In a press announcement that sent ripples throughout the business community yesterday, Edelman, one of the largest PR firms in the world, proclaimed that the agency was doing a complete about-face radically shifting direction. The firm has staked "its claim in ‘Authentic Communications.’”

According to the release, Edelman is mobilizing rapidly to convert its entire ambiguous worldwide PR operation to “authentic.” In support of the initiative, the agency said that it has consolidated its three digital service practice areas into one global operating unit. The new group will be a combination of the firm’s Web design team, its social-media toy lab and a couple of ideas that were being bandied about last fall under the name “Edelman Mobile."

Heading the overhaul will be Rick Murray, former head of the Agency’s botched “Me2Revolution” Practice. Murray set the stage for the announcement a little over a year ago articulating Edelman's very public optimism regarding Second Life. Then he said, “Anytime you can bring fake people together spending real money on fake things to create value... [well] I don't really know how it's going to end up or where we're going to end up in it but it's really cool."

Along with yesterday's announcement Murray described the agency's investment: “We think authentic communications is where it's at. The debate over what is and isn't authentic is likely to be rich, complex and never-ending.”

Noted Author Offers Alternative

WARNING: This article includes graphic scenes that may not be suitable for younger audiences.

If you are a regular reader of Strumpette, you’re acutely aware of what lengths we’ll go to get at the truth. This is arguably our most extreme.

You know how in a debate with a social media evangelist or blog booster, you just don’t seem to get anywhere? Arguments tend to go around in circles always returning to the same libertarian platitudes: the "democratization" of information is a universal good; customers (Jarvis’ 6 million pitchfork and torch bearing mob) are in control; there’s wisdom in crowds; hierarchies are all bad; intellectual property stifles creativity; anyone over 30 or in a suit is inherently evil and doesn’t “get it.” Their beliefs seem almost totally intractable.

Well, as we’ve concluded here many times, in the words of Woody Allen, “It’s nothing a fistful of Prozac and a baseball bat couldn’t cure.” It was in that spirit that we recently decided to set up an experiment. We wanted to see if a social media evangelist could be “deprogrammed,” so to speak. Could we actually stop their various proselytizing and return them to reality, or are they hopelessly lost forever.

PR Agency to Offer Clients Proprietary Methodology

Goin’ to the “Ragan Social Media Show” in Vegas this March? The $1,000-per-person tickets got your wallet feelin’ a little light? Hey... then how ‘bout a dance with Lady Luck to make a little of that back? How 'bout all of it back and then some? What if I told you a few of her intimate secrets that make the game no gamble?

Hey... pssst... are you familiar with card counting? That’s the practice of tracking the ratio of high cards to low cards; that’s all. Well, we've got a sophisticated system. Here's the deal: if you could better judge your advantage or disadvantage at any given time, obviously, you could place better bets and shift the odds from the house to you. Trust me; it's easy money.

"But that’s cheating!," you say. Don't be so negative. Let's PR it and refer to it as “intelligent game play.” Sure, if you get caught, you’ll get booted from the casino. However, keep in mind, there are other casinos on the Strip.

Or, how 'bout this? Turns out, we can get you a similar deal with social networks. But this is even better. It’s totally unregulated; Ya can't get caught; And ya can’t get kicked out!