Freinds or markets

Andrew Lark has been talking about public relations evaluation again..
His latest contribution goes as follows:

My view has been that the degree to which actions intended from any marketing activity - say downloads - occur is proportional to participation in that media by readers/ views/ the community. For this reason I like Scoble's idea on measuring media engagement.

This will require a step-change in thinking by communicators. Rather than looking at the reach of publications, we need to think in terms of participation.

I agree with the last point. Reach is, these days, almost irrelevant.

I have a problem with the first.

There is a degree of truth but the key surely is the extent to which the constituent wants to engage their community with the organisation (introduce them to the organisation/ product etc). This may also be the extent to which they want to change the organisation, service, product, aims etc.

In evaluating relationships we need to look after the friend who seeks to offer their best knowledge, opinion, and contacts.

The 'Marketing Objective' is a small part of what we seek.

Surely what is most helpful is the value (not just money) that attaches to both the organisation and constituency.