In a recent episode of Inside PR (one of my must-listen podcasts), co-hosts Terry Fallis and David Jones ran through their Christmas wish-lists. Among David’s wishes was one for “a little more PRiness and a little less geek-out.” David lamented the tendency within the tech-savvy corner of the PR world to get wrapped up in the latest technologies and tools without regard for the value they might bring to clients.

David used Twitter as an example, noting that he only recently joined because a client had asked about text messaging options. “I didn’t just get on it because everyone was on it,” he said. “I’m never interested in these things unless I think they have or will have a use for my client.”

Listen to the 3-minute segment here (especially if you want to know how to pronounce “PRiness”):

The problem is, how can we know what potential these tools have for our clients if we don’t try them?

While David is just now exploring Twitter because a client has asked about it, Dan York has attracted considerable attention with a post that summarizes the value he’s perceived from Twitter since joining over a year ago because it was, in fact, the shiny new object everybody else was joining.

Of course, not everybody can try everything that comes along. Most people have real jobs that consume their time with work their bosses expect them to do. Me? I’m lucky. Part of my job is to try the new tools and toys—the ones Robert Scoble and others write about—so I can advise my clients (not to mention readers of this blog and listeners to my podcast, not just in response to specific requests, but in the development of communication strategies (as in, “You know what would work great to achieve this goal? Using Twitter”).

But I’m hardly alone. The new media specialists within any agency should be doing the same as part of their jobs. The line between PRiness and geek-out is getting pretty thin.