The Social Media News Release & Distribution
I've noted before --- here, and at spots like the New Media Release Google Group --- that I've been talking with C-level executives from the two newswire service "biggies," PRNewswire (PRN) and BusinessWire (BW), about the Social Media News Release template we put out in May.
Since that fateful debut, PRN and BW have been pretty quiet, publicly, about their capabilities and future plans --- which has led many bleeding-edgers to wonder if they were part of an Old Guard mentality that could and should be smashed on our way to Social Media nirvana.
I don't buy it. I think we need BW and PRN to embrace and succeed with Social Media. Why?
- These are the premier distribution engines for corporate news content. They lend a stamp of credibility to news fodder. I mean no offense to smaller services like PRWeb or MarketWire, or to the companies that use these services, but, most media outlets and Wall Street types look to PRN and BW for their news.
- These services have direct hooks into numerous outlets like the Associated Press, Yahoo! Finance, et cetera, ad infinitum. News that goes out via BW and PRN is more likely to be picked up in the mainstream media.
- These wire services have invested heavily in technology & communications standards that are required of publicly-traded companies by federal regulations. A FORTUNE 1000 marketing exec may love the Social Media News Release --- but any materiel news must go out via the Wall Street protocols supported by BW and PRN.
- ...And if FORTUNE 1000 companies do not ultimately adopt the Social Media News Release, then it will likely never become more than a niche endeavor by a handful of hippy-dippy PR pros (like me).
Since releasing that template, I've humbly assigned myself a role as one of many who might help steward the future of the Social Media News Release. For what it's worth, my gut tells me that PRN and BW are committed to supporting Social Media, sooner rather than later; I think their efforts in the near-term will be looked back on as having been critical to the success of the "PR 2.0" movement.
UPDATE: I just saw at Brian Solis's place, via NewPR, that Vocus has acquired PRWeb. The plot thickens. My guess, though, is that this takes PRWeb out of play. It will become less important, not more so. (Best example? Vocus put out the news via PRNewswire!)
Speaking of NewPR, all PR-Squared posts now come with an "Add to NewPR" link. Please feel free to gimme a vote.
Tags: social+media, press+release, public+relations, pr+2.0, hrelease
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Comments
Whatever BW and PRN are doing, and whatever the future of Vocus-owned PRWeb, as one of the premier (possibly the biggest) online press release services in the UK we're taking the social media release thing very seriously.
Posted by: Daryl Willcox | August 10, 2006 08:01 AM
I happen to agree with you 100%. I see PRWeb as a service useful for SEO releases that are aimed directly at the consumer or stakeholder, where PNW and BW are for finacial markets and media attention.
Posted by: Kami Huyse | August 10, 2006 09:52 AM
PRWeb out of play? Thanks for the laugh. PRWeb is even more in play now than pre-Vocus. I have seen what David McInnis has in mind and it will take a while for BW and PRN to catch up even if PRWeb adds no additional enhancements.
Posted by: Lee Odden | August 11, 2006 01:50 PM
Todd, I would be careful to rule us out of the mix. If you look back at our service offering I think you will see that we have been doing the social media thing before it was even being talked about in any other forum online. I would really like to work with you on refining your spec because I feel that it has a few flaws. At any rate, of course Vocus would use PRN for distribution. PRWeb has never claimed to be a platform for disclosure releases. In fact we go out of our way to tell people so. We have been about direct-to-consumer, rss and search engine visibility since we began. To characterize PRWeb as something we never purported to be is unfair. I sense that you are working closely with PRN based off comments by Armon, which is fine, but it should probably be disclosed sometime.
I have read your post and disagree with you assumption that it will take PRN or BW to make the SMPR format work. I think they will be late to the game. I question the ability of the format to work in disclosure type services. It would require a segregation of their platform. I am pressed for time right now but I will try to post more on this to my blog in the near future.
We are already working on the next thing to follow the whole SEO and social media formats. Folks who focus too much attention in these areas are going to miss the next important innovations. If there is one thing that we are good at doing here at PRWeb, it is moving the cheese.
David
Posted by: David McInnis | August 15, 2006 07:47 PM