If you are a news junkie and/or communications pro then you must follow my favorite Tweeter of the moment, TheMediaIsDying. They’ve cornered the Twitter market on up to the minute announcements of newsroom layoffs, media conglomerate hires and fires, broadcast network restructuring and print subscription issues. It’s all about keeping folks up to date on the death of big (mostly print) media.

And (sadly) I’m positively addicted to it.

It’s nothing fancy, mind you. There are no links to blog posts, polls or questions. They don’t talk back or engage their audience. Just Tweeting the facts, ma’am. The profile says they are “helping flaks pitch better and update lists.” No matter what its utility, TheMediaIsDying is fascinating and (so far) accurate.

A good death of media companion is It Died, the blog keeping track of internet services, applications and companies “as they lay dying.”

Am I missing other resources that track the evolution and/or extinction of traditional media? Lemme know!

A friend of mine (swear it wasn’t me) was in a meeting pitching a few communications tactics to a group of technology folk. Bless ‘em.

Among her suggestions of targeted events, story ideas and a strong web presence came her idea to reach out to tech-savvy audiences and media via social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook.

The latter idea fell flat when the man at the head of the table declared:

Twitter is useless. No one cares ‘what you are doing.’ It is has no impact on business.

(sigh)

I was shocked that someone so very smart and tech-ish could just write off a communications channel like that. I kind of feel sorry for him.

I’ll admit that I’ve dealt with clients who have never heard of Twitter and getting them to my comfort level with it and other social networking vehicles is quite tough. But I’ve yet to hear anyone who already knows about Twitter just flat out call it “useless.”

“Not appropriate for our target audience,” sure. But “useless”?

You, techy-sir, are smarter than that and you are paying this gal to tell your story in the most strategic, results-generating way possible. Why do you torment her?

The very essence of public relations is to focus on a message and communicate that message to the intended audience via whatever communication channel that public uses/views as valid. I’ll tell a client’s story with smoke signals if that’s what I’ve got to do.

So, if even a handful of your audience is on Twitter then it cannot be called useless.

It’s not that I’m in love with Twitter (wait, actually, I sort of am), it’s that I’m not comfortable with blanket generalizations made by smart people. Where would we be if we used these new media tools only for the exact question they were created to answer?

Twitter is a HUGE communication and research vehicle for me. I use it to poll opinion, start debates among my politically passionate friends and even glean column ideas and research for clients.

But that’s just me. Is Twitter a useful business tool for you?

From Wikipedia — the definition of PR:

Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing the flow of information between an organization and its publics. Public relations – often referred to as PR – gains an organization or individual exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest and news items that do not require direct payment. Because public relations places exposure in credible third-party outlets, it offers a third-party legitimacy that advertising does not have.

Do you agree? Is this a good summary?

It continues:

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) claimed in 1988: “Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.” According to the PRSA, the essential functions of public relations include research, planning, communications dialogue and evaluation.

And FYI, if the word “publics” makes you go “whaa?” It’s okay. I hate that word, too.