I think it’d be refreshing to see an expert interviewed outside the confines dictated by his or her organization’s PR firm. While your friend does represent his company, his broad industry knowledge is his own to share, and if it’s not against company policy to speak up about the work he’s done, why does a PR firm need to track his every move?

Again, I don’t have a PR background so I don’t know. Just opinion.

This post was mentioned on Twitter by SoshallMedeea: #socialmedia 1 Are Service Businesses Now Facilitators of Conversation? http://ow.ly/16r7R6...

I was a business reporter more than a decade ago. I dealt with corporate PR people a lot. I often ran an obstacle course. There was always a person in the way of information, though it never deterred me. If there was a way to obtain information, I was going to find it. If pushed to extreme, I was even known to show up unannounced at a company facility and begin questioning people (after I had identified myself).

In one case, I had called the company headquarters in another city because I wasn’t getting the information I needed. Obviously, I felt that the local PR person could be more forthcoming. They referred me back to the obstacle, who called a short time later and gave me an earful about trying to circumvent him. So, I got in my car and paid a visit.

I got what I needed for a story that was nothing even approaching an expose. It could have been viewed as flattering or unflattering, depending on the point of view of the reader. I got another phone call from the PR person after the story ran. He ran down his list of misgivings with the story and pointed out a minor mistake, which I offered to correct. Silence, then click. My future dealings were similar. I guess I don’t have to say I didn’t get a Christmas card from this guy that year. By the way, respect for me in the newsroom grew immensely after this episode.

The encounter was not that typical. More typically, I was shown consideration for my deadline and given cooperation – to a point. The turf thing, however, is inevitable. PR folks at corporations and institutions insist on letting them do their job. But, even back then, it was old school to take an adversarial posture (at least until I had given them a reason to not like me).

These days, people can hack into email and otherwise secure sensitive information. Soon enough, there will be no privacy. The move toward transparency was inevitable. But some are going to hold on. Human nature… and there may be reasons the R&D folks and an assortment of others might want to protect their privacy.

You had a turn at experiencing what it is like to be a journalist. For the uninitiated, this is a mild example of what a reporter can encounter.

I would measure what I have to gain by playing this game of respecting turf. If it’s just aggravation, can anyone really blame you for blowing them off?

And, PR spokespersons have never been as effective as the people actually involved. I know I am dating myself, but look at all of the positive publicity that the hospital that treated President Reagan after he was shot received because they had a doctor involved in the case addressing the media.

As mass media continues to lose and social media continues to gain importance, PR firms can play important roles in two key areas. The first is to help companies develop goals, objectives,strategies, policies and procedures for effectively using social media. The second is to help train employees on how to most effectively use social media.

To say that everyone must first run everything past PR before it is used in social media is much like saying that everyone in the company must run everything they say about the company at a cocktail party past PR before they say it.

If I understand correctly, you weren’t writing to directly promote the services of the client. You were using them as an example in an article that had a focus on how they work.

I have friends across the CPG world. Those companies are in the business of selling consumer goods. If I interview people at their firms (friends or not) about their products, I’d expect to deal with their PR firms. If I talk about how those firms approach problems within the CPG world, I see no obligation to work with their PR firm (as long as those people are following their internal guidelines for communication).

I frequently sit on panels for insights and analytics. I don’t bring a PR person with me to these events. I’m not speaking to the characteristics of my product or firm, but rather how we’re engaging in a process. While I am proud of the products we create, I never individually promote those products (unless I’m buying!).

There’s an analogy in analytics that “if you wait for 100% of the information you lose 100% of the opportunity.” I’d think that a totalitarian approach to communication eliminates the possibility of opportunistic conversations.

Media policies are out the window now. In Ye Olde Tyme, we’d write a Corporate media policy and the folks in the trenches who had relationships with reporters would go off the record, all the while rolling our printed media policy up and smoking it, sipping port. Story got printed, life was good — unless they said something stupid, then we got blamed.

Traditional PR has a fork the size of an Edsel stuck in it. It’s done; move on.

I agree with Abbi that the PR folks who “get it” are facilitators rather than roadblocks. But PR can add value by vetting writers, making sure you get timely responses and rounding out the info for a busy client who may or may not be media savvy (old school or bloggers). Roles are changing. It’s not who you know but what you’re adding to the conversation and how you are engaging. That being said, it was a snarky response you got for helping to promote your friend and his/her expertise.