PR 2.0: January 2007

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

DEMO 07


Photo Credit: Rob Lee

Well, I’m getting ready to head on over to Palm Spring to attend the DEMO Conference.

Now in its 17th year, the DEMO conferences are known for launching important new technologies into the national consciousness. DEMO 07, taking place January 30 - February 1 in Palm Desert, CA, will introduce 68 carefully vetted products and
services to an audience of investors, business development executives, media, pundits, and fellow entrepreneurs.

DEMO features a mix of both consumer-oriented and enterprise computing innovations, mirroring industry efforts in the marketplace. Some of the technologies that will be introduced at DEMO 07 are:

-- The first video email and messaging service ...
-- A GPS product that allows users to control their vehicles wirelessly ...
-- Video ringtones ...
-- Small business solutions for email, collaboration, shipping & receiving, marketing, and CRM ...
-- A product that allows you to IM photos directly onto your friends' desktops ...
-- The ultimate mobile printer ...
-- A platform to improve developer productivity and product management ...
-- Software that tracks plagiarized blog content ...
-- Online identity protection tools ...
-- A community collaboration site focused on home improvement, remodeling and design projects ...
-- A service that secures messages within images so that only the intended recipients can view the text ...
-- A collaboration site for musicians ...
-- Sophisticated data search technologies for businesses ...
-- Media publishing services for consumers and corporations ...
-- Products from Spain, France, Israel, and India ...

DEMO 07 Demonstrators
6th Sense Analytics, Inc. - Morrisville, NC
Adobe Systems, Inc. - San Jose, CA
Aggregate Knowledge - San Mateo, CA
Alcatel-Lucent Ventures - Murray Hill, NJ
Attendio, Inc. - San Francisco, CA
Bling Software, Inc. - Pleasanton, CA
blinkx, Inc. - San Francisco, CA
BooRah, Inc. - Palo Alto, CA
Boston-Power, Inc. - Westborough, MA
Brevient Technologies, Inc. - Milwaukee, WI
BUZ Interactive - Palo Alto, CA
Ceelox, Inc. - Tampa, FL
ircleUp, Inc. - Newport Beach, CA
ClipSyndicate, a service of Critical Mention - New York, NY
DARTdevices Corp. - Mountain View, CA
DesignIn, Inc. - Marblehead, MA - URL unavailable
Devicescape Software, Inc. - San Bruno, CA
eJamming, Inc. - Valley Village, CA
Eyejot, Inc. - Seattle, WA
GoWare, Inc. - Gilbert, AZ
Helium, Inc. - Andover, MA
Inilex, Inc. - Chandler, AZ
ink2 Corporation - Emeryville, CA
Integrien Corp. - Irvine, CA
iqzone, inc. - Scottsdale, AZ
Iwerx, LLC. - Mt.Dora, FL
Jaman.com, Inc. - Palo Alto, CA
Kauffman Innovation Network, Inc. - Kansas City, MO
LiveSquare.com - Gilbert, AZ
Magnify.net - New York, NY
Me.dium, Inc. - Boulder, CO
Mission Research - Lancaster, PA
Mixpo Portfolio Broadcasting, Inc. - Seattle, WA
Mobio Networks - Cupertino, CA
My Currency Co. - San Francisco, CA
Nexo Systems, Inc. - Palo Alto, CA
Nextumi - Dublin, OH
Nuvoiz, Inc. - Mountain View, CA
OurStory - Mountain View, CA
PairUp, Inc. - San Francisco, CA
Panjea.com - Los Angeles, CA
Preclick Corp. - Atlantic Highlands, NJ
QTech, Inc. - Hyderabad, AP, India
Reveal Technology, Inc. - Palo Alto, CA
SailPoint Technologies, Inc. - Austin, TX
Seagate Technology - Scotts Valley, CA
Serendipity Technologies, Inc. - Yakum, Israel
SharedBook, Inc. - New York, NY
Shipwire.com - Los Angeles, CA
SOASTA, Inc. - Mountain View, CA
SplashCast, Inc. - Portland, OR
SupportSoft, Inc. - Redwood City, CA
Symantec Corp. - Cupertino, CA
TeleFlip, Inc. - Santa Monica, CA
TextDigger, Inc. - San Jose, CA
ThePort Network, Inc. - Atlanta, GA
Thunk, Inc. - San Francisco, CA
Total Immersion - Suresnes, France
Trailfire, Inc. - Seattle, WA

Monday, January 29, 2007

Silicon Valley NewTech Meetup - January 2007










by Alison McNeill of
FutureWorks

Now with over 959 members, the Silicon Valley NewTech Meetups are bigger than ever. That's great news for companies like the ones below who want to get noticed. This meetup tool place in Palo Alto, where roughly 100 gathered to hear about some of the hottest emerging companies on the Web 2.0 scene.

Drumroll please. First we have...




CoFounder: Kai Xu
inChorus is a platform for collaborating on projects with thousands of other people on the web. inChorus distributes your projects to thousands of people through our website and our network of hosts who put inChorus banners on their websites. Then we combine the results for you and the community to see. inChorus makes it easy for you to hear the wisdom of the crowd, and it's free. You can get thousands of diverse and knowledgeable people to help with your projects. Anyone can be an inChorus contributor and devote bits of your spare time to collaborative projects that are fun, interesting, and useful.









Co-founders Greg Woock & Joe Sipher
Pinger is instant voice messaging for your cell phone. You send voice messages directly to someone instantly—no ringing, no greetings, no lengthy prompts. Pinger is fast and efficient like email, but with your voice. It's mobile like text messaging, but with more personality. Example Situation: You're mobile and you need to get a message to someone. Is she sleeping? Is he with the kids? You don't want to interrupt—you just need to get the message out. With Pinger you can say it right now without ringing their phone, but with the speed, personality and emotion of your voice.







Co-founders Dave Snider & Ethan Lance
ComicVine is the social encyclopedia for comic book lovers that everyone can edit. You can even create your own superhero for everyone to view. There are forums to chat about superheroes, blogs to check out, statistics on fans using the site, and there’s even a section ranking the most powerful superheroes in order. It’s a really fun site, even if you’re not a big comic fan, but if you are you have died and gone to comic book heaven!


Co-founder Robert Chea
At its most basic level PowerReviews is spreading the power of Amazon's Review system to the entire web. This review sharing solution delivers an enterprise-class review service as well as access to network-powered features. It set up reviews on your site for free, typically in less than a week for your online shoppers to view. It’s free, there are no long-term contracts. The site also has Web 2.0 features such as tagging and instant response to deliver features that take reviews to the next level and helps your customers make the right product and service decisions.

* Location provided by: DLA Piper
* Wine will be provided by: AndrewLane Wines


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Media 2.0 Workgroup Forms - Joining the Conversation

memberof_media2

Web2.0 has a workgroup, and now those dedicated to advancing the world of democratized media, now have the Media 2.0 Workgroup.


The Workgroup is a collection of shared voices in the New Media landscape. You can subscribe via one feed or grab the OPML.

“The Media 2.0 Workgroup is a group of industry commentators, agitators and innovators who believe that the phenomena of democratic participation will change the face of media creation, distribution and consumption. Join the conversation…”

- Chris Saad

Chris had the vision to start this movement, but here’s why I joined. I share the passion for extending the conversation from one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many. By aligning with other thought leaders, we can extend our voices to include those who have yet to join the conversation. While some call this social media, I’m more interested in the tools that socialize media – which extend to almost everything we (the people) will participate in, now and in the future.

Traditional media is learning to adapt, but it has a long way to go. This is about reaching people across the chasm and through the long tail – and having them not only consume, but also share and publish information as well.

You can view other similar voices and thought leaders in the new media landscape on the Media
2.0 Workgroup page.



Sunday, January 28, 2007

Attention Traditional PR, Step Away from the Social Media Release - aka hRelease

101

I came across a post that really smacked me in the face with a stinging sense of reality. You can’t help everyone grow; only those that realize they can. We just have to do a better job of reaching everyone else to help lay a more informative foundation for people to cause change.

Regarding the Social Media Release, it's not social
media. The Social Media Press Release still adheres to the antiquated notion that public relations means appealing to the public via mainstream media or to those in the "short tail". With a Social Press Release, you may be using tools that facilitate social media (video links, podcasts, blog posts), but you're not facilitating social media, you're pitching the press.

The original post also produced a couple of very interesting comments, which only shows that our message is flying over the heads of the mainstream.

First, this has nothing to do with the “Short Tail.” It’s surprising because in the same article, there’s a link to Chris Anderson’s
take on my posts talking about using social tools to run publicity without press releases. Basically using these ideas to run PR in the long tail. Unfortunatel though, traditional PR’s greatest fault is that it has yet to figure out how to do publicity in the long tail without demeaning everyone along the way.

The idea here is to spark conversations in the “Long Tail” and, social tools and a deep understanding of the wants and needs of the people you’re trying to reach, allow you to engage transparently. But make no mistake; do not attempt any of this as traditional PR. Otherwise you’ll get publicly skewered and rightly so.

The fact is that most PR people aren't ready for social media or the idea of the
hrelease, but those who are, will realize that it's more micro than macro. From the post:
"Sending a press release (social or not) to a blogger is a total no-no so, as far as I'm concerned, the conversation is moot and I'm moving on."Sending press releases without thinking about who they're going to and applying that information to groups of people is a no no. The idea here is to create a new distribution format for bloggers or any content producers to place information in the hands of those who can in turn, use the social elements to share information with their peers, readers, etc.

From the comments:"The social media press release is just a p.r. stunt by a p.r. firm, IMHO."Nope, it's a reaction to Tom
Foremski, former FT reporter and now blogger at Silicon Valley Watcher, to create a better tool for him to find the information he needs in a "new media" format, since blogs live off of new media content. In fact, his original post was called, "Die Press Release, DIE DIE DIE." Since then, there have been scores of bloggers and reporters who have asked for the overhaul of the release.

From the comments:"If anything, it might be just a way to find something new to monetize or to a way to appear innovative. I'm actually concerned that it's desperation."

There's no joking that press releases have extremely thin credibility with a lot of influential press. There is also no doubt that press releases have also found new life in search engines, reaching consumers directly. 51% of IT professionals report getting their news from releases in Yahoo and Google OVER traditional tech publications.

The idea behind an SMR is that you deconstruct the format, strip away the BS, hyperbole, and fake quotes, and build it back into a structure (hrelease) which can then be broadcast through RSS. This allows traditional reporters, bloggers and even consumers to subscribe and pull only the information they need, the way they want it - without paying $1,000 for a wire service that yields very little, except for SEO - public companies not included.

So, it's more about technology and distribution and new media formats as opposed to trends and stunts.

In general, it's getting tremendous publicity because it also calls for PR to stop acting like PR. You can't be part of the conversation simply by writing releases, blasting them to targets, and placing them on wires. Nor can you say you're part of the social media revolution, simply because you blog or read blogs. It's much deeper than that...and it's there for everyone so that we all learn, practice, and grow together.

I've experimented with several, and so far they've not only been received with accolades, they've sparked trackable threads of conversations (through embedded tags). They do not replace traditional releases however...well written releases will always have a place. Just as long as they inform and not persuade the reader.

Again, it’s micro, not macro. This doesn’t start with a blast. This starts with conversations.

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Saturday, January 27, 2007

Introducing Office 2.0OLS

apple-1984-still

Last year, at Ismael
Ghalimi’s Office 2.0 Conference in San Francisco, I was more than encouraged about the future of shifting from a traditional PC/server software-based architecture to an anywhere, anytime Web-based collaborative office. 2007 is the new 1984 - meaning Office 2.0 applications represent to consumers what Apple meant to PC users over 20 years ago.

While there were some clear leaders, usable applications, and more importantly, promise, the greater story lies in just how realistic it is to actually start the shift now. Over the last year, I have been experimenting with the deployment of many web-based services from accounting/invoicing (
Freshbooks), online reporting, blogging, and forum moderation (SiteKreator), document, spreadsheet, and presentation, creation, collaboration, and sharing (ThinkFree – I migrated from Google Docs), file exchange (YouSendIt), and intelligent, integrated searching and clipping (BlueOrganizer) among many others. I’m also preparing to start an evaluation of Collanos, which is software designed to facilitate team project collaboration.

I’m more than happy to report that as each day passes, my internal and external network of viewers and collaborators is rapidly expanding. And we really are only at the beginning.
In preparation for the upcoming Under The Radar
Office 2.0 Event (I’m part of their blogger network), O’Reilly’s Web 2.0 Expo, and of course The Office 2.0 Conference later in the year, I’m starting a new series of application-focused posts. “Office 2.0OLS” is dedicated to chronicling my experience with the migration towards making the underlying principles of Office 2.0 a day-to-day reality in my workflow.




Tuesday, January 23, 2007

PR in the Long Tail

In his post, "Long Tail PR: how to do publicity without a press release (or the press)," Chris Anderson asks "But what of the Long Tail of media--all those new influentials, from the micromedia of Techcrunch and Gizmodo to individual bloggers? And the social news aggregators like Digg and our own Reddit? They're where the most powerful sort of marketing--word of mouth--starts, but most of them don't want to hear from a PR person at all."

Exactly. Who wants to hear from the stereotype PR person whether it's in the long tail or anywhere else for that matter? Anyone (including PR and internal community managers) can engage directly using any number of the existing and yet-to-be announed social tools, but, make no mistake, traditional PR/publicity will still be required to reach others currently not particpating in "social media" a term of which I use loosely.

Chris Anderson's Long Tail

It’s absolutely all about expanding PR in a “way that both works in a conversational medium and doesn't demean and insult the intelligence of everyone involved” as he summized.

In the long tail, most don't want to hear from a PR person at all. This is PR’s opportunity to stop acting like “PR” and become experts on the products/services they represent (which should be common sense anyway) in order to help companies engage in conversations as well. At this level, the outreach is far too great for any one person to manage.

By sparking conversations using a well constructed, on target SMR, blogs, video, etc., will hopefully entice the first rank of bloggers to help carry the message, which will in turn ignite conversations in the long tail. But, we all need to keep in mind that one umbrella message doesn’t work across the spectrum. The longtail is comprised of groups which require individual attention to specifically address the unique needs of different people.

At the end of the day, I documented the conversations to spotlight why we all need to pay attention to the people formerly known as the audience (courtesy Jay Rosen) and how to start transparent, genuine conversations.

It all starts with real dialogue to learn about the needs of customers first-hand and how to reach them every step throughout the product lifecycle.

But good or new or smart or in-touch PR (for lack of a better term) still has a role in helping companies, and community managers, learn, engage, and build. It's just a different way to do the right thing with the technology (social tools) at hand. For a primer on the difference between social media and social tools, please read Stowe Boyd's post at BlueWhale Labs blog.

Perhaps it's no longer PR at this point, but truly more about honest Public Relations - but even still, "public" reminds me of audience, and we all know how social media experts feel about that term.

Digg This!

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Monday, January 22, 2007

Traditional Media Has a Voice on New Media Releases


Third Thursday 1/18/07
In its post, "Blog Firestorm Erupts about PR and Social Media Releases," industry PR trade, Bulldog Reporter, captures the essence of the discussion (at the pre-interpretation level). At least they're paying attention - which means that we're starting to bring everyone else to the table in order to raise the stakes in the game of PR.
"The podcast of the event has a wealth of information about media shifts, insights into what journalists really want from PR and how to navigate the new media landscape."

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Thank You for Bringing Attention to the Need for Change

The conversation regarding the need for evolution in PR still rages on (with the SMR aka hrelease at the center of the controversy.)

PR2.0 Top Story on TechMeme

PR2.0 Top Story on Tailrank

Some bloggers “get it,” others are forcing us to do a better job explaining what we’re actually doing, while some (and the people who read their blogs) completely miss the point.

If anything, this conversation demonstrates why the blogosphere (and most importantly, people) will chew-up and spit-out traditional PR and corporate marketing types – without thinking twice. But that’s the beauty of this. It forces evolution and improvement – so, either get on board or get out!

It also brings to light a much needed discussion of the need for PR and corporate marketing to evolve.

Truth is that "social" is what's truly sparking the controversy here. PR had the ability to hide behind so many tools in the past, and now finally, social media is forcing them to step out into the light. PR must now engage with people and in order to do so, must act like “people” not just a faceless broadcasting machine.

It’s not just PR though, social media must be embraced by companies in order to have validity.

In Stowe’s
latest post, he nails it with pinpoint accuracy, “Let's get down to the real basics. We are people. We are already engaged in conversation among ourselves. If corporations want to jump in, fine, go ahead. The water's fine. But you have to drop the old line model in its entirety, or you will have zero success.”

Chris Heuer adds, "Regardless, this is finally the beginning of the manifestation of the cluetrain principles in our society, with companies entering the conversation in a real and meaningful way. "

All in all, the world just needs PR to pay more attention to whom their sending information and why it should matter, to them and the people, that read their writing (or watch their videos).

Once they have that knowledge, it will, by all means, change how they reach out - whether it's in email, by phone, comments, or through blogs. As someone pointed out, the best way to engage socially is by phone. But until they can do so with acceptance and legitimacy, PR has no business engaging directly with individuals.

PR must step from behind its black cloak of anonymity and step into the conversation. But in order to do so, they can’t at all, come across as a traditional PR person - just people talking with people.

The only problem is that most offenders in PR probably won't even read these blog posts. Hence why we're trying to bring them into the conversation. Well, only the good ones, the rest can wait for the Ice Age.

Here’s a summary of the conversation…

Supporting

The idea that there is no audience any more—that we’re all equal parts producer and consumer of content—makes for a nice sound bite. It’s also complete bullshit. One percent create content. Ten percent interact with it. That leaves 89 percent who simply read it. They are not engaged in the conversation. They are passively absorbing content. – Shel
Holtz

Social media press releases are far, FAR from perfect. But, as long as they’re used as a bridge to further conversations with clients about a blogging strategy that is honest and not filled with malarky … then you know what? I’m willing to stomach it. - Dr Tony
Hung

My opinion on the matter is this. I think that anyone who takes the time to invent something, lobby for it and contribute to the community is doing the right thing. That's the definition of social. – Chris Saad

Stowe makes some bullshit assumptions about the PR industry and the changes many of us are already working to incite. – Mike
Manuel

Fact: Press releases continue to be an efficient way to widely distribute information, so there’s no need to cut off your nose to spite your face. – Mark
Evans

The new media release, as we refer to it, has the potential to make PR and media more honest because the source of each word, sentence can be tracked.
Posted by:
Tom Foremski

Which brings us neatly to Robert Scoble, who
misses it more than most. At least Stowe Boyd's original post was well argued, even if I don't think he fully understands what it's all about. – Stuart Bruce

In the end if a marketing or PR professional writes good copy, or tells a good story particularly when it is selling a good product it tends to cut through all the clutter no matter how the message is delivered. – Rick
Calvert

I’m a supporter of SMR, but if we want to debate SMR constructively let’s try to have some data to base our arguments. - Daniel
Riveong

I’m sick and tired of ‘leading blah blah blah’ and ’solutions’ and phony ‘pleased and delighted’ quotes. But that’s not the issue the social media news release is addressing. - David
Parmet

The IDEA is to strip out all of the bullshit and hype from traditional mechanical, and useless press releases and rebuild it as a focused compilation of relevant facts, links, media and a subscription feed to help readers write, tell, and share a story their way (without having to sort through a sea of crap to find out what’s real, what’s canned, and what’s important.) – Me


The social media release is the presentation layer, and that the concept we are supporting technically is the hRelease. The reason behind supporting Microformats are many, but the simplest is that it is intended to primarily be distributed through RSS on BLOGS! – Chris
Heuer

I think Solis would say that quality PR can be done without compromising the integrity of the social network experience and maybe that’s true but as with all things commercial we’ll see more obnoxious and manipulative stuff than quality promotion. And hey, that’s OK because this … is …. America and we like our commercialism crash, superficial, and obnoxious, right? – Joe
Duck

Some PR people are actually good at what they do. Others are not. And what they are good at is helping refine a message. And, thus, I can see social media and the "future of the press release" being a valid concept.
J.
LeRoy

I don’t think we can kill the Release just yet, it still serves its purpose. But smart companies should be trying to complement it. – Jeremy
Toeman

For the record, I think “social” news releases posted on a company’s website are hugely better than traditional releases posted on a company’s website. At least a social release allows people to have input. At least you know it’s a PR pitch and not a fake blog post.
Posted by:
Dominic Jones

As readers here know, I don't have any problem with press releases, old or new format, as long as the PR people do the real job of crafting well written and newsworthy announcements without BS. The press release and other materials created for announcements are just the documentation of the story. They aren't the story. - Susan
Getgood

So, where I am right now with the idea of a social media-based press solution: let’s use better writing, a more open approach to replying to feedback, blogs and a richer markup (hRelease) to make our press information more freely available, more indexable, remixable, and just more useful. Instead of being an end in itself (or merely a set of message points we hope others reprint verbatim) hReleases should jumpstart more conversation. -- Brian
Oberkirch

In my opinion, the social media news release is an inconvenient distraction from the real task at hand, which is getting businesses to understand what social media is in the first place, how it changes the rules, and how it challenges received wisdom and ancient corporate communication tools like, er, the press release. The social media press release is a distraction, but it's a meaningful distraction... – Giovanni Rodriguez

--

Observing

I don't have a PR background, and was trying to figure out how it helps communication. Frankly, I probably don't know enough in this arena, so I'm anxiously waiting for this to get sorted out.
Posted by:
Jeremiah Owyang

There’s something about the “social” in “social media” and “social networking” and “social” everything that keeps raising my hackles, no matter how much I believe in the best elements (and intentions) of those much hyped phenomena. – Scott
Karp

I find this “social media release” thing rather odd. I’m sure it’s not the case but it sort of gives you the feeling that some in the traditional business world are getting together and deciding, “Well, it’s finally about time we started understanding this Internet thing.”
Posted by:
Eric Berlin

Come on, guys, do it right. Don't just talk the talk: walk the walk. Otherwise, your clients will never get there. – Stowe
Boyd

Brian, if everyone agreed with your description of what a social media release was supposed to be and do, then I don’t think there would be any problem — although I think even a social media release should be just part of what a company does to get is message out, along with blogs, etc. It’s baby steps. – Mathew
Ingram

--

Not Sold - yet

The problem with the SMR (which sounds more like AK-47 than it should) is that it still pushes information in "blips of transparency" that you expect people to somehow care more about than their friends, who are pushing similar, yet ongoing and consistent "blips of transparency" that, over time, have resulted in genuine relationships forming. You can't expect drive-by honesty to replace decades of abuse and indirection. Posted by:
Chris Messina

In fact, even the term "social media" makes me want to cry. WTF is social media? People are social and we aren't just idly waiting here to have really impersonal, crappy PR messages stuffed down our throats. Posted by:
tara hunt

Public relations is "getting social media all wrong." None of this is rocket science. And the PR folk have no excuse. All the relevant information is easy enough to find, if one takes the time to actually look. The fact that lots of them aren't bothering to take the time, well, that's another issue altogether. – Hugh
MacLeod

Would it be possible to get all the little glue-sniffing communist SMPR advocate bastards together so corporate American can beat them with baseball bats? Please? CONTINUED ON ANOTHER BLOG -- Lastly, the only reason this social crap has any support from PR is because a small group have glommed onto it as the new new thing and the cornerstone of their lightweight expertise. They look sillier every day. Both comments posted by:
Amanda Chapel - (This is a bit weird coming from a blog that is all about hiding identity. Where’s the courage in anonymity?)

I really don’t get why society needs a stupid press release. Oh, OK, I guess we need to pre-write stories for bloggers and journalists since they can’t write their own opinions or reports down, right? Sigh. – Robert
Scoble

I don’t really need to read anything else to understand that Stowe is right on point - and you understand that my post was less about the idea of a social media press release than the role of PR more generally, I assume. And I don’t personally think this is an Edelman issue. It’s simply the expected tension between the authenticity of social media and the lack of it in much of business. Which, as far as I’m concerned, is as immutable as the law of gravity. – Rob
Hyndman

It's all good. But you gotta stop caring about press releases and start caring about people. – Jenean
Sessum




Saturday, January 20, 2007

Enough Already: Getting the Social Media Release All Wrong



After spending a week writing “Social Media Killed the Press Release Star,” which painstakingly explains in great detail the need to improve the content and overall relevance of PR and press releases as well as putting a microscope on why the hell a social media (or let’s just call it “an overhauled”) release WILL exist, people still don’t get it.

Good friend, Stowe
Boyd wrote an interesting post that I’m afraid is drawing the wrong kind of attention to an important movement...the need to improve PR and fix everything that's wrong with the press release.

Ally, Robert Scoble unfortunately jumped on the bandwagon as well tearing down the SMPR without proper background on the subject and what we’re trying to do with it. But, he did accurately capture the essence of why I’m working hard to change the game with his comment, “I really don’t get why society needs a stupid
press release.”

Fellow comrade, Jeremy Toeman at
LiveDigitally asked if it’s time to kill the press release. His thoughtful observation was a little more on target, claiming “Reporters for more traditional outlets don’t necessarily deserve to have their worlds come crashing down just because us “hooligan bloggers” don’t have the patience to read through a full-page of carefully crafted spin information.”

Stowe asked, “Why not just use blogs? Why do we need these so-called "social" press releases?”


Scoble demanded, “Just give us a damn demo of your product and tell us about it.”

Indeed blogs and videos are a part of communicating with people to spark many-to-many conversations and it takes an entirely new level of PR to legitimately engage without being portrayed as fake or plastic. It takes experience, honesty, and an understanding of what they’re talking about and why it benefits readers – most PR professionals are not even close to approaching the market at this level, though they should be.

In addition to providing newsmakers with a better source for writing their stories, blogs are a natural way to also start conversations (eliminating the robotic process of companies talking “at” markets).


Video demos are also exactly where PR needs to go. It’s now easier than ever to capture and share video with bloggers, reporters, and people. Consider it the “new” video news release if you will.

But blogs and video demos aren’t ready to displace press releases – at least not yet – and at the end of the day, they are additional ways to open dialogue. It’s all about the steps that get us out of using painfully out-of-date tools that have no place in the world of socialized news and the sharing of information.

Hence, the need for a tool that provides information in a way that works across a spectrum of applications, while getting us one step closer to creating a closer relationship between producers and consumers, companies and customers, and most importantly between THE people that comprise all of the above segments.

The truth is that the wires are getting it all wrong as the IR Web
Report points out. And, it’s polluting the intention behind this movement and stripping away credibility away from those of us who are diligently working on fixing something that has been broken for a long, long time.

Someone on the panel misused the term “audience” which in all honesty has no place in the world of social media. According to Stowe, “Please, please, please don't talk about audiences when you are theoretically promoting social media. As Jay Rosen has suggested, we are the people formerly known as the audience.”

He’s absolutely right. In the discussion of press releases with PR people who are starting to learn about social media, “audiences” still speak volumes when discussing the distribution and dissemination of news to various readers – unfortunately, many people aren’t there yet and they’re not connecting audiences with people. But “People” is also too generic when looking through the scope of a sniper rifle. It begets further division in order for PR to connect at a deeper and more meaningful level…

So, let’s get this straight.

Audiences = people

People = various groups of individuals with common wants and needs

PR can only participate in the conversations when it can truly understand those unique and important wants and needs.

Stowe did accurately point out that most PR is complacent and old school, “The ‘wink, wink, nudge, nudge’ complicity of leading PR bloggers around serious flaws in the conventional notions of PR is lamentable. For example, seeing the bloggers acknowledge on one hand that CEOs don't actually provide those quotes that are stuck into press releases while on the other hand promoting transparency and openness in corporate communications was more than painful.”

But, let’s be clear! There isn't any lamenting or mercy coming from this PR blogger. I've been pretty frank with the need to improve things at every level in PR, not just writing, and have gone to great lengths to help those who feel there's an opportunity to improve.

Brian Oberkirch replied to Stowe’s post with, “I do think something like hRelease would be good, as it would permit people to clearly round up the 'official' company responses to things and make them a part of larger discussions. The ails that plague press releases have nothing to do with slapping a Technorati link on them.”

Look, it all starts with the need to tell a better story in a way that means something to someone. One release no longer serves everyone. With wire services and savvy web marketers placing them in search engines as well as news desks, it's now more important than ever, to improve the foundation. Garbage generates garbage. Benefits and relevance specific to individual needs produces interest and ignites dialogue.

Journalists and bloggers aren’t the only reader of releases these days; they're now actively consumed by customers as well. 51% of IT professionals reported that they learned about new technology by reading releases on Yahoo over tech publications. That’s a HUGE shift and should spark an urgent need to transform the release into something more substantive for the needs of specific customers.

Remember, it's the substance, significance, and honesty that press releases lack. The rest is technology.

The idea behind the SMR aka hrelease aka Social Media Release aka New Media Release is a bit off in Stowe’s post and among other critical PR bloggers and practitioners. It’s not about capitalizing on trends in order to take an archaic, dying press release formula and present it to newsmakers in a fancy new package labeled as “social media” just because it has trackbacks, Technorati tags, RSS feeds, links, etc.

The IDEA is to strip out all of the bullshit and hype from traditional mechanical, and useless press releases and rebuild it as a focused compilation of relevant facts, links, media and a subscription feed to help readers write, tell, and share a story their way (without having to sort through a sea of crap to find out what's real, what's canned, and what's important.) This is what a good release should be anyway, regardless of trends and titles. Basically it’s the press release redux. It takes out what’s wrong with press releases and modernizes them into a usable format for journalists, bloggers, and individuals.

If you don’t get it, then move on, really. Keep using press releases with fake quotes, jargon, hyperbole, and paragraphs full of ridiculous details that have no relevance to anyone. Pay $1,000 for a wire service that will only end up in search engines, not in the news. Forget that the web in-of-itself represents a new kind of “wire.” Ignore the shift that has already taken place. Bitch about it, correct us, harp on the irrelevant details, cast all the stones you want, but don’t do so without getting your facts straight.

At the end of the day, what matters is that some of us will continue take the arrows in the back in order to change what’s wrong with PR while demonstrating success. All this, so that others can get better at what they do, and in the process learn how to engage individuals in a way that transcends the one-AT-many (audiences) approach to many-to-many conversations (with people).


Update: Chris Heuer adds perspective and insight to the conversation.

Update: The other side of the story starts to come into play over at Touchstone. Are You Paying Attention?: Sunday morning snippets

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