Ivy Lee also known as the father of modern Public Relations issued the First Press Release on 28th October 1906. The traditional
press release completes 100 historic years in 2006 shouldn’t we be celebrating – maybe not! Tom Foremski for SiliconValleyWatcher is dying to kill press releases as he thinks they are nothing but useless. He strongly suggests that it’s high time we as PR practitioners move on from press releases and comply with the changing needs of the end consumer and at the same time facilitate it for the media. He proposed that the press releases should be deconstructed and all the information must be tagged, such as – a brief description of what the announcement is, quotes from the CEO, customers, analysts. It must provide financial information in many different formats and provide many links inside the press release copy, and also provide a whole page of relevant links to other news stories or reference sources. So as a publisher the news story can be pre-assembled and the information is made more helpful, after which we should leave the journalists to spin their own stories. This newfangled format for the press release has been sweltering since last February and a few PR agencies in the UK have been working on this idea and designing templates for the same. Todd Defren, principal at SHIFT Communications, designed a new format for the press release and termed it as “Social Media Press Release” which would exploit various social media services. The chief purpose to generate social media press release is to make it more readable by the machines and to motivate major web companies, like Technorati, and distributors, like PRNewswire and also to create Tools for it. Another PR agency – Edelman designed a template too, called the ‘StoryCrafter’ and they are the first to introduce the web based tool for publishing. Although right now these select PR agencies who have taken initiative to work with social media press releases are not hoping to impress much, as much as to help! They believe that it will triumph if the PR sphere starts to download the PDF and tack it to their walls for future reference. There has been an ongoing debate about the workability of social media press release, and the success seems to be unclear as it is still in its infancy stage. However, I personally do like the concept of social media press release, which according to me could be the next big trend in public relations for 2007 and the years to follow. Soon we and other PR practitioners will be downloading the templates to maximize media coverage for our clients and to simplify it for the journalists. Just like anything useful and new, goes through a round of trials and errors, the social media press release will have to pass that stage too, but once it is well accepted by the PR fraternity and the journalists, it will be the biggest boon. ("Social Media Press Release" template by SHIFT Communications)
I reflect that social media press release would triumph… do you?
Do you think journalists would accept Social Media Press Release?
press release completes 100 historic years in 2006 shouldn’t we be celebrating – maybe not! Tom Foremski for SiliconValleyWatcher is dying to kill press releases as he thinks they are nothing but useless. He strongly suggests that it’s high time we as PR practitioners move on from press releases and comply with the changing needs of the end consumer and at the same time facilitate it for the media. He proposed that the press releases should be deconstructed and all the information must be tagged, such as – a brief description of what the announcement is, quotes from the CEO, customers, analysts. It must provide financial information in many different formats and provide many links inside the press release copy, and also provide a whole page of relevant links to other news stories or reference sources. So as a publisher the news story can be pre-assembled and the information is made more helpful, after which we should leave the journalists to spin their own stories. This newfangled format for the press release has been sweltering since last February and a few PR agencies in the UK have been working on this idea and designing templates for the same. Todd Defren, principal at SHIFT Communications, designed a new format for the press release and termed it as “Social Media Press Release” which would exploit various social media services. The chief purpose to generate social media press release is to make it more readable by the machines and to motivate major web companies, like Technorati, and distributors, like PRNewswire and also to create Tools for it. Another PR agency – Edelman designed a template too, called the ‘StoryCrafter’ and they are the first to introduce the web based tool for publishing. Although right now these select PR agencies who have taken initiative to work with social media press releases are not hoping to impress much, as much as to help! They believe that it will triumph if the PR sphere starts to download the PDF and tack it to their walls for future reference. There has been an ongoing debate about the workability of social media press release, and the success seems to be unclear as it is still in its infancy stage. However, I personally do like the concept of social media press release, which according to me could be the next big trend in public relations for 2007 and the years to follow. Soon we and other PR practitioners will be downloading the templates to maximize media coverage for our clients and to simplify it for the journalists. Just like anything useful and new, goes through a round of trials and errors, the social media press release will have to pass that stage too, but once it is well accepted by the PR fraternity and the journalists, it will be the biggest boon. ("Social Media Press Release" template by SHIFT Communications)I reflect that social media press release would triumph… do you?
Do you think journalists would accept Social Media Press Release?
9 comments:
Dear Kerzina,
I am glad you have introduced the concept of SMPR which is new and could well be revolutionary for readers and PR professionals. With the wide spread internet network we have not only changed in the way we do things and access information but have become more demanding in the way information is presented to us. This new format should hopefully fill the void of the traditional press releases which are inadequate to reach out to masses and often do not satisfy the curiosity of the readers.
Your article is well descripted and has aroused my interest to learn more about Social Media Press Releases and how it can be helpful to readers. I would have appreciated if you had shared the essential debated arguments for and against this new way of presentation. This would have assisted me to give you a well considered view on the subject.
I think this new concept is workable and like internet will soon catch on like wild fire.
Thnaks Kerzina for the wonderful artical....my name is Gulshan Kavarana I live in Dubai and since the last 7 years I have been running a support group for families with children with special needs.....we constantly use the sites to create awarness and we often upload videos of the events we organise and we get a very good response as thousands of people get to know about our group and are very eager to help out in any way they can a lot of them even offer to donate money , time , and energy.
we upload videos on youtube and have a webpage on myspace to reach out to many parents,siblings,caretakers and to indivisuals with special needs.... through these sites we will continue to touch lives and make people more aware about our world
Being a journalist the concept of SMPR is really helpful to get all the information and update the news stories I need to do. It makes my work easier and I can get the most I require out of a press release. Of course not to mention it gives the story the much required angle which would not only, in a way serve the purpose of describing the products or company(or whatever) but at the same time I'll be able to generate an entirely new and intriguing story out of a (common) press release. I'm glad you put up something like this...
Dear Kerzina,
Visited this blot by chance. The article was quite interesting.had not heard much about Social Media press releases. I am interested in PR and ots different tecniques and hope to see more such articles on your blog page.
Dear Kerzina,
I work for an insurance company and have a few clients who run PR agencies. Your write-up about socia media press releases has given me an insight on the new methods that can be practised by PR professionals.
i am a fashion designer in india and i have just started my business, i have hired a PR agent who handles all my media coverage, very often i feel that just the press release is not sufficient for media coverage, hence i have to send my portfolio. i think the social media press release would be a lot more easier since i could link all my work and my official website. Although the concept of SMPR is still unheard of in india, but with the help this blog i could ask my PR agent to investigate further and use it to maximize media coverage for me.
Hi Kerzina,
Reading about the SPMR concept was exciting! It's unique and audacious in it's simplicity and ease of application.
Using PR templates and tagging information would serve the purpose of giving out all the relevant facts and at the same time give journalists the flexibilty to present it in their own way depending on the target audience for the story.
Readers would be saved the agony of reading the same dull and dry press releases. Besides the links would provide all research material on the subject.
It would also be very useful to marketeers to introduce a new business concept. The possibilities are endless....
Would love to know more on this!
Dear Kerzina,
Ure post made for interesting reading. uve pretty much described in detail ure views on the subject and as can be seen u seem to be a staunch supporter of the same.
i also agree with u that the concept though fairly new will tend to catch on later. information in todays tech paced world requires to be shared by all, bridging every single boundary possible.
This concept of SMPR fits the bill perfectly with respect to Tech related companies and since i work for one i can assure u that companies the world over are looking for easier, faster and better ways to promote themselves and the products. They spend wuite a huge precent of their budgets tryin to get the right kind of PR since especially in an industry as fast growing as the IT industry it is really difficult to even hold onto your original clients, leave alone trying to bring in some new ones.
Finally i would conclude with a congratulatory note on a job well done. Thanks for the info !!!
Hmm I thought that all press releases need to have a 30 sec grab and a successful release has to have information dissected and tailored to the type of media you target. Clearly SMPR has been flooded with too many crap releases!
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