Like Suraj, I’ve been thinking a lot about online PR recently.

Public Relations traditionally holds a reputation management role, making sure its organisation is kept in the public eye, regarded positively and protected from the damage caused by public criticism. Crucially, the internet offers companies the opportunity to engage with their target audiences in new and exciting, more productive ways – but it also gives consumers a platform from which to vent about poor experiences, and negative reports can spread like wildfire. I need say no more than ‘Dell Hell’.

This topic was touched upon by one of the speakers at a CIPR conference I attended this week, and the Q&A session was indicative of how wary much of the PR industry still is on the subject of online PR. One exec said that her company had so far omitted any online activity from their communications strategies, but that they had realised they really should get involved. However, her particular organisation was subject to a certain amount of public criticism. Her question was this: if we begin communicating with our audience online, will we be opening ourselves up to more criticism and will we in fact be focusing people on the negative story?

Of course, the answer was this. People are talking about you online, positively or negatively, anyway – would you rather stick your head in the sand and let the conversation go on without you, or engage in it and take some control of the messages being circulated?

I think an important point to make about PR is that it’s not always just about the protection and management of company reputation. Yes, a company’s reputation is arguably its most valuable asset – after all, consumers listen to each other and if they’re all slagging you off you’re unlikely to make enough money to survive. But PR can also be used to communicate with customers on a more equal level, where you’re not trying to impose your own interpretation of their needs upon them, but really listening to them and building their feedback into your product or service.

The internet offers some exciting possibilities for companies wanting to place customer requirements at the centre of their business. If you do it right, you can get valuable feedback from your target audience that would cost you thousands in focus groups and surveys. Perhaps this is the most valuable PR opportunity presented by new media at the moment.

The fact remains that organisations can no longer hide from the fact that the web now has the power to make or break them. The ‘blogosphere’ should be ignored at their peril.