Everyone likes to wax on about how the speed of the media and public perception has changed the way PR folks and their clients need to revamp the old rules. But the same technology that vaults us to light-speed video-game-twitch reactions also forces us to look to the past if we are to succeed.

RSS. Podcasts. Citizen journalists. High-tech IPOs. Search engine optimization. Guerilla marketing. Blogs, blogs, blogs, blogs…

…not to mention 24-hour news cycles, and an endless need to respond.

Entire industries and technologies have sprung up to make sure corporations and businesses can know what’s being said about them, and the focus is on how to quickly react.

When you monitor the “now,” don’t forget to monitor the “when.” In many cases, you can find articles, opinions, and blogposts lingering on the net that slipped past that first-day search. Ask Francisco Oaxaca. I wrote about his performance during an extended interview with PrimeTime Live on ABC. My take hit the web on December 2nd — and you’ll notice the very recent comment from Mr. Oaxaca.

I can understand how my piece might have flown under the radar. It was my first substantive post since relaunching my blog — post-Katrina, post-address-change, post-WordPress conversion.

It’s part of our culture to honor speed and efficiency, but don’t forget to look back. Search engines have 20/20 hindsight and freeze moments in time, where we can see them from all the angles and dissect them with impunity.

In a future post, I’ll talk about my experience with “Deja New.”