Media

Items about the impact of online communications on traditional media.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Move over, ProfNet: LinkedIn is here

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Update: The Ragan.com article reference in this post is now online

Over on Facebook, Peter Shankman has started a group titled, “If I Can Help A Reporter, I Will.” The idea is pretty simple. A reporter in need of an expert for a quote or some background can reach out through the group, and members get notified via Facebook messaging (which also hits their email inbox).

I was subscribed for a while but left the group because of the flood of queries that had nothing to do with my area of expertise. Talk about overload!

But the idea is still a good one, an informal approach to what PR Newswire’s Profnet, a long-standing tool that lets journalists send out similar queries to companies that subscribe. ProfNet provides those companies with the opportunity to identify stories about their business and then get some earned media by responding and, with luck, getting an interview that makes it into the story.

Social media is making this even easier than ProfNet or even Shankman’s group. Mark Ragan, CEO of Ragan Communications, shared with me an example. (Disclosure: I do fee-based work for Ragan Communications.) Mark wanted to run a story on the company’s website about WalMart’s reversal of its decision to collect money an injured employee received from a lawsuit.

(You’ve probably read about this, but the employee was seriously hurt when her car was hit by a truck, losing short-term memory and confining her to a medical facility. WalMart’s benefits paid the employee, who also sued the trucking company. WalMart’s benefits policy is not unique by any stretch of the imagination: You can’t get paid twice—by WalMart and somebody else—for the same injury. So when the employee collected a judgment, WalMart took it, since they had already paid out on the employee’s claim. Yesterday, however, WalMart revised its medical benefit policies to allow the employee to keep the money she collected.)

In search of some commentary for his article, Mark—a former Washington, D.C.-based journalist—didn’t turn to ProfNet or even Shankman’s Facebook group. Both would have taken too much time. He put a question out, instead, through LinkedIn’s “Answers” feature.

The answers he got back were thoughtful and came from people, in some cases, any journalist would be happy to quote. There was, for example, the owner of a company, the general counsel for a hospital, and a human resources consultant. And the answers came back fast, all of them within an hour of Mark’s submission of the question.

When I told Mark I planned to blog about LinkedIn’s usefulness to journalists (or anybody else researching a story), he wrote back:

Linked In is a reporter’s dream. As a journalist, I can put a network of dream sources together. Then, when I’m facing a breaking story, I can post a question, ask for expert comment and then weave those comments into my story. And what makes Linked In a gold mine for reporters is that you can choose a category of expertise based on the story you are writing and post that question to those members as well as your connections. All of this can be done in a matter of minutes.

I got my first comment minutes after I posted the question. I also received comments from experts I never would have known--lawyers, HR professional and PR experts.

Finally, you can quickly scan the members’ profile to see what experience that person has, then mention it in your story. It gives your piece more credibility.”

Linked in is ProfNet on steroids. And it’s free.

And yet there are businesses that block LinkedIn and other tools that provide companies with the opportunity to get ink or find resources. I just read this morning, in a Globe and Mail article, about a company that blocked Facebook because “I just couldn’t find any business use” for it. The business uses are there. You just have to think (sorry) outside the box in order to find them.

Like Mark did.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

IABC assumes sponsorship of social media release initiative

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Hot on the heels of IABC‘s unveiling of eXchange, the association has announced its new leadership role with the social media release (SMR). IABC issued a press release this morning along with an associated social media release.

In fact, the social media release appears on an eXchange blog that was developed as a home for all future IABC social media releases. How’s that for synergy?

(eXchange lets members create blogs “for networking and collaboration.” Neville Hobson blogged about eXchange yesterday.)

The importance of sponsorship

As a member of the social media release working group, I brought the idea of getting involved to IABC. A lot of versions of the social media release have emerged since the concept was first trotted out over two years ago. Some agencies have embraced certain elements while rejecting others. A rapidly growing number of companies have issued social media releases. But the development of standards has languished, largely because the working group was unsponsored, just a collection of guys who believed in the effort. Not to put too fine a point on it, we were getting frustrated.

Under IABC’s sponsorship, I’m confident that we’ll be see accelerated progress. For example, it should be easier to get the press release distribution services more involved; Business Wire and PR Web have already committed to participation since receiving an invitation from IABC.

What the SMR is all about

None of which diminishes the work done by the likes of Edelman, The Social Media Group, WebitPR, Canada News Wire and others. In fact, all those efforts a great. The social media release is not about trying to get everyone to adhere to a rigid, inflexible format. It’s more about…

• Recognizing the need to configure company news in a way that makes it usable by online reporters and bloggers, particularly given that more and more people are turning to the Net for their news and information.
• Embracing the tools of social media, including RSS and social bookmarks, to name just two.
• Integrating links that make it easy for bloggers and journalists to conduct additional research.
• Providing multimedia elements that are easily clipped from the social media release and embedded into a blog post or online news report (just as I’ve copied from the IABC SMR into this post the following video of Chris Heuer—who founded the working group under the auspices of Social Media Club).

There’s work to be done

Some issues remain unresolved. For instance, there’s the question of commenting. One viewpoint argues that a social media release isn’t social without a comment field. Another maintains that there’s nothing inherently social about a social media release, but rather than it’s designed for easy use in social channels like blogs.

And then there’s the issue of tags that will make it easy to identify elements of any press release using search and other discovery tools. Once a tagging standard is finalized, a reporter or blogger would be able to find, for example, all quotes by a particular executive or all core news facts dealing with a particular issue.

The nature of that standard is a ways off. Canada News wire has launched a service that looks a lot like a social media release that automatically adds tags in the NewsML standard, an XLM scheme adopted by the publishing community. That’s great, but NewsML doesn’t address everything a press release might contain. There is some support for developing a microformat, but there’s also some resistence in the microformat community, suggesting that the hAtom microformat is adequate. It’s not, because there would be no way to distinguish an authoritative company news release from any other content.

Anyway, that’s all work to be hashed out by the working group that will grow and accelerate its activities under IABC’s guidance.

Here come the party-poopers

The IABC announcement will undoubtedly open the floodgates on a whole new flood of anti-SMR sentiment, led by the notion that it’s all just lipstick on a pig. The press release is dead and dressing it up in a social media costume won’t revive it. Instead, the pundits argue, companies should just blog.

Utter nonsense on both counts.

First, the traditional press release isn’t dead. To be sure, the number of terrible press releases crossing the wires is horrific. But a well-written press release has its place and still serves a lot of people. There is a growing body of evidence that the traditional press release has been reinvigorated by online placement.

Second, I agree that companies should blog. But who would want to read a blog—by a CEO, a product manager, or a frontline employee—that contains every bit of information about a new product, an upcoming merger, a response to a crisis? People read blogs for the individual’s perspective and insights, not for a lengthy recitation of facts. I would hope even the CEO, the product manager, and the frontline employee would be able to use a social media release to cherry-pick information and resources to include in their blog posts.

There’s also a camp that wonders why we’re bothering, since there hasn’t been an outrcy of demand for the SMR. I addressed this in a recent post noting that many innovations we take for granted today—even couldn’t live with out—were introduced without a surge of demand. From my perspective, the SMR just makes sense.

So, as I say, I’m encouraged by IABC’s new role as the shepherd of the SMR initiative and look forward to staying involved. Huge kudos to the IABC executive board and staff for agreeing to step up to the plate.

Incidentally, for the February installment of Cafe2Go, IABC’s monthly podcast, I interviewed Brian Solis—another member of the working group—about the SMR.

Friday, February 08, 2008

Do you always know what you want or need?

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In nearly every discussion of the Social Media Release (SMR)—whether it’s one I’m having with a group of people or one taking place on somebody’s blog—the same question keeps coming up: “Has anybody done the research to determine whether journalists even want something like this?”

It’s too easy to point to Tom Foremski’s original post calling for a serious updating of the trusty press release and note that Tom’s a journalist. But, of course, Tom’s just one journalist. Has there, in fact, been an outcry for the SMR?

No, not that I know of. But who cares? It’s a stupid question.

No offense intended to the people who ask the question, but if people only invented stuff other people asked for, the world would be missing some pretty significant tools. Like the telephone. The World Wide Web. The iPod. None of these were introduced because there was a groundswell of support for them. The Web and the iPod were both, in fact, ridiculed when introduced, as in, “Who needs such a thing?” The history of innovation is filled with important tools nobody knew they wanted.

About eight or nine years ago, I conducted an intranet audit in a financial services company. In focus groups, I never start by asking, “What do you want on the intranet?” In fact, I don’t even tell participants that the intranet is the subject at hand. I start with this question: “What drives you crazy trying to get your work done here?” IN this case, the issue that arose over and over again was file attachments. Big ones. Entire databases were zipped into 15MB attachments to email messages and sent to colleagues throughout the company. I recommended a file attachment center (sort of what YouSendIt has become today on the Web). The idea was a hit. If, on the other hand, I had asked, “What do you want to see on the intranet?” nobody would have said, “Some kind of file attachment center to alleviate our email attachment problem.”

People don’t always know what they want or need.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Jared Spool of User Interface Engineering several years ago for an article I was writing. I’ll never forget his list of reasons to introduce any new technology:

• It solves a problem
• It improves an existing process
• It lets you do something you couldn’t even dream of doing before

The SMR—in both its current unfinished form and as it will appear when the vision is achieved—solves a lot of problems. The metadata scheme makes it easy to find elements of a release anywhere they appear and identify them as such. The availability of multimedia and Web 2.0 elements (tags, feeds, bookmarks, etc.) make it more useful to those who would write about it, whether they’re online journalists or bloggers. The bulleted core news facts make it hard for hacks to put out a newsless news release and easier for journalists and bloggers to detect BS.

The SMR improves a process by making it easier for organizations to get the various elements of a release—many of which simply won’t work in a traditional release—into the hands of those who want it. It’s also easier for the people who want it to get their hands on it.

The comment field integrated into many SMRs let organizations do something they’ve never been able to do before—use a release as the starting point for conversation.

Personally, I think the conversation is better served on a regular company blog authored by the CEO, the product manager, whoever is inclined to write about the subject of the release.

The SMR, though, represents one-stop shopping for anybody wanting to know anything about the subject or to use that material in their reporting efforts. That is, the SMR is the comprehensive archive of information and resources on the product launch, the recall, the merger, whatever the news may be. The blogs of real people in the oreganization offer perspective and context about the announcement. And, of course, the bloggers are as free to use the material from the SMR as are those covering the news.

I see no reason to put the brakes on the evolution of the SMR just because throngs of reporters haven’t demanded it. Ultimately, how it’s used will be the proof that it’s useful. 

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

The downside of newspaper reader blogs

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In journalism’s efforts to embrace new media and transform the newspaper business, a lot of papers have adopted the idea of inviting readers to blog on the paper’s site. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer was one of the first newspapers to go down this road, with readers writing about a variety of topics relevant to Seattle residents, like transit, trade, and music.

It’s not a bad idea. God knows, newspapers need to do something to be relevant in this dramatically altered media environment. In a recent Editor & Publisher column, Steve Outing highlights the challenge—although reader blogs aren’t among the solutions listed. Still, local, relevant content from the viewpoint of readers can be a powerful inducement for residents to visit a newspaper’s site. And most newspapers are clear that the authors of these blogs are speaking for themselves and are not edited by the paper. The Post-Intelligencer precedes every blog with a disclaimer:

P-I Reader Blogs are not written or edited by the P-I. They are written by readers, for readers. The authors are solely responsible for content. If you see any posts you consider inappropriate, please send us a note.

The P-I also qualifies its bloggers before inviting them to publish their views under the newspaper’s banner. That’s also a good idea. There’s a certain amount of risk involved in letting readers express themselves as what many may view as a representative, a new-fangled member of the paper’s reporting staff.

This is a lesson the Los Angeles Times may or may not be learning after one of its bloggers posted an item to her environment-focused blog titled, ”Greenest crotch in the blogosphere.” The post—by a blogger named Siel who also writes the green LA girl blog and is a BlogHer contributing editor—talks about a friend whose mid-region appears in an ad on the popular Treehugger blog. Here’s a sample:

Did Treehugger ask if they could use the image of Summer’s crotch? No. Did Summer complain? No—partly because the whole thing is so damn funny. Our friend Traci recognized Summer’s crotch at first glance, for ex. We joked about how Summer should get a big © tattooed on her crotch, sort of like those watermarks that stock photo companies use.

Integral to the notion of blogging is freedom for people to say what they want, which is part of the dilemma newspapers face when taking this approach to integrating social media. Should newspapers review what bloggers post? Edit headlines? Probably not. On the other hand, bloggers writing for newspapers can have their own blogs (as Siel does); newspapers might consider a set of guidelines to ensure posts don’t sully the newspaper’s reputation or integrity.

Siel’s post hasn’t exactly produced a firestorm of controversy. I found one post about it on LAObserved, but it’s snidely critical. The only comment to the post reads, “I think you’ve just set the low bar for L.A. Times headlines with “Greenest Crotch in the Blogosphere.” No where to go from there but up.”

And I learned about the post in a mass email sent by a friend who produces a political website; his note reads, “This is what the L.A. Times has come to: appropriating bloggers to gain ‘cool’ cache. Read and be amazed.”

I did. I was.

FIR Interview: John “Pat” Philbin, former FEMA Communications Director - January 9, 2008

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One of the bigger PR news stories of 2007 involved a press conference staged by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in October to address the California wildfires. FEMA’s External Affairs Director John “Pat” Philbin was slated to take a new position as Public Affairs Director for the Director of National Intelligence, but in the wake of the press conference controversy, that offer was withdrawn. In this wide-ranging interview, Philbin discusses the events that occurred leading up to, and the fallout from, the press conference, and offers advice for communicators who may find themselves in a similar position.

About our Conversation Partner

Pat Philbin brought more than 20 years of experience in strategic communication, public affairs, organization management and business development within government organizations to his position at FEMA, which he began in June 2006. Before joining FEMA, Philbin worked for Anteon/General Dynamics Information Technology as a Technical Director where he served as a consultant in strategic communication to the Department of Defense’s Business Transformation Agency directing and assisting in communication efforts to Congress, the Government Accountability Office, and the general public. He also served as the Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Communications for a private security firm. 

Philbin served 21 years in the U.S. Coast Guard from which he retired as Chief of Public Affairs in 2004. He holds a Doctorate in Communication from the University of Maryland, a Master of Science in Public Relations from Syracuse University, and a Bachelor of Science in Government from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. He also holds an Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) and is a member of the Public Relations Society of America.

About our Guest Interviewer

Kami Watson Huyse, APR, principal of My PR Pro, an independent agency based in San Antonio, Texas, writes about public relations and communications. She has a background in crisis communication and reputation management, executing social media campaigns, conducting focus group research, and media relations. Kami has been working in public relations since 1994. She blogs at Communication Overtones.

Download the 64-minute conversation here (MP3, 29.2MB), or sign up for the Interviews RSS feed to get it and future interviews automatically. For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a such as the free Juice, DopplerRadio or iTunes, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon.

To receive all For Immediate Release podcasts including the twice-weekly Hobson & Holtz Report, sign up for the full RSS feed.

Listen to this podcast now:

If you have comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future interviews, email us at fircomments@gmail.com; or call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803 (North America) or +44 20 8133 9844 (Europe); or Skype: fircomments; or comment at Twitter: twitter.com/FIR; or at Jaiku: fir.jaiku.com. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

This FIR Interview is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Podsafe intro music - On A Podcast Instrumental Mix (MP3, 5Mb) by Cruisebox.

Saturday, January 05, 2008

Tech journalism at a crossroads

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The January 2 edition of John C. Dvorak’s video podcast CrankyGeeks is must-viewing for PR practitioners, and in particular those who work for technology clients. Dvorak’s guests include New York Times writers John Markoff and Gregg Zachary, who offer an intriguing take on the state of technology journalism; Sebastian Rupley from PC Magazine rounds out the panel.

Some of the group’s observations:

• Tech PR firms are driving the coverage of technology in the press
• The requirement to have fresh copy online daily has led reporters to abandon the more in-depth and substantive coverage that once characterized technology reporting
• The fact that so many reporters are chummy with the companies they cover has resulted in little critical coverage of executive performance

Zachary suggested that the day is approaching when technology reporters won’t be necessary at all. As he put it, companies will issue press releases sliced and diced into distinct sections that can be assembled anywhere without journalistic intervention. That sounds awfully close to the hRelease specification currently under development by a working group under Shannon Whitley’s direction. The hRelease microformat that defines the various elements of a social media press release just as the hEvent miroformat describes the elements of a calendar entry.

Also discussed is the inadvertent release of a journalist’s dossier maintained by PR firm Waggener Edstrom for its client Microsoft. The mistaken release wasn’t the point of the discussion; it merely revealed that Waggener Edstrom maintains such dossiers, a clear attempt to control Microsoft’s media coverage.

Agree or disagree with the panel’s views and conclusions, it’s captivating viewing for those of us working in this field.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Not all journalists despise PR

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I wrote last week about Chrysler realigning its communications function to report to Human Resources. I considered the move a bad one. I’m not alone.

Reporting in Sunday’s Detroit Free Press, columnist Mark Phelan slammed the move. Excerpts:

Communications must have a seat at the grownups’ table, with direct access to Chrysler’s bosses as the company develops and executes its turnaround strategy. Somebody in communications must be able to walk into the CEO’s office and say “There’s a crisis. Here’s what we have to do,” and the boss must trust that person enough to listen.

Done right, communications shapes corporate strategy, influences whether a company has a good or bad reputation and serves as a reality-check for managers who can easily lose touch with how the outside world perceives them.

A really good communications executive is less a spokesperson than a consigliere, the trusted counselor the boss listens to in a crisis.

While expressing dismay over Chrysler’s move, he applauded GM for its “masterful handling of the Chevrolet Volt concept car,” among other things, then told this story:

John Mueller, a retired GM communications executive, worked closely with chairman Rick Wagoner when Wagoner ran GM’s North American operations. One day, he suggested Wagoner do an interview with a journalist from a leading newspaper. Wagoner said that his schedule was full.

Mueller picked up the phone and called Wagoner’s assistant. “Tell him I’ll be right up,” he said. As Mueller stepped into Wagoner’s office, the future leader of the world’s largest automaker smiled.

“If you think it’s important, I’ll do it,” he said. “Don’t you ever quit challenging me when you believe you’re right.”

That, Phelan wrote, is the approach Chrysler should take, rather than relegating communications to a corner of Human Resources.

As my friend Pete Shinbach noted in the email that alerted me to the Free Press story, “How many times have you read a journalist writing about the value of PR other than as a purely media relations function?” Too true: It’s refreshing, amidst all the bickering between PR and journalists, to see a reporter who appreciates the value of effective communications.