What people are saying about the new ‘definition’ of PR

Big news in the public relations industry this week: It has been redefined, literally—though how effectively remains a matter of no small debate. Here’s the reaction.

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The outcome hasn’t quieted that debate nor stanched the criticism of the process.

On Twitter, people have weighed in with a number of opinions, from “meh” to “seriously flawed” to “they chose well,” and all points in between.

PR executive Gini Dietrich, who skewered the finalist definitions, gave PRSA credit for taking on the challenge, but she said the process of choosing a definition was flawed.

“They had us fit our definitions into a fill-in-the-blanks formula that didn’t allow for true crowd-sourcing or independent thinking,” she told PR Daily. “The definition is jargon, at best, and still doesn’t explain what we do. Until the industry, as a whole, can describe what we do, in terms of business results, this exercise was futile.”

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