Who doesn’t love a great infographic? Not me.  So when I got a link yesterday offering to show the difference between tradition public relations and content PR, I couldn’t click fast enough.  Unfortunately, it turned out to be the same old song and dance.

Imagine traditional PR as an old man or woman on life support and content PR as a young and vibrant superhero.  That was pretty much the story.

Apparently, at least according to PR Newswire’s Sarah Skerik, traditional public relations involves the process of shoving sales text down the throats of consumers (think cough medicine), while content PR involves helping old ladies across the street where they can find everything they are looking for in life.

In Frankenstein speak, “old PR bad, new content PR good.”

In point of fact, the only thing new about “content PR” is social media.  And despite all the hyperbole, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to learn how to use social media… 7-year-olds and 70-year-olds are already plugged in.

Content PR enthusiasts would like you to believe they are your helpful buddies.  They are not assaulting you with information, they are beckoning you and responding to you.  They are your friend and follower and liker.

Here’s the bottomline:  Any public relations professional – traditional or otherwise – who isn’t making use of social media is out of touch.  And any public relations professional who isn’t also making use of traditional media (you know, TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, newsletters, bulletin boards and the like) is also out of touch.

Here’s an interesting fact to consider:  The New York Times is the most widely read digital newspaper with 807,026 online subscribers.  It also is far and away the most widely circulated Sunday print newspaper, with 1,265,839.

Oh wait a minute, so you’re saying traditional and digital PR are both important!  Nice.