By Alice Fong,

Business Editor, The Ticker

On Oct. 15, four leaders in the public relations industry spoke in a panel dubbed “The Changing Dynamics of Public Relations” at Baruch College. The event was streamed live and Twitter comments were projected in real time.

The industry leaders described how the public relations industry has changed, and the course it will take moving forward.

The conference was hosted by Baruch MarkLab, a resource center that connects Baruch students and marketing industry professionals.

The panel discussion was webcast live and open to Twitter comments and live feedback from the audience.

Dave Armon, former president of PR Newswire, a provider of information distribution services, moderated the panel.

The panelists reflected on the change that the public relations industry is currently undergoing.

“Change is tough for everybody,” said Jeff Gluck, a leader in external communications for the General Business division of IBM, “The industry is going through tremendous change right now.”

He cited the recent sale of BusinessWeek magazine to Bloomberg LP.

Gluck remembered receiving public relations information through the mail. Now the public relations industry has moved to the web.

“Digital communications is name of the game,” said Don Middleberg, founder and CEO of Middleberg Communications, “my clients would rather be in BusinessWeek.com than in BusinessWeek.”

Yet mainstream media still has “an extraordinary amount of influence in catalyzing the conversation,” said Peter Himler, founder and principal of the New York media consulting firm Flatiron Communications LLC.

A provocative business story in mainstream media reverberates in the public.

This news in mainstream media is seemingly magnified through Twitter. Twitter functions in a similar way to PR Newswire or Business Wire for companies.

It allows knowledgeable individuals to disseminate information to interested parties.

“Now, it’s not about mass; it’s about niche,” said Middleberg. “Employees can become ambassadors and take that load off of the internal communications department,” said Himler.

This is a change from how information in the public relations business used to flow. “PR people played an integral role between the newsmaker and the news reporter,” said Himler, “it was always top down.” Public relations would work with their clients to make sure that they advanced their media agenda.

Now the content on blogs and Twitter feeds bypass the media filter.

“All of a sudden, the newsmaker has a voice in what ends up in editorial domain,” said Himler, “People’s media consumption habits have changed…it’s no longer top down.”

However, the goals of companies have not changed. “Every company, every institution still wants its brand in the media,” said Himler, “only the means to that end have changed.”

Technology, such as Google news alerts, now enables public relations companies to follow what people were saying about their clients. Bill Southard, founder and CEO of Southard Communications, is active in trying to understand what is going on with the company’s clients.

“We’ll do ongoing competitive analysis for our clients,” he said.

Public relations started in the early 1900s with “press agents,” paid individuals who tried to influence journalists for various interests. This sparked the rivalry between public relations people and journalists.

Middleberg suggested that the public relations industry is a great business.

“It’s a great opportunity to come in and be a sharp, smart strategist right now,” said Middleberg.

To succeed in public relations, Gluck suggested hard work and preparedness.
“Be selective about whom you follow, and read tweets that interest you,” said Middleberg. He looked for academic leadership and intellectual curiosity.

“Think about your resume and what’s going to ‘pop’ there,” said Himler. “Go out and play with these [web] tools, then put them on your resume,” said Himler.

Personal branding is also very important in the business. “You can’t stand too many bad stories that are your doing,” said Gluck. Students should aim for “a brand of integrity, a brand that stands for something,” said Middleberg.

Middleberg offers an internship to Baruch students at his firm, Middleberg Communications, on what he calls “McDonald’s wages.”

The panelists cited paid or unpaid internships as a way for interested students to get a foot through the public relations door.