In November 2004 I wrote an article for the FT about the trends occurring in networked media which I described as the 5th Estate - a kind of new domain of influential opinion leading on from the Fourth Estate. I ended with the question: "The PR industry would seem to be the natural partner as it is very familiar in dealing with stakeholders and lobbying groups on behalf of its clients. But is it ready to deal with Citizen’s Media and the 5th Estate?" I think the answer to that question has to be no - it wasn't ready. Which isn't to say it never will be. However, PR's slow start has created a gap for a new cottage industry to appear - namely word-of-mouth marketing. I've never really been a fan of the term because to my mind, WOM is a consequence of all good marketing rather than an approach. And it's an ugly word. But so is 'blog' and everyone's got used to that.
Look forward to discussing this in person...
Posted by: Rich Benson | January 14, 2008 at 03:58 PM