As the battleship that is traditional PR does it's ever-so-slow U-turn to face the blogosphere opportunity, tons of bloggers are getting all touchy about how they are approached. It amuses me. The bloggers aren't wrong. But most of what they're demanding in the way of being 'pitched' sounds very, very familiar. Here's a good example of one of the more well-written and thoughtful pieces on this topic. It comes from a blog called navigate communications.

See, for years many not-so-hot traditional PR people (they number in the zillions) have pitched magazines they've never read; they've pitched writers about whom they know nothing; they've broadcasted blanket, one-size-fits-all, generic pitch emails. They've pitched products and services with which they have only a vague familiarity. Some of these same people are doing all the same old things when it comes to the blogosphere. And bloggers are responding with comments like, "Have you even read my blog?" Does't that sound a lot like, "Have you ever even read my magazine?"

It amuses me because the anti-establishment citizen journalists may have more in common with traditional journalists than expected. This probably means we could take a few lessons from mainstream editors who have been putting up with this problem (insert more descriptive word here if you want) for years.

In the end, the smart traditional PR people who know the value of doing their homework will do just fine in the blogosphere. The key to it will be they will learn how to lurk. Lurking is the exercise of showing PR restraint while becoming familiar with a blog, as in, like, OK, actually reading it regularly. Then these same people will devise a specific and appropriate approach. As for the rest who are incapable of learning and lurking, I suggest bloggers respond to unwanted emails and phone calls with the following expression: "Lurk, Jerk." Then hit send or hang up. That's pretty much what the mainstream media has said and done for years to PR people who just don't get it.

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