How is social media changing the role of the PR professional?

I'm leading a workshop in Portugal next week at the EUPRIO annual conference on the theme of how social media is impacting on the role of the PR professional. The fact that I'm going to be using the conference facebook group to ask this question of delegates before the conference, and using twitter to ask the community there the same question goes some way to answering this question for me (or at least shows how I personally use social media to benefit me and my work).

I know my own thoughts on the question, and will share them along with some case studies at the conference. However, in the spirit of good preparation and sharing some useful insights, I'm keen to gather others' thoughts on:

• how social and digital media has impacted on priorities of the PR professional


• has it impacted on the working hours or demands on your time?


• have you had to change your approach to press and media relations because of social media?


• has social media opened new opportunities for press and media relations?


• are you increasingly cutting the journalist out and communicating directly via online spaces?


• have you had to develop any new skills as a consequence of the rise in online and social media?

Look forward to hearing your contributions.