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When thinking about the future of PR in this increasingly hyperlinked world look not just at the tools for the answers, but to your people.

As David Weinberger put it so eloquently today, public relations is transforming into "public relationships."

In the message command and control era, corporate rock stars like Bill Gates, Scott McNealy, Lee Iacocca and Jack Welch were the dominant corporate voices - the lead singers if you will. Employees, meanwhile, were the important backup singers. Once in awhile they would get to hit or high note or two in the media. Still they had to be cautious never to outshine the star.

Thanks to new technologies and changes in how companies operate internally, corporate communications in the near future will be all about the backup singers. Witness the rise of voices like Robert Scoble and Jeremy Zawodny. And unlike the rock stars, these performers love to leave the stage and mingle with their audience.

So as you think about creating PR programs, use the technologies to transform your backup singers into stars.

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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.