I imagine he’s slowly adding to his alpha testing group. Who knows how many have looked at it so far, but with the PROpenMic membership and his own group at MediaPitch / PitchEngine, Jason now has almost 2,000 people to poke and prod the site in an effort to help tweak and and share suggestions.

Jason describes PitchEngine, in part, as follows:

PitchEngine is more than new tools for PR, it’s an entirely new approach to craft. It’s taking what we’ve learned from decades of traditional methods and stepping up our game to participate and succeed in a new media ’sphere – where the conversation is as important as the message. From the PitchEngine Network to the feedback from our users, we’re listening and committed to connecting PR and media in new and innovative ways. It’s not about distribution or tricks and tactics either. For us, it’s about meeting the actual needs of PR and media worldwide.

Jason has plans for more. He promises the offer of a custom media newsroom option and more. The site already offers a blog and social network to complement his PitchEngine^TM SMR tool.

There are two other sites we may use for comparison with regard to SMR building tools. They are Shannon Whitley’s PRXBuilder and Edelman’s StoryCrafter. We’ve used both of these sites in class.

Those two examples approached the process from different perspectives. Edelman, first and foremost, was experimenting. Their focus would be to provide such a service for their clients, for instance. Shannon, also experimenting, came at it from the perspective of a service provider. His social media release builder already has a tie-in with PRNewswire. You can deliver your releases through their newswire after creating it on Shannon’s SMR building tool. He also offers a WordPress plugin for creating SMRs.

Perhaps Jason seeks to provide the same kinds of services. First up on Jason’s list of offerings, after this release building tool, seems to be the opportunity to create those social media newsrooms. I’m betting there is a market for them, especially if they can be mapped to a domain.

Certainly, within the various newswire company sites – PR Newswire, Marketwire, Business Wire, PRWeb and a bevy of other smaller offerings – you may include a variety of links, multimedia and sharing/RSS functions. They all seem to vary in their depth, breadth and GUI user experience.

I’ve created a screen capture video of the PitchEngine SMR building process. It is in two parts and runs about 10 minutes. The video takes you through the various functions of the site.

Related links: PRX Builder, Shannon Whitley’s excellent site, PRX Builder’s New WordPress Plugin, Micro Persuasion: Edelman StoryCrafter Video Demo, » Steve Rubel on StoryCrafter @ sixtysecondview, Edelman StoryCrafter slideshow, StoryCrafter by Edelman :: My Take | infOpinions?, Edelman release announcing StoryCrafter.

Burying the lead, here. The best part about all of this? One more way to get students to pay attention and, in the end, really have them practicing writing.

I’ll share my response, but ask that you visit her post and read the comments by students (sign up required, membership is free). (After visiting that post, also consider going to Kelli’s blog at PRos in Training. It’s a good one.)

This revolves around a recent wiki (prspammers wiki) created by Gina Trapani of Lifehacker, tips and downloads for getting things done. Gina’s Web site is here: Gina Trapani, tech writer and web developer.

The short story? She’s been getting pitches to her personal e-mail address, whereas she has clearly stated links for pitching her and the other editors of Lifehacker (see left hand column). None of them say, “Write to my personal e-mail account.”

So, she has reacted in a public manner. Her choice to do that, of course. Most of us would likely have just filtered the emails and moved on with our lives. But, sometimes we all feel compelled to make a very public point. Right? So, yea! for Gina’s team. I really don’t see anything about her coming off as being malicious in her approach. So, I don’t have a problem with what she’s done.

Update: Kelli has pointed out something I didnt’ see. Gina did post this in Twitter: Twitter / Gina Trapani – “my PR blacklist: http://tinyurl.com/5xj5qh Feel free to add to it.” Well, by publishing it that way, and not providing any safeguard against people maliciously adding to the list with those that are not guilty, she’s just as guilty as those she condemns. Why? Well, she’s just created a vehicle that can harm others. In fact, it is worse. She has not just bothered people with spam, for instance, she’s created a process that may damage one’s reputation unfairly. Talk about Lifehacking. Sheesh!

Here is my comment to Kelli’s post. A bit long for a comment, so I’m adding it here in case you don’t want to go to PROpenMic. But, I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t want to. ;o)

Gina’s process of handling it, and how she’s dealing with it online, is much different than Chris Anderson’s. I’d say she has a valid argument and the nature of online business is that you can feel the backlash in a very public manner.

To me, the days of broadcast e-mails is long gone. It has been gone for over a decade, really. Maybe longer?

An example. That’s one thing I don’t really like about our network here. The invite tool is an invitation to print what many people likely perceive as spam. Scraping your address book to invite people isn’t personal in any way. It isn’t targeted, unless you consider a scattershot approach targeted. I don’t. Facebook’s many widgets are even worse. How many Facebook apps have you blocked? I think I block about 1 every other day.

My point? These practices and strategies (if you can use that term) are still being practiced, even built into the software we use, let alone built into PR firm practices and firm culture.

Years ago, and I mean 20 or so years, you could do a blast mail campaign to newspapers and almost be assured of vast pickup, particularly if you were looking to get into the class C & D papers (local dailies & weeklies). You can still do that today (for class C & D papers, only) and bet on pretty good pickup. But, does this really serve a client’s best interests? I don’t think so. It is lazy. It is unprofessional. It is not PR. Does anyone see any bridges being built through these scattershot approaches? Nope. The key phrase here is “mutually beneficial”, as in the PR practitioner needs to be giving Gina something she wants, not what the practitioner wants to have printed or covered. Why is such a no-brainer concept repeatedly lost on so many PR people?

Everyone holds responsibility here, but the onus is really on management. Is there frequent re-education / training? Is there a vetted process to assure who is using what names from what list? Is there oversight? Sadly, I’m betting the reality is that less than half of firms and organizations actually do that. And, I’m betting I’m being generous, too.

The reality may be a combination of two things. First, firms are trying to get the most out of every possible tactic (billables) and the client’s need for a ROI that they can buy into (retaining your client). These combine to engender a culture furthering these bad practices. Also, note that I’ve used the term ‘tactic’ yet, do we really believe there was any true strategy at work here? No. Strategy leads to tactics. There is no shortcut. You don’t have one without the other.

At least Gina exhibited mature and rational judgement in her effort to deal with the problem. Eh, not so fast … see above. Chris Anderson, on the other hand, well … he just came off looking like a very impudent child. Many of those he outed were not even PR people, some were people he asked to write to him and, worst of all, he uses the term PR and public relations to cover a wide variety of practices, like sales. Finally, his effort – by his own words – intended to do harm. Gina, on the other hand, just dealt with it publicly, yet (with a few exceptions) only published the domains of firms. Anderson is malicious, ignorant and myopic in his approach.

Related Posts:

POP! PR Jots: PR Pitching and Blacklists – by Jeremy Pepper

“Unsubscribe Lifehacker: My Email to Gina Trapani” « socialTNT

A Young Pro’s Take: Media Relations and the New PR Blacklists « PR Interactive

Tech PR Gems: Block & Tackle PR: Tackling the Blocking Bloggers

PR 2.0: Making Mistakes and Amends in Blogger and Media Relations

PR Squared: Open Letter to Gina Trapani of Lifehacker

A Whole Lotta Nothing – Stop asking, start filtering

While we’re considering nonprofit related blogs, I wanted to to share this recent find – an excellent example. Several students have mentioned working in the nonprofit sector, this semester. One just posted about it. So, let’s explore how nonprofits have been using social media in their daily PR and marketing activities.

From Oakland, California, we discover a great site. This one will be particularly interesting for those students thinking about a future in nonprofit work.

Meet Britt Bravo of Have Fun • Do Good, “A blog for people who want to make the world a better place AND have fun!” Now there is a cool name – Britt Bravo.

Britt Bravo is a writer specializing in stories about individuals and organizations who are creating social change. She writes for blogs, produces podcasts and teaches women to blog and podcast. Britt writes for Have Fun * Do Good, BlogHer, WorldChanging San Francisco, and NetSquared. She also produces the Big Vision Podcast and the NetSquared Podcast. Using her 15 years of experience working with nonprofits, socially responsible businesses, and artists, Britt provides consulting for nonprofits and individuals to help them realize their Big Vision. To learn more about Britt go to her web site, Big Vision Career and Project Consulting, at www.brittbravo.com.

Her latest post is Have Fun • Do Good: 10 Ways Nonprofits Can Use Blogs and Bloggers to Support Their Cause. A good post and one we should all check out for ideas.

Britt recently posted a list of favorite nonprofit blogs here: Have Fun * Do Good. She is implementing some interesting promotional ideas to get feedback on her blog. In the call for those links, she gave away a cool Have Fun, Do Good tote bag. We should consider doing that at Camp ASCCA, with our shirts and other various goodies.

And, as a writer for NetSquared – another great nonprofit site – the readers sent her the following links. Check them out, too.

• AARP Issues Blog
• Amnesty International Death Penalty Blog
• Ann Arbor District Library System
• ASPCA
• Brown Bagging for Calgary’s Kids
• Center for Global Development
• Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
• Environmental Defense
• First Book Blog
• Foothills United Way Blog
• Generation Why/Oxfam Blog
• Greenpeace
• HumaniNet
• iAbolish-American Anti-Slavery Group
• Interplast
• Jane Goodall Institute’s Gombe Chimpanzee Blog
• Jubilee USA
• NetSquared
• NTEN
• Mile High United Way Blog
• ONE Campaign Blog
• People’s Grocery
• Poverty Initiative at Union Theological Seminary
• Rainforest Action NetworkStreetside Stories
• SOS Community Services
• Sustainable Table
• TransFair USA
• Urban Sprouts
• Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
• United Way of Central Florida
• Walker Art Center
• Witness for Peace Mexico Blog
• Witness for Peace Nicaragua Blog
• WITNESS Video Hub Blog

Now, I would have, of course, added to that list with Camp ASCCA’s Journal.

I’m glad I found Britt’s blog. It is a good resource.

If you aren’t confused, re: Farmers in Appalachian Valleys, then I’ll appreciate your help – ’cause I am confused. You see, I have never written about Appalachain Valley farmers and press releases (have I?), but apparently Stowe Boyd thinks I did.

The title of this post is but part of a comment left by Stowe Boyd on the post, Blogs are Soma to So Many. At least he liked the metaphor – sort of. His comment is in blockquotes below. I respond.

Stowe Boyd: I think the metaphor is pretty, but misleading. You could make the case that anything that any group advocates is like Soma. I don’t buy it. Blogging is not like taking an anti-depressant. It is (at a physical level) a collection of tools for web publilshing, and (at the societal level) a social medium through which we gain understanding of the world. Not a drug.

Actually, my intention re: the use of the metaphor is as follows.

The assertion that blogging will right the wrongs of poor corporate and organizational communication with stakeholders gives blog enthusiasts solace. Enthusiasts hope and believe that social media’s conversational form will bring relief to the distress of poor customer service and customer relationship marketing / management. So, it is the idea of a blog revolution that serves as your soma. You embrace it as something that will make society and corporations, for instance, co-exist in harmony. And, you seem to expect us to get in line – quick.

I agree that blogging is a medium, but I’m a little surprised that you used that term. Isn’t “place” or “space” the blog-speak appropriate term, along with “people” instead of audience? I wouldn’t want you to be drummed out of the Blog Thought Leaders Club. (See David Weinberger’s JOHO the blog, your own reference to Doc Searls, Dan Gillmor’s The Former Audience Joins the Party, and Jay Rosen’s The People Formerly Know as the Audience.)

Those enthusiasts are, after all, creating waffle words or jargon. (See Milton Friedman.) But, wasn’t this supposed to be the movement that did away with required appropriate norms of speech and definitions. Isn’t it the movement that frees all to speak in their own voice? The implication being, if you don’t subscribe to the dogma, “you don’t get it.” I think Stowe Boyd used that phrase.

Stowe Boyd: Your argument boils down to the fact that established mechanisms of PR have been baked into law and other conventions, and therefore blogging — which wasn’t foreseen when those where codified — shouldn’t be used in place of old timey ideas like press releases distributed by newswire services. I have suggested that we could work collectively to get these conventions, or laws, if necessary, changed.

No, my argument is two-fold. But, yes … we can work to change the old laws. However, it will take a lot of time.

First, you fail to do research in advance of your claims, because if you had, you would have known that there are many more legal reasons – alone – to use traditional news releases. And those required practices cannot be achieved via blogs. I will, if you wish, go into the whole reality that PR is much more than media relations, publicity and press agentry. But, I get the feeling you think that’s all it is.

Second, I assert that you make bold sweeping claims about using blogs instead of news releases, yet you fail to recognize the scope and breadth of PR practice in the world. I suggest to you that many, if not most, of these PR practitioners – the ones I believe you care not to acknowledge – cannot necessarily reach their publics / audiences /people via blogs or any online media. At least not now, anyway. In the future, maybe. Now, nope – not all. At best, they should only use blogs and online as one aspect of a communication mix.

An example of a broad sweeping claim? How about your recent post:

Jack Welch on Corporate Blogging: Just be authentic. Be clear in your vision, and have one message and one view that are authentic. I worked somewhere once where they had different messages for employees, analysts and the press. There should be only one message for everyone, and fight like hell to get that message across everywhere you go.

Stowe Boyd: I don’t how you can do this today without blogging, do you?

I hope you realize that it is possible to be genuine … authentic – without a blog. On television, Walter Cronkite, Ophra Winfrey and even Bill O’Reilly have convinced their believers / followers that they are being authentic. On radio, Paul Harvey and Larry King pulled it off. Even Don Imus is believed to be authentic. In print, Maureen Dowd and Thomas Friedman have done it. So have Paul Krugman and Frank Rich. And you and I both know that local columnists have done it for years. In the military, Ernie Pyle was certainly authentic … and heck, even Gomer Pyle was embraced as authentic by his fans. From the pulpit and on TV, Bishop Sheen and Mother Angelica have accomplished the feat in their respective generations. Come to think of it, authenticity can be achieved going door to door. Alfred C. Fuller started doing it in 1906 selling brushes.

Now you and I may not think they are authentic, I don’t know. But we both know that their audiences – the people they interact(ed) with truly believed they were/are authentic. And, gee. I don’t think any of them ever had a blog. I could go on with many other examples, ya’ know.

Stowe Boyd: But no, let’s instead just keep the status quo. I hear nothing more than “Get a horse!” style kvetching, here.

Well, you may only hear that, but hearing and listening are two different things. I don’t like the status quo, but I realize that it is sometimes all you have – for awhile. Change takes time. It cannot be forced.

I’m not kvetching. I’m reciting reality and facts. I am suggesting to you (practically begging you) to listen to, talk to with, the people you choose to berate (“Don’t get it“) and offer ill-advice. Why? So that you may learn what the realities of their world (public relations and marketing communications) is and how they must deal with that reality. (By the way, do you realize that Shel wrote the first book – Online PR Strategies? It is used in business school marketing classes.)

Stowe Boyd: And, oh, by te (sic) way, the idea that PR folks are communicating directly to farmers in Appalachian valleys through press releases is patently crazy. PR is principally directed to media: newspapers, et al. And they all have internet now, even if they are in Boondocks LA or wherever.

OK, I have to admit, I’m stumped to discern where in the world you pulled the “farmers in Appalachian valleys” line from, but I’ll address that, too. You want “patently crazy”? You offer it.

Are you aware that:

Fifty-four percent of all U.S. farms own or lease a computer, up from 50 percent in 2001. Farms using computers for their farm business increased from 29 percent in 2001 to 30 percent in 2003. It appears that computer usage, ownership and Internet access on farms have begun to level off. (Source: USDA report from NASS – 28th July 2003, referenced at the Pig Site. Love that name. Those swine farmers do their research.)

And, I did an interesting thing, re: the Appalachian farmers, and Appalachia overall … I called the ARC – Appalachian Regional Commission – and visited their Web site (they don’t have a blog, sorry). ARC is tasked with economic development in the vast area of Appalachia ranging from Mississippi and Alabama all the way up to New York and Pennsylvania. Their role includes developing better connectivity to rural areas for business development, distance learning and overall education.

You know what I found?

Links to the future reports – 2000 and an update from 2004 (based on 2002 data) and other reports.

There is even this PDF file of the Information Age Appalachia report from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC).

Now, in there you will see that even broadband (cable and DSL) access is limited. ARC does not have statistics on phone service availability, as the FCC compiles that in their Wireline Competition Bureau Statistical Reports (formerly FCC-State Link).

Suffice to say, regarding phone service, the ARC suggests that most people in Appalachia have phones (and thereby, possible access to dialup). Perhaps +95 percent have phones. Now, that doesn’t mean they have internet service. You see, there are not sufficient statistics (that I can find – and I asked ARC) on availability of ISP services in the broad areas of Appalachia.

Oh, and about that broadband access – for using YouTube and other social media networks requiring great internet access – the ARC says beware. The statistics compiled by the FCC – re: availability – is greatly over stated. Why? Well, in their sampling, if there was only one person in the area (defined by zip code) with broadband access of any kind, the FCC counted the whole county as having broadband access. Not very trustworthy statistics, are they. Gee, the swine farmers seem to be doing a better job. Bad FCC!

Now, the ARC is doing great work. They also realize they have a long way to go. They are trying to encourage thinking about planning – like laying of conduit and ethernet cables in new construction (buildings, roads, etc), but only where it makes sense – economic sense for the developers and phone/cable/ISP companies. That’s just a small part of what they are doing, but I think you get the point.

All that to say, Stowe, your claim that news releases to print publications in order to reach farmers (and others) is “patently crazy” is — well, “patently crazy.” Um, it is the print and broadcast mediums (radio/TV) that still seem to have the edge in Appalachia.

Guess how you reach them?

Well, I would suggest a mix of traditional tactics and perhaps online – all in a strategy that mixes the right approach for each media outlet / market.

Finally, when you state, “PR is principally directed to media: newspapers, et al.”, you reveal how little you know about public relations and marketing communications. I’m not suggesting that you, “Don’t get it”, because I think you get a lot. Still, Shel has a book. You might want to read it. If you want a copy, leave a comment. I’ll send you one.

OK, I’ve been a little snarky. I apologize. I’m really not trying to fight with you, Stowe. I’m begging you to at least try and see it from other sides of the discussion. There are many sides, you know. I promise not to come and try to tell you how to run your startups.

And, while we agree on medium, Todd Defren reminds us all that it is the message that matters most. But, then … you know that, don’t you? /Message

So, there ya’ go.

An heuristic effort is one that “encourages a person to learn, discover, understand, or solve problems on his or her own, as by experimenting, evaluating possible answers or solutions, or by trial and error: a heuristic teaching method.” We need your help in pursuing research on the issues of hreleases and social media newsrooms.

What we are seeing in the hrelease, social media press release and social media news room efforts are experiential learning activities. It is collaboration. It is the essence of what this interactive conversational media represents. Just read the conversations it has generated.

I love these learning and experimental efforts. I’m often confused, even saddened, by the way they are so quickly written off by observers. To me, blogging and wikis and all of the interactive online dialogs are the best part of the WWW. In fact, the best part of blogging to me has been the wide variety of ideas and opinions it opens up to students. That is why I’m so happy that so many PR practitioners are choosing to blog.

So, whether we are talking about Todd Defren at PR Squared and his Social Media Newsroom Template or his “Social Media Press Release” Template; or, Chris Heuer’s Idea Engine and Brian Solis at PR 2.0 – Silicon Valley and all of the people involved in the Social Media Club … it is all one big collaboration.

Comments and input from those like Brian Oberkirch about “The Case for hRelease” and Tom Foremski’s rant on the press release and attempts to change it are all equally important.

Phil Gomes, Rick Murray and Ming Lee at Edelman have given us StoryCrafter and Shannon Whitley has given us PRX Builder.

Everyone is learning. I don’t think any of the participants in the collaborations actually purports to have all the answers. Now, my students want in on the action in a little deeper inspection of all these ideas.

What is the one of the important things that is missing? The research to see how journalists will react to these new ‘animals’ like the hrelease, newsroom and social media in the PR/Journalist symbiotic relationship, overall. My students have done research on social media adoption by newspapers. Now, this semester, they are embarking on research to see how journalists react to these new approaches.

Anyone want to participate? Want to help us, please?

Leave a comment and we can hook you up with the student group that is doing the research. Anyone that may provide contacts and introductions to national journalists in the top 50 newspapers, for instance, will likely help the students achieve a more successful survey effort.  In their previous efforts, it was easier to get through to the 51-100 top markets.

My hope is that three different research teams will focus on three different groups of journalists. Those are:

• local journalists in a regional area, like Alabama, or any other state,
• national journalists in the top 50 newspapers,
• one specific trade group or market segment – to be determined.

What are your thoughts? This way we’ll have an idea of the viability in a large section of PR that seems to go unnoticed in these discussions – local PR practitioners and journalists. We’ll also address national media. The trade group, or market, can be anyone’s choice – as long as we can get to a significant respondent pool.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see if these people actually find benefits in all these new tools or approaches?  How about gathering their input as to ways the approaches might be improved to increase acceptance and adoption by journalists. Or, we might just find that they aren’t desired at all. Who knows … until we ask.

I’m just testing to see if merely posting this in a blog will bring in participants, by the way. We’re going forward with it regardless. But, we’d love to have help and guidance. Thanks.

I’m going to play with the plugin to create a release, but first I’ve simply placed the “sample release” Shannon provides in this post (see below).

First of all, congrats and thanks to Shannon for creating this plugin. I think it has potential for positive use.

I’m just going to jot down my thoughts, in no particular order, as I look at his plugin. I did this fast, so please forgive any errors.

This plugin is the first to format a post specifically for a release. Yes, the Structured Blogging Plugin may be adapted to accomplish this task. Also, the WP Default Post Content could be used to create a blog solely for releases and seeded with the appropriate code tags. Then, you edit the post as needed. That would take time, though.

Shannon has created a tool which will allow you to create the SMNR for your blog and also upload it to your PRX Builder account.

The plugin works much the same way the WordPress quicktags editor does and uses BBCode, of sorts. You highlight text and click a button to apply the tags like [body] and [multimedia], [quotes], [links] etc.

Shannon calls this the SMPR plugin and I’ll keep using SMNR as these releases are more for the release of news, in general, and not necessarily intended for the press. A small quibble for now, but it reminds us that in this early adoption process an agreed upon name is still in question.

For those worried about validation … The plugin/template uses tables. For some CSS/markup purists, this may cause some angst. Let’s remember that the plugin is in Alpha stage and this can be changed.

It might be nice to provide a unique CSS file for the release plugin just in case this PRX Builder plugin’s div class=”body” and p class=”body” conflict with someone’s existing CSS stylesheets. Don’t know if that is a big issue, but it may happen. Right? Also, it might be best to use this on a blog whose theme is one column.

OK, I’m out of time right now, but I’ll revisit this a bit later. Read on to see the sample release Shannon’s plugin generates. I think you did a great job, Shannon. Look forward to talking with you about it in the future. We’ll try to use it in class, too. Thanks!

P.S. I already see one glitch. When posted, the quicktags from the comments section show up above the !–more– tag. Interesting and strange. Remember, it is an Alpha version and therefore still under development.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

[contact]Parry Headrick (Agency) 415.591.8402 office 415-246-8486 cell Email:pheadrick@shiftcomm.com Web Site:http://www.shiftcomm.com[/contact] [contact]Todd Defren (Spokesperson) 617.681.1253 Email: tdefren@shiftcomm.com Web Site:http://www.shiftcomm.com/ Blog: http://pr-squared.blogspot.com/[/contact]

SHIFT COMMUNICATIONS DEBUTS FIRST-EVER TEMPLATE FOR “SOCIAL MEDIA PRESS RELEASE”

[subheadline]- The “Re-Mixable” Press Release Provides Relevant Context & Content in a Hyperlinked Format for Journalists, Bloggers -[/subheadline]

[dateline]May 23, 2006[/dateline]

[body]NEWS FACTS

• SHIFT Communications – a mid-sized independent PR agency – is the first to offer a template for use by PR professionals looking to evolve traditional press release formats for the dawning “social media” age.
• The format is available, in PDF format, from SHIFT’s website and agency principal Todd Defren’s blog.
  Use of the template is freely available; no copyright protections apply.
• SHIFT Communications believes that journalists and bloggers are now fully adapted to using the World Wide Web for research purposes. The “Social Media Press Release” merely facilitates their research by using the latest tools (social bookmarking, RSS, etc.) to provide background data, context and on-going updates to clients’ news.
• The “Social Media Press Release” is also distinctive for tying together various multimedia elements in one place, enabling the journalist to view and/or “re-mix” media elements.
• For example, the journalist can learn more about the client’s story via a demo video, or, adapt the multimedia content for their own stories.
• The next-generation press release format was inspired by Tom Foremski of Silicon Valley Watcher.

[/body]

[links] Please use this link to access a purpose-built del.icio.us page, for more information.

RSS feed to purpose-built del.icio.us site.
Updated with on-going coverage, industry news & reaction

[/links]

[multimedia] MULTIMEDIA ELEMENTS:

SHIFT Communications logo

Todd S. Defren, Principal SHIFT Communications

“Social Media Press Release” version 1.0 template

[/multimedia]

QUOTES[quotes]

ATTRIBUTABLE TO TODD S. DEFREN, PRINCIPAL AT SHIFT COMMUNICATIONS
(Click here for Todd Defren’s LinkedIn profile)

• “The ubiquity of broadband Web use, combined with ever-easier-to-use online tools and relevant, user-generated content is creating a unique opportunity for the PR profession to re-think what we do and how we do it.”
• “The ‘Big Change’ is the recognition that journalists are Internet users – they are increasingly comfortable researching and working online, across many types of ‘re-mixable media’ (hyperlinks, text, photos, videos, etc.) … The Social Media Press Release merely amplifies prospective source materials; it does not replace a well-crafted, customized pitch nor replace the need to provide basic, factual news to the media.”
• “As the consumer-generated media wave continues to crest, it will be incumbent on the PR industry to stay current, in order to remain a relevant source of story ideas for the media.”

Please contact Parry Headrick to arrange an interview and/or for additional quotes.

[/quotes]

[boilerplate]ABOUT SHIFT COMMUNICATIONS

SHIFT Communications’ high performance public relations and marketing communications services bolster clients’ marketplace reputation and produce measurable results that directly lead to increased revenues. The independent agency works with both new and established companies competing in a variety of technology, business-to-business and consumer markets. SHIFT Communications’ offices are located in the Boston, Mass., and San Francisco, Calif. metros. For more information, visit http://www.shiftcomm.com/.[/boilerplate]

[services][/services]

[smpr_tags]social media, press release, Foremski, pr, public relations, SHIFT Communications[/smpr_tags]

Diana was (is) a great student and I’m not surprised that she is following news about social media in the corporate world. I thank Diana for sharing the news and continuing to keep me up to date on her experiences in NYC. (More on that, later.)

Add to this SEC/Sun news the recent news that the SEC is backing XBRL – SEC backs XBRL – are you ready? (September 26, 2006) How will this affect the SMPR / hRelease?

So, what is the story here and what can it mean for public relations?

First, the AP story:

SEC chief suggests blogs for disclosures
By MARCY GORDON, AP Business Writer Tue Nov 7, 1:58 AM ET

WASHINGTON – In the first official communication posted to a blog by a chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Christopher Cox said he was intrigued by the idea of letting companies use Weblogs to disseminate important corporate information.

Cox has invited the chief executive of Sun Microsystems Inc., avid blogger Jonathan Schwartz, to talk to the agency about the idea of allowing companies to disclose significant financial information through blogs.

The SEC chief showed interest in Schwartz’s recent request for blogs to be used as a way to expand investors’ access to information. His response to Schwartz, posted on Sun’s Web site on Friday, caught the attention of the online world and even sparked envy from a Wall Street Journal blog.

… and …

Said Cox: “Assuming that the (SEC) were to embrace your suggestion that the ‘widespread dissemination’ requirement of Regulation FD can be satisfied through Web disclosure, among the questions that would need to be addressed is whether there exist effective means to guarantee that a corporation uses its Web site in ways that assure broad non-exclusionary access …”

… and …

Thirty Fortune 500 companies are now publishing corporate blogs, nearly double the number in December 2005, according to the Fortune 500 Blogging Wiki, a collaborative tracking site. Technology companies such as Amazon.com Inc., Cisco Systems Inc. and Oracle Corp. were early adopters, but senior executives at big industrial companies like Boeing Co. and General Motors Corp. also have embraced the trend.

Blogs with related posts:

• Jonathan Schwartz’s Weblog : Weblog – One Small Step…
• Jonathan Schwartz’s Weblog : Weblog – Sunlight on a cloudy day
• SEC Chairman Cox Applauds Use of Corporate Blogs
• LexBlog Blog : SEC Chairman Cox posts comment on blog
• Law Blog » SEC Chairman Cox Posts a Comment On a Blog

Now, I have it. Simple, yet functional.

For our fall classes, we have created a new site: The Loveliest Village Newsroom. This is part of a larger site where students will be posting news and feature stories they will write and produce (audio and video) during the semester. The Loveliest Village utilizes blogs, a wiki, Flickr, del.icio.us and is intended to provide experiential learning.

I am looking for some help with this project, if any of you are interested. A skilled coder/developer willing to help adapt the structured blogging plugin will be particularly useful. The version I have modified will work, but it can be more fully developed.

Our newsroom will utilize Wordpress and various plugins, including: Structured Blogging, podPress, WP Notable, WP Print, WP Lightbox JS 2 and Ultimate Tag Warrior. All of those will combine to allow posting releases featuring the major elements of a social media release (PDF) similar to the one suggested by Todd Defren.

Using this Wordpress implementation, the posting will still require the use of code. This file of HTML/CSS code is one example of how we will accomplish the format.

This zip file is the adaptation I made to the showcase-person.xml file within the structured blogging plugin.

Overall, this is a simple modification, but it allows us to practice (a) HTML, (b) CSS, (c) writing skills, and (d) creating social media releases.

I have two primary reasons for doing this. First, I want to have a process by which my students may practice the various principles we are studying – writing and production (HTML, CSS, graphics, layout). Second, I would like for them to have a leg up on understanding the social media release upon graduation. We are still blogging and commenting, by the way.

I’ll write more later. I hope to have some very exciting news to share later this week.

Update: After doing all of this, I went over to listen to the latest (Sept. 4) edition of Social Media Club’s Social Media Cast 0.2 with Shel Holtz (FIR), Chris Heuer and Brian Solis. In that podcast, the group discusses how some corporations are considering doing their releases through a blog due to the high costs associated with doing it at one of the major press release distribution services. So, this is quite interesting. I believe that a modified Wordpress or MT site can accomplish this process. Of course, the blogs won’t have the reach that one gains from services like PRNewsire or Business Wire, but it does reach the search engines.

Given the Social Media Club’s work on developing standards for such releases, we will be watching their work with interest.

This all stems from a conversation Todd had with Tom Foremski about how the press release has to adapt / change in this new social media environment.

I’ll share this example with my students as we’ll be practicing writing this very thing this semester. We have, of course, been practicing writing releases using the new tools and media for about two years. But, the template is a great new resource for ideas. Many thanks to Todd. A great job.

Check out his post and download the template. I think I’ll have my students create samples in a wiki over the coming weeks as an experiment.

PR Squared: The “Social Media Press Release” Debuts – Download the Template Today!

Side note: I almost met Tom Foremski on Monday. Unfortunately, he was not able to attend the conference (PDF) I visited. My loss. Everyone I’ve met through this blogging speaks well of Tom. Perhaps someday I will have the pleasure.

I was fortunate to meet Giovanni Rodriguez, Joseph Thornley and see Josh Hallett, once again. A pleasure to meet you, gentlemen – and to see Josh again, too.

I honestly believe that this will be the largest nonprofit use of social media (blogs, podcasts, video, forums and more) that has ever been attempted (aside from political sites and some national / international NPO sites). But, I can’t say that for certain until I do some more research. You can help, if you like. Do you know of any site for a nonprofit organization that has posted this much, this often and using online communication?

Below you will see an outline of what our plans are and how we seek to accomplish these tasks. I have abbreviated the plan as it is actually written out and is 12 pages – single-spaced – in a Word document. I’m still working on it, too.

Here, in a nutshell, is what we’re going to try. I’d love to receive your feedback, suggestions and criticisms.

ASCCA is a nonprofit organization and resources are limited. They have devoted two internships (paid) to the process. The students will receive free housing, meals and $1,000 per month (the same salary camp program staff receive). That, I believe, is a remarkable commitment.

Beyond that, ASCCA has invested in two multimedia computers, digital audio recorders, video recorders (straight to MPEG) and software. I am donating the use of a digital video camera, digital photo camera and a digital audio recorder, too. This should enable the interns to easily capture, and quickly edit, the content they capture. More on that below.

• Two interns will run the operation. Their work hours are quite different from other jobs. They will follow, essentially, the same day that all of the campers and staff do – 7:00 AM until 10:00 PM each day. The camps traditionally run from Sunday at Noon until Friday at Noon.
• In an attempt to be realistic, I am seting an initial “minimum” number of blog postings at four per day. Actually, I believe it could be 8 or more per day.
• Posts will be a combination of audio, video, photos and text.
1. VIDEO: Our initial goal is to do short video pieces and they will be loaded up to our Google Video site and YouTube. These will highlight the program areas from lakefront and the pool to horseback riding and high adventure. We have over a dozen activity areas, so content will be widely avaialable.
2. AUDIO: These will be short interviews with campers, parents, counselors and visitors. The length will not, I pray, go beyond 10 minutes each. These will be hosted on our servers and delivered through the Wordpress Podpress plugin and iTunes.
3. PHOTOS: Digital cameras will be used to capture dozens of photos each day. They will highlight four main areas: programs, camper/counselor relationships, barrier-free architecture incorporated into activities and cabin life. These will be hosted on our servers and in our Flickr Pro account.
4. WRITING: These will be observations by the interns about Camp ASCCA and the experiences of the campers and staff. Visitors (fund raising) will also be highlighted. We want honest observations. ASCCA has always been about the reality of abilities – not focusing on the disabilities. We want to offer answers/solutions which allow people with disabilities to participate. We don’t want any “poor pitiful crippled children” stories. Those always irk me.

I realize that is a lot of uploading. Now the sad news. One of the limitations we have at a camp is our location. We have satellite web access. That means that uploading is essentially dial-up. Camp is 10 miles from the nearest highway. A squirrel on the phone line can cause havoc. We may actually drive into town for the uploading of the video, audio and photo files. The only alternative is to keep the phone lines running all night.

With few exceptions, opensource software will be used for all of these projects. We have a wiki (PmWiki), CRM (SugarCRM), calendars (30boxes and Google Calendar), forums and/or alumni database (phpBB), eLearning (Moodle), photo albums (Flickr and Gallery 2), video (Google Video and YouTube) along with Wordpress blogs and plugins.

The students have already used much of the software and they have seen the rest of it in action.

New releases will be delivered via a blog newsroom setup to the state and southeastern publications serving our campers hometowns. Most of these are mid-sized to small publications and usually appreciate the content. High resolution photos will accompany the stories created by the interns. Where possible, audio actualities will be included and sent to their local radio stations. Small town radio still does radio news, you know.

I am not sure what, if any, value online press release delivery services could offer us, but we may try them. We’ll likely only use the free services, unless someone wants to spot us for free access to a paid service. That would be a blessing.

Contacts will be made to these local news organizations and offer them email notification of stories or RSS feeds. They’ll likely prefer the emails, as most of the releases will be specifically targeted by locality.

Side projects include populating the Moodle eLearning site to help expand ASCCA’s appeal to school teachers in the areas of environmental education.

Among our many goals are: considerable search engine placement and optimization, increased visibility in online social media communities, a rebirth of ASCCA’s regional media releases, active involvement with our primary audiences (people with disabilities, parents, caregivers, teachers, therapists/medical, other nonprofits and our alumni – campers, staff and volunteers).

Yes, we will be pitching – news outlets and bloggers. We will be commenting in other blogs and developing relationships with sites/blogs addressing disability issues.

We are also interested in online fundraising, but that will come down the road. We want to develop a strong respectable presence online, first.

OK, that is a brief (believe it or not) synopsis of what we’ll be doing this summer. What do you think? I’m reserving some comments I have until I hear from you.