Lots of thinking is being put into how PR can be made more measurable. The premise is this – if you can account for PR investment in such a way that pound signs can be put in front of the commercial outcomes, the editorial leverage of PR work on target purchasers will make it dynamite to marketeers.

So why do I keep hearing boasts about how such-and-such a campaign was “one of the most downloaded things on YouTube this year”?

Simple, I suggest: because too many social media mouthpieces get too excited about the outputs of their endeavours rather than the outcomes. While there does need to be some licence for simply trying things – because we don’t yet know what combination of digitising media will be most powerful in then future – if we get too carried away with volumes then we’ll miss the point about the potential of two-way digital media for public relations.

Yes a funny or outrageous video on YouTube may get millions of downloads. Because YouTube is on the internet, as are millions (make that billions) of people. What a shock.

But just like those fat piles of potentially meaningless press clippings, all the downloads in the world will not help you if none of those viewers want to buy your product or service. Or, worse, they’re just laughing at you.

Of course there have been video-based campaigns that have had fantastic success. My point is not that video is bad – quite the contrary. More PRs should be thinking about how they can use the moving image to embolden their clients’ messages.

The point is that if we start foaming at the mouth about volume of downloads without bringing some clear financial outcomes into the evaluation mix, it’s not going to help the PR business modernise or PR work to become better valued.

Mind you, ‘donkey farting opening bars of Ukranian national anthem is YouTube sensation’ doesn’t seem to have much of a commercial ring about it does it?