New Media Releases: the Audience is Anyone
A frequent question raised by the debut of the Social Media Press Release was, "Who is the audience for these newfangled releases?" The immediate follow-up to that question typically ran like this: "Many journalists are barely versed in email, much less Social Media tools --- the Social Media Press Release is too bleeding edge for these folks."
Fair enough, but...
The intent was never to cater exclusively to the journalist community.
Why not? Two reasons:
The democratization of media means that your dear Aunt Franny & kid brother Joe are the media, too. According to the Pew Center, over 35% of current Web users have created Web content, in the form of a video, a blog post, a comment on a user-board (e.g., TripAdvisor), etc. In terms of their potential influence on the fate of a company, these Web authors can be as important as any mainstream news reporter. The Social Media Press Release (a.k.a. the New Media Release), provides these authors with Web-based content that they can readily find, cut & paste into their own content efforts. Just like the traditional reporter can.
Secondly, the New Media Release can be viewed as a self-contained content source, optimized to be readily "found" via a typical Google search. As has been noted, press releases have eclipsed industry articles as a source of information for consumers. The Web is not made up of SITES, it is made up of search-optimized PAGES. The New Media Release can BE the story, even if it is never "picked up" by a traditional news outlet. It can be "digged" instead. Or not. Won't matter. It will be found.
Thus, the AUDIENCE for the New Media Release is ANYONE who may find, view and/or "re-mix" the content it contains.
The New Media Release is not intended to be all things to all people. It is meant to provide whatever you need for whoever you are.
Tags: press+release, social+media, marketing, public+relations
Comments
Todd, I agree with you that "the New Media Release is not intended to be all things to all people. It is meant to provide whatever you need for whoever you are."
On the other hand, that means we should think about offering different formats for different audiences, and let "the people formerly known as the audience" :) (journalist, shareholders, bloggers, customers) to choose what "lens" they want to apply to the release. Some people will be interested in reading the classic, narative format; others might want "just the facts"; some people might want something more like "direct-to-customer" releases.
So when we speak about the release's modularity, maybe we should include the fact that the person interested in reading the release will be able to "assemble" it the way s/he wants, and set up "rules" on how the press release will look like when it reaches the end-user.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to read your thoughts about the New Media Release not only here :), but also on the discussions group!
PS: small correction - you're saying that "press releases have eclipsed industry articles as a source of information for consumers", while the Outsell's study you're referring to is about knowledge workers, not about consumers at large. Greg Jarboe has a good explanation for press releases' surprising popularity, and here you can find a podcast interview with a lead analyst from Outsell about the above-mentioned study.
Posted by: Constantin Basturea | July 18, 2006 10:45 AM
Constantin, you continue to astound with your thoughtfulness and wisdom. Thanks for the comment.
I am intrigued by the lens concept. "To be continued," I'm sure!
Posted by: Todd Defren | July 18, 2006 11:19 AM
I like this and wonder how much disintermediation is involved because it does not stop here it affects value as well as values.
But here's to the semantic web!
Posted by: David Phillips | August 16, 2006 03:13 PM