Better Learn This Stuff Fast!

Here's an interesting story from the New York Times on a second grade class in Maryland using blogs. My goodness. That means my 18 month old daughter will be blogging soon and I'm not sure I can handle a Barney Blog around the house just yet. I actually think this is very exciting. It's wonderful to see this technology work its way down to elementary school age children. Think of how they'll improve it by the time they get to college and enter the workplace. And think of all the other ideas that will spawn from using blogs in the classroom environment. It sure beats the hell out of a PeeChee folder. Now here's the question - who's ready to predict when the press release - as we know it today - will disappear as a result of new communication vehicles like blogs and wikis? One year? Three years? In the short term, blogs and wikis will force PR consultants and communication folks to sharpen their releases and raise the bar on what constitutes "news." That's good for everyone. Who knows, over time they may disappear altogether. I mean, hey, we used to hand write releases and blast fax them on launch day, too.