Putting PRSA on the Internet

In 2022, PRSA is commemorating 75 years. Strategies & Tactics will highlight the contributions of the organization and milestones in the profession, as well as past, current and future generations of practitioners. Visit prsa.org/about/75th-anniversary for more history.

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An early adopter of new technologies, John Beardsley, APR, helped establish PRSA on the internet during his term as Board president in 1995. 

When asked for his top goal for 1995 in an interview published in PR Tactics (the precursor to Strategies & Tactics), Beardsley, said “increasing PRSA’s presence in cyberspace.”

He received his wish with the launch of www.prsa.org on June 1.

“PRSA has to be in cyberspace, and now we are,” he said upon the site’s debut. “The home page plugs the Society directly into what may be the most important communications medium in the world.”

Here’s more from the July 1995 issue of PR Tactics:

Citing the fact that 30 million people are using the Internet, Beardsley says the launch of PRSA’s home page sends a message to the public relations community.

“If you’re not using these electronic communications vehicles, you’re going to be at a competitive disadvantage in the public relations business,” he said.

Beardsley, who began his career as a journalist with the Associated Press, served as CEO of Minneapolis-based communications firm Padilla Speer Beardsley for 14 years until his retirement in 2001. He died in 2010 at age 73.

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