Dan Greenfield doesn't remember whether it was 1991 or 1992 nor the name of the magazine where he first read about the internet and the coming digital revolution. But, he remembers well, the "aha" moment it inspired.
"It's the same feeling I got in 2005 after reading about the MySpace Generation in a Business Week cover story...and once again in 2006 when Steve Astle then at Text 100 PR suggested I blog," he says. "It was feeling of empowerment and a sense that I could and should be a part of this Web 2.0 revolution."
Through his blog Bernaise Source, Greenfield says he is trying to demonstrate the impact of social media on PR and marketing. The title of the blog is part of the fun.
'It's a play on words," he says. "It is a nod to the grandfather of PR -- Edward Bernays -- but it is also an allusion to Bernaise, the rich sauce used in fine cooking. Bernaise Source is intended as a source for those who appreciate the power of new rich media, but also respect the value of traditional media."
Like many new media stars, Greenfield is a refugee from the conventional world of business communications. He worked for several years in corporate America -- most recently at EarthLink as vice president of corporate communications. During that time, he became an advocate for social media and helped lead the efforts to launch a corporate blog. Those experiences taught him the role that corporate culture plays in corporate blogging, he says.
Greenfield is now getting ready to launch his own media consultancy and says he recognizes that we are living in one of the most exciting times to be in the media business.
"New media is having a transformative effect on how we do our job and more importantly how we are valued as professionals," he says. "We are witnessing the rise of customer engagement and the collapsing boundaries that previously separated advertising from PR and product development from customer service."
Where's it all going?
"In time, many of today's 'new' media tools will become merely media tools," he says. "Audio and increasingly video will replace the written word. Their novelty will eventually fade as new tools move front and center. But just as we don't think about electricity when we turn on a light switch, blogs and forums in different forms will remain in the background powering the way we communicate."