Comments on: The Storyline Syndicator

By: Dee Rambeau

Dee Rambeau — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 18:31:29 +0000

I’d agree with John in that I’m still getting questions about RSS in general. That will change. The way we handle it with our several hundred MediaRoom clients currently is that they:
1. Build a section of content related to that specific topic using the MediaRoom CMS.
2. Password-protect that page or section.
3. Offer a feed or even a simple “form” subscription that allows journos to sign up.
4. Change and/or manage that content regularly.

Whether it’s a “micro-blog” or a page within their existing CMS, the concept is the same…and the issues are the same. Do they see themselves as content creators offering up second-day story ideas behind breaking stories, or “storylines” as you call them? The good ones do.

By: John Wagner

John Wagner — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 17:54:00 +0000

Todd:

I’ve had discussions with a number of different organizations about something very similar for top customers.

The obstacles that derail the idea are always the same:

1) It’s a struggle explaining RSS, and even when they do understand it, people don’t distinguish a difference between the feed and an e-mail blast.
2) Most companies don’t see themselves as content creators, especially in some industries.

Having said that, I firmly believe that somebody, somewhere, will take this idea and really make hay with it.

By: Todd Defren

Todd Defren — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 14:51:51 +0000

Very interesting perspective, Tim, thanks for sharing your specific experiences.

Your point is well taken – once anything is posted, whether “protected” or not, it does find a way into the public ether. Again, that’s why the company who used a Storyline Syndicator would need to post fairly generic concepts, especially at first, as the system got vetted.

By: Tim Verras

Tim Verras — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 13:54:27 +0000

I think the idea has some legs but I do see one flaw. I think we are perhaps being a little bit idealistic in assuming that a password protected blog given to x-number of journalists will stay secure. We’ve been trying to push blogs on some of our clients and they usually have concerns about ‘show their hand’ or saying something they’ll regret only to have it forever cached in the annals of Google. If a company has secrets worth protecting in a locked-down blog, I doubt they’d give them to any journalist. The web has pretty much destroyed story embargos and ‘privileged’ information. Look at the Chicago Auto Show, for example, where most of the vehicles that were ‘unveiled’ had been floating around the net for days because Car and Driver or MotorTrend or someone obscure Russian car mag printed photo’s too early or didn’t lock their website down (though this could arguably be a clever marketing tactic on the auto maker’s part, though after working for one of their ad agencies I am wont to credit them with something so slick). That being said, this would probably work for a smaller, niche industry with not a lot of coverage (or audience) but I don’t see it being useful on a wide level. But we’re all experimenting here, right? So lets give it a shot.