Over the holidays, I was going through piles of magazine clips from technology and business publications. The stack on my floor had become unmanageable. Most of the pre-2007 clips had outlived their usefulness. What was news just a year ago, was at best a historical document today.
The PR professional lives by the motto "now is gone" where everything is for immediate release. The sheer volume of news and the speed of its dissemination make it so difficult to put a price tag on information.
$21 Million
Which only makes the $21 million paid for a copy of the Magna Carta at public auction so interesting. As James Gleick wrote in last week's New York Times, "Twenty-one million is, by far, the most ever paid for a page of text, and therein lies a paradox: Information is now cheaper than ever and also more expensive."
To be sure the Magna Carta has historical significance. But living in the age of digital gluttony, we value a physical copy of the Magna Carta for its permanence, its rarity and its connection to the past.
Our profession is not about permanence or rarity. The news we generate is meant to be digested as quickly as possible by as many people as possible.
If the Magna Carta is worth $21 million, how should we measure our output? We all struggle with "return on investment." As billions and billions of bits of information whirl around the blogosphere, it's not about documents - physical, digital or otherwise -- that we produce. It is not even about impressions, page views, clicks, or rankings.
At the end of the day there is a measurement far more intangible. Our value is determined by the connections we make over time with reporters, bloggers, colleagues and customers.
The quality of these connections separate one professional from another. They tell whom we know and who knows us and reveal how we treat others and how others treat us. But ultimately, the strength of these relationships translates into tangible results for our clients and companies. Unlike the Magna Carta, our mission is less about the authority of kings; rather it's more about the stuff that drives power in the marketplace.
Let me get back to you.
Technorati Tags: Magna Carta; James Gleick;
Save to del.icio.us
Link to original post