Brian Solis has an interesting post about what PR 2.0 is and isn’t. My view remains that this is an evolution, not a revolution. Brian is absolutely right to say that it isn’t just about Web 2.0. All the online stuff does it make it easier for SOME people to participate in the cultural, political and economic changes that are happening in society.
The good PR people that actually did it right in the first place should be able to adapt and survive the changes that are happening. Brian asks:
What if PR people just took the time to read the publications or the blogs they pitch?
What if PR actually used and believed in the products or services they represented?
What if PR could be compelling without its reliance on hyperbole?
What if PR understood the dynamics and interworkings of the Web?
Well apart from the last which is more recent, these are all things that good PR people should always have done.
UPDATED: Philip Young comments:
I agree, Stuart. And those who want to learn more about the dynamics and interworkings of the web might find it useful to come along to hear you and the rest of the team at Delivering the New PR 2.0 in London on Tuesday, June 5 (www.dontpanicprojects.com/booking.htm)!
Stuart adds: The PDF brochure for the conference will be available for download soon from http://www.dontpanicprojects.com/news.htm, which is why I didn’t mention it as I didn’t realise it was already on the booking page – book early before it sells out 
I agree, Stuart. And those who want to learn more about the dynamics and interworkings of the web might find it useful to come along to hear you and the rest of the team at Delivering the New PR 2.0 in London on Tuesday, June 5 (www.dontpanicprojects.com/booking.htm)!
Stuart, thank you for the mention. Since my last post, PRWeek went ahead and foolishly claimed that the industry was already moving into a PR 3.0 era.
Here's my take:
http://www.briansolis.com/2007/04/prweek-claims-industry-enters-age-of-pr.html
I agree, Stuart. I've been made to think about the ups and downs of PR 2.0 in recent months as part of my masters course and, I must say, its' something I didn't have a clue about before, but I'm glad I'm learning! As you have said many times before, PR 2.0 isn't so much changing PR practices as facilitating them. What it allows for is for PR to carry out tasks in a faster, further-reaching and more efficient manner, but the tasks themselves are not new. What is new is the 'power to the people' that new technology has generated. That's not to say people have never had power, it's just that now, with global links and communities, people are so much more aware of what is happening and have access to information that they never had before. For this reason, PR should be concentrating its efforts not on new technological ways of practicising its functions, but on managing the two-way communication process in the context of new technology.
The debate overall is fascinating and I'm glad to be coming into PR at such an interesting time.