In Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman says his problem is “he’s liked, but not well liked.” In PR, it seems, it is increasingly important to be well liked, and to be well liked, one needs to be a trusted participant in the conversation.

Consider this post by Shel Israel on the selection of David Parmet as ScrapBlog’s new PR manager largely because they liked him, and because he blogged:

“(David’s) blog, and a previous telephone talk was enough to make Carlos (Garcia) feel enthusiastic about the thought of David having conversations on behalf of Scrapblog. That’s what PR is now about. The PR guy needs to be a trusted participant in conversations. These conversations can help a client only if the person bringing that client into a community is already a trusted resource. David is not alone. There are lots of PR people who get this. They tend to know and respect each other and enjoy each other’s company. They will compete against each other if they have to, but in fact they would much prefer to collaborate.”