As a PR professional, I tend to hear and read a lot about the battle of traditional media vs. social media.  Agencies and individuals are constantly re-evaluating where to focus their efforts – should a release be sent out to targeted media contacts, or optimized for search engines and distributed to online newsrooms?

Last night during the democratic presidential primary debate, we had an opportunity to see what, in my opinion, is the more realistic example – that our work with media isn’t either/or, but must combine both old and new.  Social media and traditional media are influencing each other, and working together, to create a rich pool of information that people can access, and participate in, as much or as little as they desire.

Not only were news reporters from traditional outlets on hand for the debate at Cleveland State University, so were members of the Cleveland blogging community. The Cleveland Plain Dealer also had some of their own journalists blogging live from the event.

Local NBC-affiliate, WKYC, had correspondents speaking with professionals in the spin room immediately following the debate, as would be expected.  But they also went in to chat with the live bloggers, who were able to provide real-time insight into what the general public thought about each candidate’s performance.

Smart, forward-thinking PR professionals across the board are (rightfully) stressing the importance of social media in today’s world for successful PR campaigns.  This new outlet is fun and exciting, but must be viewed as a complement to the tried and tested services PR firms have been offering for years – not a replacement.  

It’s becoming quite apparent that the traditional media outlets aren’t going away, they’re just adapting to new technology, and evolving with the Web 2.0 world.