PR 2.0: Putting the Public Back in Public Relations

Have you ever met someone so energetic, positive and incredibly smart - someone who exudes passion and someone who "gets it" in an inspirational way?

I'm lucky to know one such person, Deirdre Breakenridge, and she has just published a new, must-read book, PR 2.0: New Media, New Tools, New Audiences. I'm honored to have my ideas, philosophies, experiences, and vision shared throughout the book. I'm even more humbled to have been asked to contribute the foreword.

PR 2.0, as I defined it many years ago, is the realization that the Web changed everything, inserting people equally into the process of traditional influence. Suddenly we were presented with the opportunity to not only reach our audiences through gatekeepers, but also use the online channels where they publish and share information to communicate directly and genuinely.

The book includes other thought leaders who are actively shaping the New Media landscape including Jeremiah Owyang, Jane Quigley, Thom Brodeur, Todd Defren, Tom Foremski, Phil Gomes, Chris Heuer, Anne Holland, Shel Holtz, Jeremy Caplan, Jonathan Schwartz, Jimmy Wales, and many more.

Deirdre has graciously allowed me to share the foreword I wrote in its entirety with you here. Thank you again Deirdre and congratulations on publishing a fantastic and incredibly helpful book!

Foreword: The Road from PR to PR 2.0 to Public Relations
by Brian Solis

Welcome to what just may be the greatest evolution in the history of PR. Modern Public Relations was born in the early 1900s, even though history traces the practice back to the 17th century. The term public relations was said to be first documented by U.S. President Thomas Jefferson during his address to Congress in 1807.

It wasn’t until World War I that we started to see the industry crystallize and spark the evolution of PR as an official profession.

Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays are credited with creating and defining the art and science of modern-day PR in the early 1900s. That’s almost 100 years ago; and yet, in what I believe to be PR’s greatest renaissance, many of their early philosophies and contributions can be sourced to further evolve PR today.

Ivy Lee developed the first working press release; you can love him or hate him for it. But, what we can’t overlook is that he believed PR was a “two-way street” where communications professionals were responsible for helping companies listen as well as communicate their messages to the people who were important to them.

Edward Bernays, who is often referred to as the father of PR, was most certainly its first theorist. A very interesting bit of history is that Bernays is a nephew of Sigmund Freud. Freud’s theories about the irrational, unconscious motives that shape human behavior are the inspiration for
how Bernays approached public relations.

What’s absolutely astounding to me is that he viewed public relations as an applied social science influenced by psychology, sociology, and other disciplines to scientifically manage and manipulate the thinking and behavior of an irrational and “herdlike” public.

According to Bernays, “Public Relations is a management function which tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures and interest of an organization followed by executing a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance.”

Why is this astounding to me?

Basically, Bernays is the inspiration for the PR 1.0 publicity and spin machine and the architect of how a majority of companies still approach PR today—even though this is all changing right before our eyes. Many of his thoughts, which fueled his books, Crystallizing Public Opinion, Propaganda, and The Engineering of Consent, were on the cusp of predicting what PR currently is facing in the dawn of Social Media. And, Social Media is reintroducing sociology, anthropology, psychology, and other sciences back into marketing.

If we combined the theories and philosophies of Bernays and Lee with the spirit of the new “social web” aka Social Media, we might have a new outlook on this social science that resembles the new driving principles behind PR 2.0.

But what happened to PR?

It no longer triumphs as a darling among the various marketing disciplines, and in many cases, is regarded as a necessary evil these days. Somewhere along the way, we, as an industry, lost our vision. We got caught up in hype, spin, hyperbole, and buzzwords, and forgot that PR was about Public Relations.

Unfortunately, these days PR is more aligned with theatrics than value.

Enter Social Media and the democratization of the Web.

These are indeed exciting times as Social Media is truly the catalyst for reflection and an opportunity to do PR and amplify value and increase effectiveness in the process.

What is Social Media?

Social Media is anything that uses the Internet to facilitate conversations between people. I say people, because it humanizes the process of communications when you think about conversations instead of companies marketing at audiences.

Social Media refers back to the “two-way” approach of PR that Ivy Lee discussed in his day. It’s about listening and, in turn, engaging people on their level. It forces PR to stop broadcasting and start connecting.

Monologue has given way to dialog.

Now, enter PR 2.0.

Just so you understand, it’s not a trendy term meant to capitalize on the current trend of “everything 2.0.” Honestly, it’s already ten years in the making, but Social Media is truly advancing the adoption of a new, more significant role for PR.

Here’s how I defined it in the 90s (it’s dated, but it is still relevant today):

PR 2.0 was born through the analysis of how the Web and multimedia was redefining PR and marketing communications, while also building the toolkit to reinvent how companies communicate with influencers and directly with people.

It is a chance to not only work with traditional journalists, but also engage directly with a new set of accidental influencers, and, it is also our ability to talk with customers directly (through online forums, groups, communities, BBS, etc.)

No BS. No hype. It’s an understanding of markets, the needs of people, and how to reach them at the street level—without insulting everyone along the way. PR will become a hybrid of communications, evangelism, and Web marketing.

PR 2.0 was actually inspired by Web 1.0 and the new channel for the distribution of information it represented. It changed everything. It forced traditional media to evolve. It created an entirely new set of influencers with a completely different mechanism for collecting and sharing information while also reforming the daily routines of how people searched for news.

PR 2.0 is a philosophy and practice to improve the quality of work, change the game, and participate with people in a more informed and intelligent way. It’s not about the new Web tools at all. They are merely tools used to facilitate conversations…but everything, especially intent,
knowledge, and enthusiasm, are unique to YOU.

You are the key to new PR.

To be direct, the truth is that PR 2.0 is really what PR should have been all along. Now with the democratization of media, people are becoming the new influencers, complementing the existence of experts and traditional journalists, but still regarded as a source and resource for customers equally.

Understanding new PR to reinvent it is the goal of this book. Deirdre Breakenridge has poured her life’s experiences and passion into these pages to inspire and empower you with the ability to change, and ultimately, participate in new media. In doing so, you will learn today’s communication methods that will help you engage in meaningful conversations and build
stronger trusting relationships—both personally and professionally—with customers, influencers, experts, and traditional media alike.

PR 2.0 is about putting the “public” back in Public Relations.

Other relevant stories on PR 2.0:
- PR 2.0 = The Evolution of PR, Nothing Less, Nothing More
- The Value of Online Conversations
- Distributed Conversations and Fragmented Attention
- The Art of Listening and Engagement
- The Social Media Manifesto
- Will the Real Social Media Expert Please Stand Up

Buy Deirdre's book on Amazon.com

Connect with me on Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, or Facebook.

social media social+media culture sociology anthropology expert guru science social+science socialmedia media2.0 media+2.0 brian+solis pr+2.0 pr listening listen art marketing communications public+relations customer+service publicity community conversational conversation people social+network public relations relationship tools darwinism darwin online web2.0 web +2.0 pr2.0

Zude, Where's My Social Network?

One of the more talked about companies at the Web 2.0 Expo is Zude, an interesting example of what's possible in the realm of social computing.

The world maybe doesn't need another social network, but what we sure could use is a platform that allows us to aggregate social elements from all over the web into one place - how we want, when we want.

Zude officially announced in beta and allows users to grab elements from any social networking site and integrate them into their own Zude page. It makes it easy for you to create, consolidate, communicate, and share "your" Web.

This concept takes the premise behind the Data Portability Workgroup and OpenSocial standard and empowers people to pull items, content, and contact, from other places to create their own online domain, quickly and easily. Using the company's SocialMix technology anyone can automatically mashup (zudify) key elements from leading social networks including MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, Hi5, and honestly from any Web page, to integrate directly into their Zude page.

Hayden Panettiere

It's much more scalable, customizable, and well, fun, than Ning, which is a customizable DIY social network builder. Essentially, Zude itself is a mashup of a WSIWYG Web site builder, DIY social network, and social media aggregator, strung together with drag and drop functionality. It is a digital/social canvas to build a customized one-page portal or profile, or if you're creative and ambitious enough, you can create a multi-page, fully assembled Web destination that features your online brand or create a site dedicated to anything you find interesting. And, sites, pages, and individual components can also feature RSS feeds for visitors to subscribe to the content that specifically matters to them.

Sites can be simple, complex, and/or rich, limited only by your imagination. A full library of ready-to-go widgets are also available within Zude to help provide a compelling kick start to add everything from contact lists, self-contained content from popular networks, application widgets, video and image players, feeds, maps and a wildly long list of other options.

I see Zude earning tremendous traction from consumer-focused brands and products. Businesses looking to appeal to mass audiences and also specific market demographics, niche communities within the Long Tail, can use Zude to create a variety of destination portals that are mainstream and also highly targeted and personalized.

Anna Nalick

Zude is a deceptively powerful social computing platform that provides developers with almost unimaginable power, freedom and flexibility. And, here's the most important part, visitors can also remix these pages to interact with your brand or content, their way. Since almost anything can be dragged and dropped, they can move or even add new objects to further customize the experience - or use it to build their own fan or related topic site.

Zude has just provided us with the ability to create highly engaging and interactive online destinations and communities that truly socialized media, amplifies and extends user generated content, and empowers users with true data portability.

Other relevant stories on PR 2.0:
- The Value of Online Conversations
- Distributed Conversations and Fragmented Attention
- The Art of Listening and Engagement
- The Social Media Manifesto
- Will the Real Social Media Expert Please Stand Up

Connect with me on Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, or Facebook.

zude identity brand online community social social+media media media+2.0 media2.0 brian+solis social+network network pr public+relations advertising marketing pr+2.0 pr2.0 2.0 Web2Expo web+2.0 web portal

In Blogger and Media Relations, You Earn the Relationships You Deserve

Every now and again a reporter or blogger decides to shake up the PR industry by showcasing how we FAIL, flop, or simply when we do things wrong. Some do so out of anger, others are genuine in their desire to help, while some are simply tired and do so out of spite.

This time around however, Marshall Kirkpatrick of ReadWriteWeb has started a conversation that proactively helps PR and communications professionals learn how to more effectively work with influential writers for future stories and maybe, just maybe, forge and cultivate ongoing relationships. In his post, “Five Wrong Ways to Pitch RWW and One Great Way,” Kirkpatrick gives us a glimpse into his daily routine for receiving and reporting on news and trends.

Wrong #1 - Email the wrong email address
Wrong #2 – Phone Calls
Wrong #3 – Twitter, Especially DM
Wrong #4 – Facebook
Wrong #5 – IM

Great Way #1 – RSS



He summarizes what you should do this way, “PR people, please send us the RSS feeds of your clients' blogs and news release. The full fire-hose of company news and updates for us to pick out what's interesting, someplace outside of our email inboxes, free of dreadful press release rhetoric (skip to the second paragraph where details usually are, then skip past any executive quotes and hope there are readable details somewhere) - that sounds like a dream come true. I know that's where I get most of the stories I write about, not from email pitches. Send both, but company feeds are likely to be looked at more closely.”

We’ll talk more about whether this is all you need to do to help get your story out there, but at the very least, what Marshall is shouting, is what he wants and how he wants it. He’s not alone in his requests to receive information in a specific format and process.



Stowe Boyd, a technology and thought leader who is helping to define the social web, recently created an account on Twitter specifically for PR pitching.

He shared his rationale in a recent post, “I can't believe what a pain in the ass it still is to do something as basic as trying to schedule meetings with startups at a conference. But in order to make things simple for me, I am hereby posting a schedule of the times that I will make available for meetings with companies at the Web 2.0 Expo, and I am not going to accept email-based proposals to meet, only Twitpitches. All companies who would like to have a meeting with me, need to send me a Twittered description of the product. Yes, please Twitter it to me at www.twitter.com/stoweboyd. Yes, one tweet, 140 characters less the eleven used for ‘@stoweboyd’.”



Adam Ostrow of Mashable, a popular blog covering the world of social networks, also shared tips for increasing the chances of getting coverage in their post, “12 Things Not to Do When Pitching a Story to Mashable.”

Here’s your Top 12:
1. Don’t Send an Invite from Your App
2. Don’t Reference Your Media Coverage on Mashable Competitors X, Y, and Z
3. Don’t Private Message on Social Network
4. Don’t Try a Backdoor
5. Don’t Contact Pete
6. Don’t Make Unsolicited Phone Calls
7. Don’t USE ALL CAPS
8. Don’t Misspell Their Names
9. Don’t Try to Setup a Lunch
10. Include a URL
11. Offer a Preview of Your Private Beta
12. Don’t Pitch Old News



In January 2008, Tom Foremski advised PR to leverage Facebook when running story ideas by him, “After some thought I decided that I would like my PR pitches through FaceBook and not through email or phone. I will only look at pitches that come from my FaceBook "friends." I will give those priority over all other communications channels except for face-to-face, which trumps all other channels.”



Robert Scoble, last year, reported that he preferred receiving pitches through his Facebook Wall, “PR people pay attention. I don’t answer email anymore. Too much of it. But there’s one thing that gets passed to my Nokia phone: Facebook wall messages.”


Photo Credit: Scott Beale, Laughing Squid

Merlin Mann, who publishes the popular productivity site 43folders, has made it crystal clear on his stance for PR. Don't contact him any other way except by suggesting links to him via del.icio.us. Tag = "for:43folders"




Allen Stern, publisher of CenterNetworks, shared his reviews in a recent post, "Your Pitch Title Does Not Matter To Me."

In his post he shares his advice for getting stories not just on his blog, but others as well, "If you are a PR person, you should must ask every blogger you contact how he or she would like to be pitched. By spending a few minutes doing this, you have a MUCH greater chance of being covered by that blog. It's the same as knowing I like milk in my coffee, Arrington takes it black, Ostrow takes 2 sugars, Om would rather have tea and Eric only drinks Pepsi. I don't care that much about the subject and if you use the contact form, the subject is pre-defined. I personally look at every single email we get (about 300-400 a day) and no matter the subject I still scan the email. The key is to capture my attention in the first moments of the email, not in the subject."

--

So, what is everyone saying to you?

Do your homework! They’re only helping you.

Listen, I know that it’s a huge amount of work to shift from a blast mentality to a one-on-one pitch regiment that requires you first to read before you reach out. But, I think your alternatives may be running dry. Yes, it takes longer. Yes, it requires more work. And, yes, the results, and your reputation, will benefit from the diligence.

Reporters and bloggers are asking you to work with them. So why wouldn’t you?

I’m pretty sure the only reason you wouldn’t is because you’ve either been instructed otherwise, or just didn’t know. However, neither are defensible any longer. Either way, it’s time to change things up. Make the time to invest in relationships with those who can help you tell your story.

Telling Your Story

Let’s keep in mind that news is news and stories are stories depending on how and when you tell them. While RSS and OPML feeds are nice, they don’t help you secure stories with newsmakers before it’s official news. Once you publish your story on your blog, it’s OLD NEWS!

Allowing journalists and bloggers adequate time to prepare advance is critical. Determine those reporters and bloggers who should be part of the initial news discussions, meaning, don’t hit everyone for the sake of quantity. Just find the people that would be interested in what you’re working on as determined by their previous work and coverage.

Writing a press release that doesn’t suck is essential. Really, it just needs the important elements up front, what it is, why it’s important, where they can get it, and to whom it matters. Making your release relevant and compelling is much different than injecting hyperbole and BS quotes that mean very little to those outside of the company.

Summarize the news with a couple of statements and bullets to quickly showcase why anyone should care. Package the story differently for each person you’re hoping to reach and make sure it matches their preference for being contacted. If you’re not sure, it doesn’t hurt to send a note asking for their direction (before you go live).

Take the time to pull relevant screen shots, create user accounts for each person if necessary, customize video demos and screen casts, and anything else someone may need to write a story instead of making them spend their limited time doing your work for you. Yes, it’s time consuming. But this is about relationships and not about broadcasting spam.

Bloggers, Help Us Help You!

It’s easy to be sarcastic, snide, or condescending…let’s face it, PR as an industry has earned this reputation for a reason. However, you help us, and yourself, by spending a few minutes spelling out explicitly what you’re looking for instead of relying on PR to ascertain this information subjectively based on your writing patterns (yes, in a perfect world, we could all do this.)

While many reporters and journalists are sharing their methods of contact, most haven’t. You can’t complain about PR if you’re not going to provide them with a set of instructions on how and when to contact you. Bloggers should (or already do) have a “contact” link and journalists should have readily available online profiles/bios. Add a small section that spells out what you’re looking for and how to contact you with that information (packaged however you prefer.) Make it clear and even include it in your email signature and social network profiles.

If the majority of writers could share this detail, we may start to teach PR how to switch from a blast mentality to a one-to-one relationship strategy. If PR still doesn’t get it, then they determine their own fate and unfortunately hurt the companies they represent in the long run.

This is about relationships and creating a value cycle from PR to bloggers, journalists and ultimately to the people we want to reach with our news. Relationships are cultivated and should be mutually beneficial because of the extra time we take to personalize our contact. Think about it this way, if someone were to ask a reporter or blogger about you, how would you want them to remember you and what would you want them to say?”

Perception is everything. Do the legwork and the outreach that contributes to the reputation you wish to earn and maintain. Anything less, takes away from it.

Additional Resources on PR 2.0:
- New ebook: The Art and Science of Blogger Relations
- The New Rules for Breaking News
- The New Rules of Breaking News, Beware of Embargoes
- Building Relationships with Bloggers
- Dear Chris Anderson, an Open Letter to Make Things Right
- Robert Scoble Asks, "Is Facebook the New Press Release?"
- PR 2.0 = The Evolution of PR, Nothing Less, Nothing More

Connect with me on Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, or Facebook.

blogger blog blogging blogger+relations relations media media2.0 brian+solis media+2.0 2.0 pr pr+2.0 public+relations media+relations influencer influence pitching news press+release press release marketing communications marcom publicity pitch embargo exclusive robert+scoble tom+foremski marshall+kirkpatric merlin+mann 43folders

Encyclopedia Britannica Socializes Content, Takes on Wikipedia

Encyclopedia Britannica ran its business for almost 250 without disruption, until of course, Social Media democratized content and new user-generated resources such as Wikipedia changed everything.

Up until recently, if you wanted to utilize Britannica's services you could purchase the 32 volume Britannica, which has 65,000 articles, for just $1,400. Or, you can access it on the web for $70 per year.

Britannica has just shifted the game back into its favor with the release of a clever and powerful new program, Britannica WebShare. If you're a web publisher, which is defined as someone who publishes with some regularity on the Internet, be they bloggers, webmasters, or writers, you can now access Britannica for free.

The application process is short and sweet. It took me about five minutes to apply and I was authorized a few hours later.

I can now research and share information from Britannica on the Web, whereas, until now, I've used Wikipedia for such services.

For example, here's a link to the topic of "social psychology" and also an embeddable widget for information on U.S. Presidents.



Britannica has also integrated other portable services to distribute content across the social web such as Delicious, DIGG, FURL, Reddit, among others. Viewers can follow links to read the specific articles at Britannica, but they can’t navigate to other parts of the site.

While some make a case that Britannica needs to open up its content for free, I won't disagree, I'll only say that Britannica is on the right path to ensure that its legacy and intellectual assets remain relevant.

Just to give you perspective however, Comscore reports that for every page viewed on Brittanica.com, there are 184 pages are viewed on Wikipedia (3.8 billion v. 21 million pave views per month). In Britannica's defense, the content is indisputable and much more reliable than many of the topics I've struggled with over at Wikipedia. This has everything to do with editorial infrastructure and generations of review and evolution versus a few years.

Either way, no matter what industry you're in, the new Britannica Webshare program is a tremendous resource.

Connect with me on Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, or Facebook.

encyclopedia britannica webshare brian+solis social+media social media media2.0 pr2.0 media+2.0 pr+2.0 pr 2.0 wikipedia

Local Broadcast News Goes Social

I received a note from Andrew Finlayson, Vice President and News Director for Fox News Chicago - WFLD Television - myFoxChicago.com

Finlayson is part of a small, but dedicated and innovative team of journalists in Chicago who are reinventing how we view broadcast news. Think of it as cable news TV meets Twitter meets uStream, meets Friendfeed. LiveNewsCameras.com is an online portal that lets people watch news as it happens anywhere in the world by aggregating the video feeds from participating networks. Driven by their motto, “Veritas odit moras,” from line 850 of Seneca’s version of Oedipus, “Truth hates delay,” the team has has aggregated live news feeds from journalists and stations. There are over 150 channels of live, 24/7 streaming video from major markets across the county and the globe - with more added daily.

LiveNewsCameras.com started on Super Tuesday with only a couple of feeds focusing on the Republican and Democratic candidates. What started as a humble newsroom experiment has earned the participation of ABC, CBS and NBC stations.

Using Mogulus, the site also features a livecasting moderator who helps us navigate through the available and upcoming content. And media isn't truly social if it's not portable. You can also embed "the moderator" on your site, blog or social network profile and also interact them them and other views in real time.

It's a unique destination as it mostly publishes raw, unedited video. For example they've been streaming the presidential candidates live every day, sometimes two or three times each day as they tour the country. No one else is doing that.

They're also working on providing live video of the Pope’s visit to America funneled from several different television stations. Again, they're the only source to obtain raw feeds of the Pope’s travels at every possible opportunity.

What this really means, is that as in any form of social media, LiveNewsCameras can take a local voice or view and create an international audience for any story.

I spoke with Andrew to learn a bit about the future of LiveNewsCameras, "We believe that 'live on the scene on any screen' is the future of news coverage. The team at LiveNewsCameras is seeing a dramatic surge in the number of newsrooms that are using new technology to stream video live. This trend is only going to accelerate with mobiles that can stream video. Soon everyone will be able to stream live video and LiveNewsCameras.com is going to be the one place that helps you find it while it is happening."

As the site adds additional major markets, LiveNewsCameras.com becomes more pervasive and definitive in how news is broadcast and viewed - but this time, the world is watching, on the Web and not in the living room.

Connect with me on Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, or Facebook.

live news cameras broadcast newsroom livenewscameras video online web social+media social media socialmedia media+2.0 media2.0 journalism

Distributed Conversations and Fragmented Attention

There's an incredible discussion circling the blogosphere aka The 250 aka The Echo Chamber regarding distributed conversations and the potential loss of control of our content.

Normally I don't let myself get caught up in every popular meme cycle, but this is a informative and important conversation and personally I think it's worth your time. And, it just so happens to be a natural extension to my recent post, "Ladies and Gentlemen, The Conversation Has Left the Building," which explores how conversations are slowly migrating away from blogs and moving to micro social networks such as Twitter, Pownce, Jaiku, FriendFeed, and now, Shyftr (more on Shyftr later).

Whether we're ready or not, conversations are fragmenting and quickly and increasingly becoming difficult for the content source to 1) host conversations and 2) engage commenters and stay connected to the discussion across networks - especially if they don't know where the conversations are taking place.

When I publish this post, I may or may not see comments here at PR 2.0. What is at the core of the confusion and discontent among many content producers, is that responses will take place wherever someone discovers or shares the content. And, most of the time, we'll miss out on these distributed conversations, which in my opinion, are what truly power the progression of ideas and insight. Furthermore, new micro networks and content aggregators are allowing for comments directly in the aggregated flow or stream, which don't make it back to the original post. And, that's exactly where we need innovation. New tools and services that connect those comments back to the source will help create a manageable universe where people orbit the point of origin instead of creating a series of disparate galaxies of conversations around the same idea. But, I guess that's the evolution that we need to acknowledge, the point of origin is relative to the reader and where they discover the content, not necessarily where we publish it.

For example, this post will by syndicated partially or in some cases completely, in FriendFeed, Jaiku, Tumblr, Twitter, Social Media Today, Marcom Professional, WebProNews , Gooruze, Pownce, and any other network where I have either manually or explicitly agreed to have content reappear. In each of those communities, readers have the ability to comment and in order for me to remain visible and also nurture relationships, I have to monitor everything individually. As good friend Stowe Boyd says, "just go with the flow." Indeed he's right. Our desire to stay connected will require a fragmented, proactive process of tracking down and responding to feedback.



But, now there's a new twist in all of this, which was sparked by the release of Shyftr a new feedreader and social network mashup. In theory, it helps readers stay on top of their favorite feeds and also serves as a central place to discover new blogs and comment on compelling posts directly from within the network and also "friend" like-minded people. What's at issue however, is that Shyftr and sites like it are flipping control away from publishers and in turn, becoming the hosts for our content - without necessarily giving credit or traffic back in return.

Just in case I lost you, Shyftr, which stands for Share Your Feeds Together, repurposes feeds and creates a social network around your favorites and the favorites of others. You can find feeds by searching key words in the Shyftr network, read your own feeds, as well as see the feeds that other users follow by viewing their list of favorites - they can view your list too. Popular stories are also promoted and showcased within the community, which introduces people to find new and interesting stories and bloggers.



It all sounds great, except that it serves posts in their entirety and lets readers comment at Shyftr without the author's knowledge or triggering an alert to let them know that they have an opportunity to respond. To the untrained eye, readers who have stumbled across the content within the network, may never have the benefit of introduction back to the source. If you enjoy the writing, you can click "Shyft It" and have the feed instantly added to your list of favorites, without having to ever visit the blog. In order to find the point of origin, you have to click the headline twice - once in the summary to read the post and the second to get back to the feed. Some people call this scraping content and feel that it is a form of stealing intellectual property in order to monetize it.
Subscribe to my feed: Either way, Shyftr and the new breed of aggregated content apps and the social networks that connect people around them are actually good for us. As they evolve, our personal brands will extend into new communities where we may have never connected with new readers otherwise. We can't fight it, we can only go where the conversations take us. Yes, it forces us outside of our comfort zone - hosting content and public reaction in one place. But, your level of participation after you publish, defines the relationships you create and cultivate in the Social web. This is after all, Social Media ,and it's powered by the democratization of content - even if it's yours.

Make no mistake, the conversation has already left the building. The question is, are you ready to follow it?

Feedback and engagement, wherever it thrives, are the true sources of inspiration for anyone who produces content. Embrace that you have this opportunity to meet people in new places. Just focus your time on where those conversations produce the best return on your investment of time and expertise.

UPDATE: Shyftr changes its policy and will no longer repost content in its entirety, "Shyftr provides full attribution to publishers, links back to their sites, and we do not remove advertisements nor alter the content in any RSS feed. With that in mind, we have decided to revise the format around our discussions. We will only display the title, author, and date of an item where discussions occur outside of the reader. We deeply respect content publishers, and it is not our intention to cause unease."

Personally, I think that the discussions surrounding Shyftr gave us a glimpse of the potential dark side of RSS. But at the end of the day, I still believe that even though it was fragmenting the conversation, it did so in a way that also exposed us (content producers) to new audiences.

Other articles worth your time:

Blog Comments Still Matter - Sarah Perez, RWW
Era of Blogger's Control is Over - Robert Scoble
Fine, I'll Say It: Shyftr Crosses the Line - Tony Hung
Should Fractured Feed Reader Comments Raise Blog Owners' Ire? - Louis Gray
Should Comments be Portable - Valeria Maltoni
The Broken Conversation - Todd Defren

Other relevant stories on PR 2.0:

The Value of Online Conversations
The Art of Listening and Engagement
The Social Media Manifesto
Conversational Marketing
Will the Real Social Media Expert Please Stand Up
PR 2.0 = The Evolution of PR, Nothing Less, Nothing More

Connect with me on Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, or Facebook.

feed reader shyftr twitter jaiku pownce tumblr micromedia social+network micro blogger blog socialmedia social+media social media media+2.0 media2.0 2.0 pr2.0 pr+2.0 new+pr pr public+relations communications conversation conversational strategy expert guru brian+solis relations marketing comment discussion community service audience flow meme techmeme stream

Will The Real Social Media Expert Please Stand Up?

Social Media is everything you know and nothing about what you think or do in marketing. Sounds strange eh? It’s true though.

Think about how you approach marketing campaigns today and the picture will become a bit clearer.

- You evaluate target demographics.

- Develop strategic messages.

- Conduct an audit or focus group.

- Revise messages and fine-tune the plan.

- Determine the broadcast mechanisms to push your content.

- Go live.

- Monitor the response.

- Evaluate the ROI.

- Repeat, enhanced by new information.

There’s nothing wrong with this chain of events. It’s what we were taught and it’s worked over time. So, what happened?

We blinked.



Now, we’re entering an entirely new paradigm for cultivating relationships with customers as well as the people who may one day become customers. At the moment, it’s all anyone can talk about. There’s certainly no shortage of Social Media “experts,” yet there is a shortage of experts who can actually help us.

Click here to see what I'm talking about.

Is this about creativity? Is this about technology? Is this about Social Networks or Web 2.0?

Social Media is about facilitating interactions between people online. Just because we have the tools to engage, doesn’t make it any easier to do this the right way.

Social media is about sociology and the understanding that with the new social tools available to us, we can more effectively observe the cultures of online communities and listen to and respond directly to people within the communities.

Sociology - The study of human social behavior, especially the study of the origins, organization, institutions, and development of human society.

We’re learning to peel back the layers of our target demographics to see the people underneath. We’re starting to figure out that we need to humanize our story. We’re realizing that we would never speak to our friends and family through messages, so why should we speak “at” the very people we want to reach and befriend. We’re opening our ears and our minds to acknowledge that we can no longer push our thoughts at people in order to earn resonance; we have to listen, talk, listen, assess, and contribute value.

This is how we find our real customers and those who influence them. We’ve all heard the mantras that the customer is always right and that the customer is boss. I think we can all agree that the customer is critical to our success and their emotions, experiences, state of mind and their resulting influence in their community are imperative to our survival.



Perhaps it’s because Social Media is empowering everyone and everything that matters to us. Instead of top down communications and focusing on the influence and control of messages and perception, we’re learning that those influential groups of people are now our peers and therefore require respect, honesty, and support in order for us to earn their trust – and hopefully their business and enthusiasm along the way.

This is Social Media, not socialism.

The customer comes first, and if we fuse sociology, social media, customer service, relationship marketing, experiential marketing, and traditional marketing, we’re creating a new formula for outbound influence and fueling a new generation of brand ambassadors and loyalists.

Ever heard of a Skullcandy? Me neither, until I did. And now, I can’t stop hearing about them.

How do you take on giants such as Sony, Bose, Philips, and Monster when you’re the new kid on the block? You start by becoming a sociologist. Then you go to your customers directly and “go native” by ingratiating yourself into the online cultures where they communicate. You become the very people you want to reach. Whether they did this intentionally or not, it worked.

Click here to see what I'm talking about (roll over the banner at Transworld Skateboarding):




Everything they do is reflective of those they want to engage and embrace. From embeddable widgets with valuable content, downloadable music and custom artwork, and peer-to-peer street teams to blogs, communities, events, and social networks, all combined with traditional marketing. They make their customer the center of everything they do. And, they could do even more with the right social tools, proactive participation, and elevated outbound strategies, and voices, to reach them.

Let’s listen in on the conversation about Skullcandy for a bit shall we?

Twitter

Blogs

Their customers are their surrogate sales force.

We live in interesting times. We’re currently enthralled in an immersive, confusing, and definitive transition in our “day job.” The dynamics of marketing communications and advertising in the realm of traditional methods still works (believe it or not) with this emerging and important landscape requiring concurrent, if not greater attention with little metrics to support it.

Does this scale as is?

No way!

But…if you don’t engage, your competition will. Intentionally pulling yourself from their radar screens is the beginning of the end.

So become a Social Media sociologist not a cultural voyeur and let's get to work.

Seriously.

Observe the online communities where your company and brands (or those of your competitors) are actively discussed and figure out how to participate in those conversations as if you were approaching someone in real life whom you greatly respect. Perhaps the most valuable piece of advice I can share is to pay attention to the culture of each community and how people communicate and interact with each other. This will reveal how best to embrace the opportunity and reach out to people though a through a new form of "un" marketing.

- Start by participating as a person, not as a marketer.

- Talk like a person, not as a sales person or message factory.

- Be helpful and bring value to the conversation.

During this entire process, you’re contributing to the personality and the perception of the brand you represent.

It’s the only way to earn their respect in return and hopefully their business, loyalty, and referrals as we continue to do what matters to earn their friendship.

This isn't the post for ROI, but I will ask, how do you evaluate the ROI of your best friends in real life?

You just trust that they find value in the relationship because they keep coming back. That’s truly return on the investment of person to person and people to people relationship marketing. However, for those who need numbers, establish traditional and alternative metrics on the front end - before you go out there. Common metrics include traffic based on a dedicated series of URLs you create specific to your social work, registrations, downloads, ntegrated code in anything you may be sharing (in terms of a widget or embeddable form of media) that shows the pass along and interaction data, as well as the threads and additional posts that spawn based on your interaction, Web site analytics are key as well. But, this is just an overview and a preview of a deeper post that's imminent regarding ROI (I'm working on it.).

In order to determine the amount of resources, time and money that are required, It all starts with good old fashioned research along with the new tools to help you get to the answers you seek (see below for a list to help you get started).

- Identify who your customers are and where they go for information.

- Search for key words: Products & Company as well as competitors and their products and services.

- And, please don’t forget the relationships that exist in the real world. They're also indispensable for providing the feedback and insight you now now and later.

Based on the research results, you can measure the average frequency of relevant conversations, identify the more active hubs and communities, and the context of the conversations in order to determine time and variety of resources required (a community manager is required at the very least.

The number of average relevant conversations per day per community.

Multiplied by the quantity of relevant communities.

Multiplied by 20 (minutes required to research and respond and also monitor for additional responses), variable +/- dependent on the case, usually +.

Divided by 60 (minutes)

Equals the amount of time required and in turn, the resources and associated costs required depending on internal labor or external consulting fees.

Based on the research results, you can measure the average frequency of relevant conversations, identify the more active hubs and communities and the context of the conversations in order to determine time and resources required. I think the first thing you'll realize is that it represents a tremendous commitment, which is usually great than any one person (including a community manager). Conversations occur everywhere, across a variety of topics that usually correlate to specific marketing disciplines and customer services, i.e. marcom, product management, customer service, PR, executive management, etc. Having someone keeping a pulse on relevant conversations and in turn feeding them, intelligently, to the right people internally and guiding them on the required response and followup makes the interaction more meaningful and helpful and also distributes the responsibility across existing resources.

Here are some places to start listening (note: different than publishing or participating):

Bookmarks
Ma.gnolia
Delicious
Diigo
StumbleUpon

Crowdsourced Content
Digg
Yahoo Buzz
Mixx

Conversations
Google Alerts
Blogpulse
Radian6
Ask.com
BuzzLogic
Google Blog Search

Blog Communities
Blogged.com
MyBlogLog
BlogCatalog

Micromedia
Tweetscan
Twemes
TwitterLocal
FriendFeed

Social Networks
MySpace
Bebo
Ning
Facebook
Friendfeed
LinkedIn

Customers
YahooGroups
GoogleGroups
GetSatisfaction

Relevant Discussions

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Conversation has Left the Blogosphere

The Value of Online Conversations

The Art of Listening and Engagement

Cultural Voyeurism and Social Media

The Social Media Manifesto

Conversational Marketing

PR 2.0 = The Evolution of PR, Nothing Less, Nothing More

Connect with me on Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, or Facebook.

blogger blog socialmedia social+media social media media+2.0 media2.0 2.0 pr2.0 pr+2.0 new+pr pr public+relations communications marcom advertising direct seo sem search marketing strategy expert guru seth+godin brian+solis relations community service customer

The Evolution of the News Business - Did the New York Times Miss the Point?

The Business of News

Chapter I - The Town Crier

Chapter II - The Printing Press and Newspapers

Chapter III - Radio

Chapter IV - Television

Chapter V - The Web

Chapter VI - Mobile Alerts

Chapter VII - Blogs

OK, yes it's just a crude and simple representation of the evolution of news. My point is that blogs are merely the latest chapter, and not the only means for breaking news today. I think the New York Times neglected to write a more significant and complete story in its article, "In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop."

Yes, we are traveling at light speed and not even realizing just how quickly we're missing everything else around us. It's like the movie Click where Adam Sandler fast-forwarded through his life only to realize that he had missed everything.

I had a heads up that the New York Times was going to run a controversial piece on blogging because they wanted to use one of my pictures in the story. I have yet to see the print version (although I hear my photo of Michael Arrington is on A29), but I have read the story online. If I were the type of blogger they were referring to in the story, I can tell you that I would have stopped everything I was doing to blog it yesterday. But I'm not in the news or scoop business. I simply could never keep up and maintain the already unbalanced, but happy, life I lead today.

The New York Times is making a case that bloggers blog until they literally drop and insinuates that its because they try to keep up with the frantic pace of news production.

It brought back a flood memories and emotions of two people whom I admired and respected, Marc Orchant and Russell Shaw, both of whom passed away after suffering heart attacks recently at relatively young ages. The NYT also pointed to good friend Om Malik, who at 41, survived a heart attack recently - thankfully.

The story really brought it home for me. It's a painful reminder that life is short, too short.

According to the NYT, "A growing work force of home-office laborers and entrepreneurs, armed with computers and smartphones and wired to the hilt, are toiling under great physical and emotional stress created by the around-the-clock Internet economy that demands a constant stream of news and comment."

The story continues to paint a grim picture for the blogosphere and also quotes Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, the number one blog on the web, "I haven’t died yet. At some point, I’ll have a nervous breakdown and be admitted to the hospital, or something else will happen. This is not sustainable.”

TechCrunch has earned millions in advertising revenue, which was hand-built by Michael from the ground up. In the story, Arrington admits to gaining 30 pounds in the last three years, developed a severe sleeping disorder and turned his home into an office for him and several employees.

Arrington shares additional thoughts on the relentless conditions of news blogging, "There’s no time ever — including when you’re sleeping — when you’re not worried about missing a story. Wouldn’t it be great if we said no blogger or journalist could write a story between 8 p.m. Pacific time and dawn? Then we could all take a break. But that’s never going to happen.”

The blogosphere is 24/7, but then again, so is the news business. News never stops and it's not unique to blogs - it just hits closer to home because now people, thanks to social media, can relate to the process of publishing content (there are over 100 million blogs in the world today).

Blogging is merely the latest chapter in the business of finding, scooping, and breaking news. Even with the slightest lead (milliseconds), blogs can appear to have broken the story through news aggregation sites and blog search engines, which can equate to greater revenues. But, it is not any different than the previous decades where newspapers and broadcast networks fought every minute of every day to break the stories that help them retain their position as the primary source for news.

How many heart attacks have gone unnoticed in the world of print and broadcast journalism over the last 100 years?

Unfortunately too many.

However, let's step back for a moment.

I think we can all agree that the news business isn't going to stop trying to beat each other to the punch. There's acclaim and glory associated with scooping others. They're rewarded for it in the form of awards, readers, and most importantly, money.

The Web is the latest medium that only expedites the hectic pace to publish and read news.

Nothing changes the fact that we, as people, are hungry for consuming information, and everything contributes to the rapid evolution of our society and our drive and satisfaction for quick news bursts wherever we are. And, whether you noticed it or not, news is finding its way to us any way and anywhere courtesy of new technology. We contribute to the "short attention span" theater by trying to keep up with the firehouse of content and it is reflective in the state of our engagement.

Doc Searls, whom I also greatly admire, has asked us to examine blogging versus flogging in his latest post in response to the NYT piece, "There is a difference in kind between writing to produce understanding and writing to produce money, even when they overlap. There are matters of purpose to consider, and how one drives (or even corrupts) the other."

Searls continues, "One is about chilling out. Blogging doesn’t need to be a race. Really. The other is about scoops. They’re overrated. Winning in too many cases is a badge of self-satisfaction one pins on oneself. I submit that’s true even if Memeorandum or Digg pins it on you first. In the larger scheme of things, even if the larger scheme is making money, it doesn’t matter as much as it might seem at the time."

Personally I blog to share information, ideas, and thoughts and observations that may or may not help people. I'm not in the news business. Nor am I in the blogging business. But even still, it is a significant commitment, one I'm currently weighing in the greater scheme of life/work balance. I'm sure I'm not alone.

At the end of the day, I don't pledge allegiance to any one blog or traditional media outlet for their reputation of breaking news. Instead I choose those who offer valuable perspective and insight to help me interpret it.

This part is dedicated to the good friends and thought leaders who are mentioned in this post. Alive or no longer with us, they have contributed significantly to journalism and the blogosphere.

Michael Arrington, snapped at the Churchill Club Bootstrapping event

Om Malik, shot at The Ladders party.

Doc Searls

Marc Orchant, shot at DEMOfall 07 in San Diego.

Russell Shaw

Connect with me on Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, or Facebook.

blogging blog blogger newyorktimes techcrunch om+malik michael+arrington gigaom doc+searls new york times journalism blogosphere evolution media media+2.0 media2.0 social+media social new+media print online broadcast journalist reporter