Imagine a forum where rumors fly like goblins on Halloween eve. Where
millions air their personal agendas disguised as “the truth”
without any regard for whether it is true or not. Where dirty little scandals are
widely favored over news of shifts in global geopolitics or upheaval
in the corporate suite.

That forum is something called the Internet.

Oh, I know the net is a vast sea of information, all structured in a
form of open democracy where everyone has a voice. Where all the world
can play. But behind this spin of info age perfection, much of the
Web is a cheesy tabloid that is more like The National Enquirer than
The Economist

I raise the issue for a simple but powerful reason: PR professionals
engaged in web strategies—and everyone should be—need to learn how
to make news on the wild and wooley sites that are at once at the core
and the margins of the Internet.

Think of it this way: what is more powerful for your client? A story
on USA Today online or on The Drudge Report or for that matter, The
Huffington Post? Until you really get the fact that the Web is a
biased, often out of control rumor mill, you will tilt toward USA
Today. And as good a hit as that may be, the Internet feeds off of the
rivers and streams of opinion that flow out of viral thought leaders,
the opinion setters, that are the Drudge’s and Post’s of the Web.

It is from these outposts that bloggers connect to bloggers and that
the traditional media—the likes of CBS and NBC—turn (though they
would never admit it) for dirt they can turn into stories for the
evening news.

So it is interesting: to truly succeed in the arena of digi PR, PR
pros must learn to play a new game, feeding the rumor mills that fan
the flames of the Internet. Those who prefer to play it by the vest,
who don’t want to dirty themselves with the rascals of the Web, miss
out on the ripple effect that is the 600 horsepower turbo charged news
generating machine that is unrivaled by any other.

It may not sound as good to tell your client that you landed Drudge,
vis a vis The New York Times.com, but when the full tally is taken,
the impact can often be far greater.

Maybe the medium really is the message. All over again!