Public Relations Defined: A Modern Definition for the New Era of Public Relations

Thank you for visiting the “Public Relations Defined” website. This site chronicles the Public Relations Society of America-led industry-wide advocacy campaign to modernize the definition of public relations. The majority of the campaign took place from November 2011–March 2012. The campaign is ongoing, however, allowing for continued dialogue within the profession about the modern role and scope of public relations.

Following 1,447 votes, hundreds of submissions, abundant commentary and nearly a year of research, PRSA announced March 2, 2012, the winning modern definition of public relations. Based on a public vote, held Feb. 13–26, of three candidate definitions, the profession’s choice for the modern definition of PR is:

“Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”

Below is a compendium of resources outlining the scope of the campaign. More information can be found by checking out the PRDefined Resources page or by emailing PR@prsa.org.

• The New York Times: Public Relations Defined, After an Energetic Public Discussion (March 2, 2012)
• PRSAY: A Modern Definition of Public Relations (March 2, 2012)
• Public Relations Defined: Our Teachable Moment (Feb. 23, 2012)

• Final Candidates for a Modern Definition of Public Relations (Feb. 13, 2012)
• Op-Ed: Why We Are Modernizing the Definition of PR (Feb. 6, 2012)
• Candidates for a Modern Definition of Public Relations (Jan. 11, 2012)
• New Year, Modified Direction for #PRDefined (Jan. 10, 2012)
• Snapshot: #PRDefined Word Cloud — Day 12 (Dec. 2, 2011)
• Submissions Open for ‘Public Relations Defined’ Initiative (Nov. 21, 2011)
• The New York Times: Redefining Public Relations in the Age of Social Media (Nov. 21, 2011)
• PRWeek: Danny Rogers: The Search For A Fresh Definition of PR” (Nov. 25, 2011)