For the past year, Godfrey has been educating and counseling clients about the “new wave” in public relations – Convergent PR.  If you’re not familiar with the term, here’s a brief definition: It’s a blending, or convergence, of traditional PR tactics (e.g., press releases, press kits and trade show support) with new social media PR techniques (e.g., blogs, podcasts, videocasts and social media press releases).

Some of our clients jumped on the Convergent PR bandwagon right away.  (We’re thrilled.)  Others are still trying to understand how Convergent PR works and how it can complement their “hyperintegrated” marketing communications programs.  (In this respect, we see ourselves as educators and advisors.)

Of course, Godfrey isn’t the only entity that sees a convergence of traditional (print) media and social (online) media.  Trade editors are taking notice – and action.

Consulting-Specifying Engineer, an HVAC&R industry publication, is doing its part to provide engineers with information to do their jobs faster and better.

“Engineers clearly are looking to the Internet for answers to project questions – not only products and engineering techniques, but also the latest in codes and standards,” writes Michael Ivanovich, C-SE’s editor-in-chief.

Paul Heney, senior editor of Hydraulics & Pneumatics magazine, recently attended two trade magazine conferences where editors were abuzz about the possibilities of using Facebook and other social networking sites.

“If you’ve never even seen Facebook, the easy thing to do is dismiss all of this as child’s play and a waste of time,” Heney wrote in a column.  “The more difficult decision is to take some time and make sure you don’t fall behind in this area, because your younger colleagues and customers won’t.”

The title of Heney's column?  "Don't Be a Social Reject."  Good advice for all of us.