ryan l.

With the rise of Twitter and the like, it seems that bloggers, to a great degree, have forgotten that short blog posts can be just as valuable and effective when literally published to a blog as they can in 140 characters or less. It’s with that thought in mind that I put this simple yet intriguing (imho) question out there:

When does “new media” become un-new?

Ok, so I made up a word here, but new media may never become old since it’s constantly evolving, but as time goes on and more and more people begin picking up on social media concepts and tools, when do these things move from being considered new to not new, or un-new?

The best example I have is found in how long Voce has been in the social media game - we’re going on four years now, or so - and it makes me wonder why we need to continue referring to concepts that are relatively dated, at least to some, as ‘new’.

Maybe we should just settle on “social media” as the blanket descriptor of what we do and start referring to those just getting started as “new to social media”? Ok, maybe that’s a little condescending … you get the idea.

It's interesting to see questions/arguments like this about a possible MySpace downturn after reaching a ridiculous "peak" of 80+ million registered users, and then to see article's like this one from Ad Age, discussing social networking sites recently securing major advertising opportunities with companies like Wendy's and Toyota. 

So, what is it? My guess is that, like others believe, the downturn talk is a bit premature. But, with more social networking copycats like Bebo.com popping up, you never know where the finicky teen and young adult markets will choose to go. 

Voce (my company) was able to secure a Q&A with one of the top executives from the $70 billion Procter & Gamble to discuss how they approach influencer marketing and word of mouth. Definitely worth a read for anyone interested in or working in these areas.

It's a two part discussion/post, so stay tuned for the next half.

Update: Part two just posted. Enjoy!

Well, I had planned to write a short recap on yesterday's innaugural Third Thursday: Social Media in PR Meetup, led by Mike Manuel and Jeremy Pepper, that featured TechCrunch's Michael Arrington, but there really is no need when Jeremy comes through with an audioblog of the event. Check it out!

Technorati Tags: Social Media, Meetup, PR, Blogging

A little promotion for a colleague never hurt anyone, right? As long as it's for the great good.

Well, Mike Manuel (a.k.a Media Guerilla) and a few other PR pros, including Jeremy Pepper, Giovanni Rodriguez, and Phil Gomes have come together to co-organize Third Thursday, "a new meetup for Bay Area PR and marketing folks interested in learning more about social media tools, trends and best practices, and their practical application in marketing and communications programs." 

See this post at Media Guerilla for more background on the meetup and details on the first one, slated for Thursday, April 20 at 6:30 p.m. in Palo Alto.  

To join the meetup group and to receive more information go here and signup.

We heard about BlogBurst a while back when they were trying out their blog syndication to newspapers service with the likes of the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Houton Chronicle, and the San Antonio News-Express. Now it appears the trial is over and they are set to officially launch Tuesday.

Newspapers are looking to BlogBurst to provide expert blog commentary on travel, women's issues, technology, food, entertainment and local stories, areas where publishers may not have dedicated staff, Pluck Chief Executive Dave Panos said.

In return, a select group of popular bloggers are offered wider distribution for their writings, he said. The online syndicate drives traffic to blog sites, allowing featured bloggers to make money from resulting online advertising fees.

This is obviously a huge step forward in the direction of legitimizing blog content, but what does it mean for the little guys who produce great content, worthy of inclusion in some publications, but just don't have the high traffic that helps them get noticed like a Micropersuasion - which is one blog whose content is part of this? And, does this only further emphasize the need for transparency as more and more of the mainstream will be reading blog content?

Not even going to try and link to all that has been said, claimed, yelled, screamed, or prophesized about how to engage bloggers, but will only say that, yes, transparency is an indisputable must, but also that it’s not just about transparency …

I don’t mean to dehumanize members of the MSM, the structure is just too formal, but when engaging with bloggers it’s about reminding yourself that, at the end of the day, you’re simply dealing with a normal person - so make a connection. Stating the obvious but, bloggers are just people. People with no real motives, responisibilities, or cares (generally speaking) - except about the topics they write about. This holds true, of course, for the traditional media, but there’s more hierarchy and that changes the interaction quite significantly.

Transparency + personality + dropping the PR speak = good blogosphere outreach - or so it would seem.

But what do I know.

It’s funny how the fear, uncertainty, and doubt - skepticism, essentially - that is ingrained in most decision-makers within enterprises instantly relegates PR counsel to the bottom of the priority stack. As it relates to emerging communication mediums, PR people are chartered with providing the advice, facts, logic, you name it, that our clients need in order to enter the blogosphere or start experimenting with other forms of social media. But, counsel only goes so far when the FUD is as thick as mud. Often, it seems, it’s not only FUD, but a mixture of that and an overly hierarchal organizational structure that prevents experimentation.

Surely blogging and other social media initiatives are not one size fits all, but sometimes preconceived notions about what it all means, and is capable of, are too strong to motivate change. I think this aspect of PR counsel is one of the more challenging, and one that we certainly are less confronted with as more and more companies catch on to the power of the medium, but one that we continue to face from companies that are entirely traditional in their belief in communication and PR and how it should work.

As I mentioned previously, I was able to catch only a small portion of the New Communications Forum in Palo Alto this week because, well, client service had to come first. Most of us know how that goes.

One panel session I was able to take in was Dan Gillmor’s presentation on the “Impact of Citizen Media” which was great. He discussed, among other things, how citizen media and technology is shifting the landscape of journalism and how we get our news.

One area of new media technology he discussed was on the topic of mash-ups and how they’re changing the way news is reported and commented on. He used one example of a mash-up of Google Maps being used to report on crime in a given area. Due to my poor note taking, I missed the name of the individual who is essentially pioneering this activity, but he highlighted how it is being utilized as an input for location or route and how the technology maps out specific locations along that route where crimes have taken place, better enabling users to determine if an area is safe. Another example he cited was the mashing of audio and video as commentary, in this case a political statement.

Very interesting stuff, and certainly these are examples of what the media at-large should consider incorporating into their everyday reporting, but few are. It was clear from the presentation that things are changing, however.

According to Gillmor, the biggest threat to big media isn’t blogs or bloggers, it’s eBay and Craigslist. Obviously, these two organizations are the new classified ads and are free, and it makes sense that as the popularity and overall use of both eBay and Craislist continue to grow, the ad revenue earned by traditional newspaper classifieds will continue to fall. As if dropping circulation numbers weren’t enough, papers can no longer count on their classified section either.

When he was discussing the mash-up examples he also cited the fact that in today’s technological climate, the younger generation is increasingly learning and using new media technologies like blogging and podcasting, and mash-ups, to communicate. This, IMO, can only bode well for big media’s future. But, if looked at on the flip side, maybe big media will be all right, but will the “older generation” pick-up what technology is putting down quickly enough to fend off the next wave of journalists … and hell, maybe citizen journalist? I don’t know. Eventually, all of these new tools that we use will become mainstream, blogging won’t disappear but simply become part of the bigger landscape. The question is how quickly will those trying to catch on or catch up get there?

I’ll close this way too long post with an anecdote from Gillmor that I think about sums up the future: “The daily ME will increasingly become augmented by the daily WE.” All that’s left now is for more people to join the conversation.

Found a little time to head over to the New Communications Forum here in Palo Alto to take in a couple of panel sessions. Overall, there was some very interesting content presented and discussions taking place. I plan to be more specific later, but I must say initially that it was very exciting for me to be there. It’s funny how many of us spend so much time reading the writings of other bloggers, PR and otherwise, and “know” them via that channel only to see them in the flesh. It’s was a strange experience, but a good one. At one point, I found myself in a room with a few heavy hitters from the blog world - Shel Israel, Shel Holz and Neville Hobson podcasting live and Voce’s own Media Guerilla, Mike Manuel. I felt out of place yet somewhat at home. Maybe I’m just weird.