So just what does PR stand for these days?

Here’s a thought, which I’ll happily attribute to blogger and social media guru Neville Hobson: PR stands for not just “public relations” as we’ve always known but also “personal relationships” – especially, in today’s connected world, those relationships enabled through web 2.0.

That was the theme of a masterclass given by Neville at the Chartered Institute of Public Relations in London today.

Delegates from agencies and in-house communications teams discussed the merits of twitter, friendfeed and yammer in reaching influencers and commentators as well as spectators.

We looked at the growing credibility of bloggers and the emergence of a new “digital information commons” where everything is online. Although it’s driven by technology it’s not about technology – it’s about having conversations with people at a time when channels of communication have fragmented in all directions.

There’s a lot of terminology to get your head around involving social bookmarking, file sharing, feeders and so on, but the straightforward message is that listening and talking to customers using these online tools is a PR practice that will only become ever more mainstream.