Social Media World = Pre Gutenberg?

Via the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University, Professor Thomas Pettit describes the decentralized media world of Social Media to be a world that is largely like the pre-Gutenberg era. Petit describes the matter in a video on Vimeo:

Thomas Pettitt on the Gutenberg Parentheses from Nieman Journalism Lab on Vimeo.

The possibility that we may be entering a post-print age is a fascinating one, and if true will have huge ramifications for the traditional press. Journalism, however, will not be the only profession or activity affected.

How, for example, might public relations work in a post-print world?

For one, as information sharing becomes less textual and more oral again, I believe there will be an even greater need for individuals to facilitate dialogue with key stakeholders, a role that is much more akin to community outreach than to traditional notions of PR. Strategic messaging and media planning will still be required, but interpersonal and group facilitation skills will be relied on more and more.

Skills and methods of communication will not be the only dynamics that will need to change in order to ensure the success of a project. The very nature of how projects form will also need to change. For the public sector in this region, this should not prove to be a difficult transition, given our history of public participation processes.

However, this participation will need to be more effectively handled. At present, many instances of public involvement are little more than window dressing, the obtaining of input on a plan that is already 99% completed by paid technical experts.

In an oral world shaped by Social Media, however, there is the expectation that communication is truly two-way. If input is met with no more than thanks, and not reflected by real physical changes in a project, an organization or agency will at best be considered unresponsive, and at worst may find itself in serious political trouble.