental control."

[Bill]

Hello,

I am a millenial and a blogger and an SNS subscriber. I enjoy and use facebook. I would argue that Facebook is doing a decent job of PR, but it is doing it on its own terms. They don't have to get stories published in the newspaper to prove they are successful. $800 million dollars of ad revenue last year and mile long list of people knocking down their door to buy space is proof enough.

One of the strange truths is that SNS sites are a natural extension of public relations not media relations. And Facebook does, in my opinion, a good job of informing its core audiences (which are in the millions).

With that said, I don't think that PR is dead either. Many of its practitioners just need to wake up and realize that their publics are online believing what they are reading, not at a newsstand.

[Michael Sommermeyer]

In turns of persuasive communication, Facebook can feed off of the goodwill they have generated with their audience. This group believes in the product and are willing to remain evangelists for Facebook. The users still trust Facebook. In this light, it doesn't matter much what the mainstream press says or believes about the service. Facebook isn't seeking new users through the mainstream press, therefore, they can reach their audience through a group or email post. When Facebook loses trust, authority and finally goodwill, then you will see them struggling to adapt to the new public relations reality they will eventually face.

[Jen, writer MembershipMillionaire.com]

It seems like a lot of people are starting to lose interest in Facebook. There are a multitude of reasons but this is the first time I've heard of this bad PR issue. I'm not a real Facebook user, you see. Just how much are ordinary users affected anyway?