The press release goes social
There’s been a ton of ‘wither the press release’ discussion here and elsewhere and I won’t even bother to recount it. Safe to say that some folks, like Todd Defren at SHIFT and Tom Foremski have taken the lead in defining not only the problem but the solution.
So, what’s the next step?
Chris Heuer has stepped forward and is asking for those of us who care about this issue to join in the effort to redefine the press release for the social media era.
I have a lot of ideas on how we can move this discussion forward but am still really in a “discuss and decide” mode on most issues - the most important of which are how do we get broader community involvement and how do we avoid the political wrangling that has killed so many other well-intentioned standards efforts in the past.
Chris has started a Google Group to get the discussion going. I’m signed up.
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Comments
I’m with you Shel and let’s take it a step further: The blog enabled Media Room.
A blog within a company web site that powers press releases, articles, news, coverage, executive bios, photos, podcasts, video - the whole package all available as HTML and RSS. Combine that with the inherent web 2.0 features of a wire service like PRWeb.com and the notion of “press release goes social” takes a step up to a whole new level.
[...] David Parmet , Chris Abraham, Neville Hobson, and Stuart Bruce have added their thoughts to the conversation. For the most part, initial feedback online and here at Gnomedex has been pretty positive. [...]
One problem with that, Shel. The SEC.
I think the social press release is a little overblown, and frankly, does not work in the current suggested form on the wire services, and is quite expensive if you do it the suggested way.
I disagree with you Shel. A Press Release will always be the ‘official voice’ of an organisation. The technical format of the press release may evolve over time, but a blog will not be its direct replacement. PRs are a one time, official statement that remain static after their initial disclosure. Blogs evolve over time, and adapt to user conversations. Therefore, they both have their own place in business, even though blogs are a lot more engaging and oftern achieve better results.
I’m surprised at how few strong feelings I have on the subject of press releases. With all sincere deference to Shift and to my friend Tom, I think I have seen the future of the press release and it is called a “blog.”