Which online sites are important?

I've just had to endure the most painful conversation and one that I very much doubt will be the last. Below is as close to verbatim as I remember:

Person: "What online sites should we also cover?"
Me: "BBC, FT, Times, there are loads out there"
Person: "No, I mean, which specific ones that are online should we target?"
Me: "they are online. What are you trying to achieve?"
Person: "But there must be some online sites that we should target?"
Me: "Twitter, google, facebook...."
Person: "no, business ones"
Me: "listen, what exactly are you trying to achieve. These are all online."
Person: "I guess I should probably give you a proper brief"

Why do people who consume media, and mostly online I would guess, seem to think these hugely influential 'online titles' exist in the same was as the FT or Times and can just be added to the target media list. When I ask questions back, they don't like the answer and go away.

It's such old school thinking - number of clips. We got 5 magazines and one online hit. What does that mean, where is the conversation about people you want to reach - buyers, influencers etc. Then the consequential: "how do we reach them".

I was in a meeting the other day and had to make the point that it was perfectly possible that all the business goals could be achieved without PR. After all, media is merely a conduit, a medium. Traditionally it was fundamentally important to work with the media to 'speak to your audiences'. It is perfectly feasible that this can be done in direct, 2-way conversations with them.

We are going through a phase change and it will be painful at times, but giving out honest advice to clients and taking advantage of what digital can bring should be a must for all agencies at the moment.

Back to that lovely conversation. I bet I never get the 'proper brief' or be asked again.