http://www.prxbuilder.com/x2/index.php/simplesmpr-wordpress-plugin

This plugin might be more appropriate for your class since it’s open source and mostly non-commercial.

It would be interesting for your students to apply what they know about social media to what is delivered by the plugin. They could then come up with their own ideas about the value of such a plugin and what might make it more useful. Sounds like a paper to me (sorry Class).

MediaRoom is a perfect example of a long standing CMS that has done (or can do) all of these tasks. And, the “Example Corporate MediaRooms” list at the bottom of that page proves your point. All are branded implementations and, I imagine, can handle multimedia and links/tags, etc. if the client asked you for them. I just didn’t find any multimedia in my brief search.

David Phillilps, for instance, points to YellowHawk in the UK. So, there are certainly offerings of all manner and capabilities.

Most important from your comments are these two paragraphs:

Their confidential results indicate that very few are even using RSS to consume corporate news right now…even though we’ve offered that from client MediaRoom sites for over 2 years now. Our research also indicates that journalists do in fact read news releases to stimulate story ideas. They ALWAYS follow up for more assets if needed, and RARELY trust content exclusively from the website or mediaroom, even if the site is incredibly well-populated.

My problem with both the PRX Builder and the Story Crafter and whatever else comes along is that these “tools” seem to be about the “technology” and the “formatting” rather than the core issue of whether or not there is even a need and a business demand.

I wish more businesses would release these types of confidential results. I realize there is the proprietary issue, but it certainly would help.

I’m not surprised to read that few are even using RSS, journalists do in fact read news releases, and that journalists RARELY trust content exclusively from the website or mediaroom.

Re: these “tools” seem to be about the “technology” and the “formatting” rather than the core issue of whether or not there is even a need and a business demand, I agree. This may be an instance of creating a tool/process that gains a foothold in practice as a complementary offering with the traditional releases – then, over time an acceptance and appreciation for SMNRs may gain acceptance and adoption. Truth may be, until these practices are adopted and offered, the possibility of acceptance and use by journalists will take even longer.

Take your observation about RSS. You’ve offered it for two years. RSS has been around longer than that, and yet few journalists (it seems) are using it (or perhaps realize they are using it).

Addition of, and creation of, all these extra elements (RSS, multimedia, tags, purpose built search / bookmarking pages) take extra time, cost more money and require additional resources from the PR practitioner.

Finally, these tools still seem useful, right now (in the big picture of the PR world), only to large firms and corporations with the resources to create and use them. For the vast majority of PR practitioners, they will likely never be used – if only because they do not have the resources to create them.

Just like adoption of social media, I fear a long – very long – adoption process underway.

So…from a “publishing” standpoint…key clients that are using our CMS for MediaRoom, already have the capability. Guess what? The clients don’t care. From a “distribution” standpoint, the system of uploading the release to the wire could easily be changed if there was any client demand for it. My contacts at PR Newswire fully support the change in formatting if and when there’s a meaningful business reason to do it.

I fully support change and our MR platform contains the flexibility to grow and morph with industry change. As a business owner, I typically wait for a client or a partner to ask for the change (and to pay for it) before we re-invent a process and a business model that is lucrative. I’m quite certain that the decision makers at the wire services feel the same way.

To the “research” part of it, we do semi-annual Media Advisory Council sessions with a varied group of broadcast and print journalists. Their confidential results indicate that very few are even using RSS to consume corporate news right now…even though we’ve offered that from client MediaRoom sites for over 2 years now. Our research also indicates that journalists do in fact read news releases to stimulate story ideas. They ALWAYS follow up for more assets if needed, and RARELY trust content exclusively from the website or mediaroom, even if the site is incredibly well-populated.

My problem with both the PRX Builder and the Story Crafter and whatever else comes along is that these “tools” seem to be about is the “technology” and the “formatting” rather than the core issue of whether or not there is even a need and a business demand.

I have been working with it to create a sample release for Camp ASCCA, for instance.

We appreciate your willingness to work with the class and use PRX Builder.

I’ll write to you over the break. Thanks.

Robert

I never thought you were trying to spur on anything other than development and discussion of the SMNR process. I appreciate the work you have done.

I’ll let you know what we plan to do with PRX Builder. I’ve been playing with the site to see how we might incorporate it into a class exercise.

Thanks.

Robert

Yes, I’m still very interested in working with you and your students. It’s not a problem at all to create releases with PRX Builder and prevent them from becoming public. That’s one of the important features: the many distribution options are completely in your control.

I hope that I’ve been very clear that I support what Edelman’s done. Any similarities to PRX Builder, I’m sure, are a result of our both using the SMPR template, which SHIFT explicitly said was available for anyone to use.

I think Edelman’s inclusion of comments and trackbacks in storyCrafter can be useful to some organizations, especially if they aren’t already using a blogging tool. I like the functionality, but my current approach is to allow people to manage those things through existing tools like WordPress and TypePad. Judging by some of the comments left on the Edelman site, I’m very glad that I require a login to post comments on PRX Releases. As for Emoticons…well, I’m certainly promoting a do-it-yourself solution, and the release you referenced is a very good example.

Shoot me a note during the break. I’d love to work with you. I’m also interested in receiving feedback from others. I’m looking to improve, and I need more suggestions from professional communicators. Perhaps we can even develop some clever ideas to attack the issues of release quality and quantity.

Shannon

Glad to hear that you are willing to try out PRX Builder, too.

I am thrilled to hear about a corporate/college collaboration, too. Your students will be better off for it when it’s time to hit the job market.