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In the PR world, we talk a lot about "earned" media.

In other words, earned press coverage for companies, products and services. However, a new trend is emerging in corporate created media - e.g. podcasts, blogs, vidcasts and the like. So the open question on my mind is this: when will created media programs take priority over traditional earned media initiatives, if ever?

Personally, I think we're a long way off from seeing this happen on a grand scale. In the future I do think both will share equal billing in communications programs. Right now, they don't. However, there are some early signs of change.

Larger companies still invest the bulk of their communications dollars in earned media programs - as they should. However, some smaller companies flip flop this, spending more of their time on created media.

So when do you think the earned media and created media lines will cross?

Steve Rubel is a PR strategist with nearly 16 years of public relations, marketing, journalism and communications experience. He currently serves as a Senior Vice President with Edelman, the largest independent global PR firm.He authors the Micro Persuasion weblog, which tracks how blogs and participatory journalism are changing the public relations practice.