This PRSA article did a great job of explaining the multiple relationships that blogs and traditional media have.  First, there is the obvious idea that many traditional media outlets (i.e. - newspapers, magazines) have blogs as an additional outlet for news and commentary.  But of more immediate interest to me is the recognition that many  journalists research a company, issue or problem just as the rest of the world does --- search engines!

In saying that, this article hits on the topic of blogger relations as a great way to ensure success when that journalist is searching on your companies or industries (or clients of yours for those PR firms).  While this may be a great FIRST step; it is not the only one...and oftentimes there becomes some difficulty in creating great relationships with industry bloggers versus industry journalists as the blogosphere prides itself on being uninfluenced and completely unbiased.  Regardless, what is forgotten in this article is that you too can be the blogger...you ---  as the public relations professional or corporate communications employee can have your voice out there --- addressing both the good and bad points and winning search and it doesn't have to stop with just the marketing or PR teams because with a true corporate blogging platform you can monitor all of the content.

Why let someone else tell YOUR company's story?

Thanks Chuck for sharing this article - look forward to getting the Mediatile blogs up and going in the future!