Are we having this discussion again,  all over again? You know, the one where we redefine PR.  Is this a sign our  profession continues to have an identity crisis? You decide.

The Public Relations Society of America has been working through a process to redefine public relations. In the organization’s latest post, Candidates for a Modern Definition of Public Relations, we are given three, new, modernized versions of our profession. (I italicize modernized to be snarky because the following proposed definitions are far from that.) Okay, here they are:

1. Public relations is the management function of researching, engaging, communicating, and collaborating with stakeholders in an ethical manner to build mutually beneficial relationships and achieve results.
2. Public relations is a strategic communication process that develops and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their key publics.
3. Public relations is the engagement between organizations and individuals to achieve mutual understanding and realize strategic goals.

Well, I have a problem with all of these definitions. Yes, we know public relations is a management function. Yes, we know it is there to build mutually beneficial relationships and achieve results. Yes, we know it is a strategic communication process. And, yes, we know it’s design is toward realizing strategic goals and achieving results.

Here’s the problem. There’s nothing new about these definitions! They are written without any creative thought. (Seriously, words like management function, and strategic communication process, ooze lifeless corporate-speak. BARF!)  And they don’t persevere toward the core value of a public relations professional.

We build community. And we build that to cultivate fellowship around a brand. These work hand-in-hand toward a larger goal that should be much bigger than the bottom line and much more important than the people involved. A better definition of public relations might read something like this:

Public relations nurtures community and fellowship between brands and people, which is larger than the bottom line and more significant than the people involved.

I’d like to open this for debate. What is your definition of PR? Should it excite those affected and speak to the core value of the profession, instead of regurgitating list-less, lifeless strings of corporate speak that say nothing new. Please share your comments below and retweet to your colleagues.

Google’s Panda algorithm update is changing the rules and opens the door for public relations professionals reign over web content and site creation. Erik Decker, vice president of Problog Services, wrote, “The new Google Panda update stresses usability and the user experience over whether you have the right keywords in your title and body copy, and over backlinks.” Rand Fiskkin of SEOMoz, says the new Panda update will rank websites based on how well people interact with content online.

While keywords will remain an important component of optimizing content for search, Google will be emphasizing design as well as what visitors do once they land on a website. If a person landing on a website glances and goes, then Google’s Panda will frown on that. If a person browses through a website clicking through pages, Panda will recognize and reward that. This will force companies to revisit their online content and challenge them to make it better.

Reassessing  website content will force us to begin asking some different questions:

• What is the experience of this website?
• Is this website creating a brand that people are going to love and share and reward and trust?
• Are people doing a glance-and-go or are they browsing?

Finally, Panda will be elevating diversity and quantity of traffic. That means Google will start grading us on the variety and quality of people our websites attract. Important to businesses and non-profits, this will give public relations professionals more opportunity to work with web designers to build sites that are socially engaging and full of useful and entertaining content targeted to specific groups of people who need it most. For an exhaustive treatment of Panda and how you can conform to the new rules, Wordtracker has a great post: Google Panda Update Survival Guide.