Trends born out of new technology - some unheard just months ago - are rapidly transforming how public relations is being practiced today. The sooner these can be acknowledged, examined and considered, the better equipped we will be to develop and maintain the optimum strategy for our organizations or our clients. And the better prepared we will be to anticipate and incorporate the next wave of innovation in our business.

When you think about it, early public relations tools consisted of the telephone, the typewriter and the handshake. These were the forerunners of the high-tech/high-touch approach that would follow in the latter part of the 20th Century. Public relations professionals - both in-house and agency -- would launch, nurture and grow their practices based on getting to know the press and their needs through a call or a face-to-face meeting.

Initial contacts made over the phone, a cup of coffee, or a cocktail could develop into long term relationships based on the journalist's respect and trust of the PR practitioner - earned, always, by providing him or her with timely, useful, and accurate information that the journalist viewed as newsworthy for readers or viewers.

The relationship that existed between public relations and editorial ...