The Internet is the most powerful communications medium in the world. It has revolutionized how people communicate, think, learn, behave, and conduct business. However, through all this change and innovation, has PR aggressively adapted to this new medium? The answer came in late 2000 from a study conducted by the Council of PR firms (www.prfirms.org) and IMT Strategies (www.imtstrategies.com) titled "The Impact of the Internet on Public Relations and Business Communications: How New Models of Communications Will Create Risks and Opportunities for Communications Professionals." The findings were clear: PR was missing the online boat. The survey revealed that few in the PR industry were proactively tapping the Internet strategically or tactically.

Despite the current dot-com doom and gloom, the Internet is here to stay and will soon gain membership to the "traditional media" club based on its population reach. Thus, it is imperative that future PR pros understand how to leverage the Internet, alongside broadcast, print, and radio. To do so, PR pros must redefine their roles within their organizations and learn new skill sets given the Internet is blurring the lines between PR and other disciplines. For example, is creating and distributing an e-newsletter to build up your organizations reputation and credibility a marketing or PR responsibility? How about if a journalist reports incorrect product information gathered from your website, should IT or PR be responsible? To truly harness the power of the Web, the new PR pros toolkit will combine new skill sets from various disciplines such as consulting, publishing, direct marketing, market research and Web marketing.

Today, there are progressive leaders innovating in the online PR field. Some weapons in their online PR arsenal include e-mail pitching, online newsrooms, Webcasts, online contests, and discussion group monitoring and participation. As time passes and the Web evolves, a whole new host of strategies and tactics will materialize. For example, e-mail, wireless, and instant messaging, all using an Internet protocol, will change the online PR game as they evolve in popular use and as technology matures.

The sixth annual Middleberg Ross Media in Cyberspace survey results gave PR pros a strong reason to be online. The survey found that Internet usage for non-computer journalists are now equivalent to their computer counterparts. This means that your target journalists may prefer to go online to research, download images, and be pitched. In response to this, PR pros in companies such as General Electric, Verizon and BF Goodyear specifically created an online newsroom to enhance their online media relations. By studying the online newsroom traffic, surveying journalists on their needs, listening to feedback and using smart technology, they are now able to begin leveraging the power of the Web.

Using GE's Press Room as a case study (http://www.ge.com/news/), they studied the needs of journalists and web traffic to decide how to organize content on the site. Journalists, along with other constituents, wanted more information on GE's executives, like Jack Welch, so it has its own area at the top left side of the page. To feature specific pieces of news, they reserved the middle to promote such items. Right below the banner, they put the most up-to-date news, the most used component in the pressroom. As well, GE realized that investors frequented their pressroom. After some analysis, they realized they could target many investors through their PDA's, so a simple yet effective tool was added to the pressroom that allows investors to download the latest news onto their PDA to read anywhere.

One thing is for sure in the new economy: it is here to stay and will only grow larger in use and popularity until it is accepted as a traditional medium. When that time comes, PR pros will no longer be able to deny it, as they must go where their publics go. So don't wait till that time comes and find a way to use the Internet to fulfill your PR needs now.

Lawrence Wan, lwan@modemmedia.com.hk, is the Manager - Media, Marketing and Communications for Modem Media (Hong Kong), a global Internet professional services firm serving world-class brands such as Citibank, IBM and General Motors. Feel free to contact Lawrence if you'd like more information about online PR.