With t-minus four hours until I leave for the airport, I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting – not just about my family and friends, but about the relationships I’ve made online. One of the things I love about social media is that you can absolutely positively make and feel a real connection with a person you haven’t met before.

With traditional PR outreach the basis must be professional, but with digital outreach, we’re not always working with journalists – the basis has to be a lot more personal. I didn’t feel that I had to “pitch” that often. To most bloggers I know, I’m not PR-person Melanie, but Melanie who works in PR. It looks like a subtle difference on paper, but it’s huge in practice.

Even though I didn’t get to meet very many of the bloggers I worked with in person, I know that we could have been friends under different geographical circumstances. It’s hard not to think that when I continue to interact with my bloggers weeks after my last “pitch” went out or when I received this from Hollywood as a going away present:

Sappy as it sounds, these relationships mean a lot to me. It’s the very essence of public relations.

Thanks everyone! It’s been real. Next post will be from across the pond.