I can’t quibble with this (except over the capital letters, perhaps):
In the Social Media era, getting better at Public Relations means getting better at the Relationships, not the Publicity.
Todd Defren’s conclusion is more challenging though: Get Into Twitter or Get Outta Public Relations?
But his point is well made. It’s not about the tools (a few years ago it was blogging; then podcasting; last year it was Facebook; this year Twitter); it’s about engaging in the conversations and gaining a licence to join in or to comment.
PR Studies 
I’m learning about social media. So please be patient…what does Twitter have to do with public relations? All I’ve seen is hourly updates on most of the time mundane activities. And it looks like the dream of a procrastinator. What are the benefits? I just don’t see it at all.
Wendy: we’re all still learning about social media and public relations, not least me.
I’m also sceptical about Twitter, but am willing to learn. So let me take an easier model (this is drawn from Andrew Smith, one of the UK’s best commentators on tech PR): would having journalists among your Facebook ‘friends’ be a sign of good media relationships? Yes. Could status updates help you to develop your knowledge of their interests and availabilty? Yes, of course.
Twitter works like Facebook status updates within networks of relationships. Is public relations about relationships? Yes, so there’s the answer we’re looking for…
May I join the conversation then? Jim Horton has a good post about that. http://online-pr.blogspot.com/2007/07/twitter_17.html
I have just posted about it also. The discussion will go on…