Give up the delusion of control for successful online PR

Over the weekend, I  posted a comment on a public relations blog and received notification that the comment would be posted after the moderator approved it. While I applaud the practitioner's effort to embrace new technology by starting the blog, this is the perfect example of how many PR practitioners do not fully grasp the underpinnings of Web 2.0. The new Web is all about trust and mutual, two-way communication within the Web community. Using the tools of Web 2.0 (e.g., blogs, podcasts, social networks) is a start, but without understanding the collaborative spirit behind Web 2.0 there is very little to be gained from the
effort. In this case, a blog without an open comments forum does little to facilitate discussion and fails to achieve communication goals.

For PR efforts to be successful online, you have to do more than setting up a blog or building a Facebook page. You have to be brave and let go of your perception that you control the message. The reality is we cannot control the message. We only can
be an active participant in a community, facilitate information exchange and hope to improve communication. Yes, it's scary. Yes, some idiot probably will post something really mean and incorrect about your organization. But realize that anyone can write anything they want online about your organization at anytime and share it with the masses, whether you facilitate it or not.

In regards to the blog I submitted a comment to, it's been 4 days and my comment still has not been approved and posted. How is this helpful to anyone? How can there be relevant discussion with that kind of lag time and monitoring?

Well then, how should we handle those negative blog comments? Anticipate them and deal with them appropriately and swiftly. I'd like to share an example of how Scott Lockhart of Regator.com recently did this. The company received awesome exposure from Mashable.com, but some readers of the blog left uninformed and erroneous negative comments. In response, Scott did all the right things. First, by monitoring the comments, he was made aware of the communication problem. Second, he addressed the problem. Third, he responded quickly with information that cleared up the confusion. Just how it should be done.