by Dr CV Narasimha Reddi, Telangana Today

The 31st National Public Relations Day is being observed today. “India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech…,” said Mark Twain. Human speech is a prerequisite for any type of human communication. Against this backdrop, communication experts pronounced that India is also the birthplace of world’s public relations communication.

Over 2,500 years ago when modern America was not existent, when the term communication was not coined, public relations was born in India to promote Buddhism as a religion of universal love, peace, non-violence and removal of misery. Gautama Buddha not only became the Light of Asia but also a public relations communications messiah and so was the forerunner of today’s global public relations. […]

PR 2.0
Brian Solis coined the phrase PR 2.0 way back in the 1990s, but its use is of recent origin. It is closely associated with the new internet phenomenon for it uses the tools to talk with its audiences in a new manner totally different from the traditional media.

In fact, PR 2.0 is mediated by software designed for easy, quick, large-scale and self-ruled communication. It allows people to establish connections and meet people who can become their customers, business partners, promoters or sellers. Social media does not need to become the main or only communication channel but it becomes one of the main channels of connecting others with the social network. […]

According to a survey, there will be more than hundred crore internet users in India by 2020, which beckons a bright future for PR 2.0.

However, we should be clear that PR 2.0 is not a new profession. It is the same old PR profession with added values such as new skills, new media and professional competence to reach out to both internal and external publics with humanised and personalised messages for a better impact.