Open Source PR

It is kind of funny I have put this phrase - Open Source (OS) PR everywhere I visit in the blogosphere. OS comes as against proprietary technology, it is (almost) free and everybody can participate in making open source applications better. So we have Linux as an OS desktop operating system as Asterisk is in telephony. The concept is pretty noble. Think of OS music, OS books, OS bank accounts, etc. OK these will take time or another evolution. For the moment, what about Open Source Public Relations?

What are the proprietary PR we do? To start with, we hide our media and other contact lists like crazy, and don't share them with our clients, leave alone another PR agency. We have secret government affairs clients list and disclose little of what we are doing or how we have done something (Case studies are manipulated anyway). We pride on media editorial calendars if we come across one and password-protect them.

How about sharing everything with everyone?

Come to think about it, no longer we will have an outdated mobile number of say an ET journalist. We know what others have done for a particular company in a particular sector and can contribute and compare our PR plans for a similar company.

Whenever there is a crisis situation, we can run a brain storming in the industry on what can be done. Press conferences could be time-lined, journalists' attendance can increase as everybody will keep the journalists free for the day. No longer have we had to face problems organizing media interviews for our clients, as I can chip in with our client as soon as your interview gets over. Whenever we are running a PR campaign, everybody can give in their ideas and make the campaign smoother as we go along.

Ok I know it's a terribly weird idea, and clients want us to keep their information confidential. But of course we can at least start with information that is not so critical.