At the CIPR Social Summer event next Thursday, 5 August, we’ll explore why it’s never been easier for PR professionals to build relationships or personal reputation.

Social media provides the opportunity for an individual to build a personal network liker never before. It used to take a graduate several years of lunching journalists and late night drinking sessions to build up a network of contacts.

But no longer: face-to-face meeting remain invaluable but now armed with Twitter anyone can build a network of journalists and over the course of a few weeks learn about their likes and dislikes. That’s one small step away from engagement and developing a relationship.

Social media is also enabling savvy individuals to build their personal reputation by showcasing their work whether that’s words, photos or video. It takes no more than 15 minutes to create a blog or an account on Flickr or YouTube to share with your network and peers.

Professional networks such as LinkedIn and personal web sites have become the modern portfolio. They’re almost certainly the first place that an employer, potential business partner or prospect will go to check you out.

Come along and share your ideas for building personal networks and reputation. Let us know you coming on Linkedin. You can check out my profile at the same time.

The CIPR Social Summer events take place each Thursday from 5pm to 7pm at CIPR, Russell Square.