Good post. What are you thoughts on PRNewswire’s verion of the SMR? And do you think this is something we could really put out ourselves, or at the end of the day it’s better to pay for a service and let them do the job of distributing it per se then us taking the time to do it. I guess that’s the one area I’m still unclear on.

Thanks

However, the template itself is (or as open source as a static document can be) – licensed under Creative Commons for anyone to use or mash up as they please.

And how is it that we meet here, at Brian Solis’ place, when we’re only a few short miles from each other? Hope you’re well!

I would also love to work with you on a more open, collaborative environment that would support further SMPR development. Count us in!

Re: TM vs. open source, honestly, all it needs is a little PR for the PR. The (TM) “near” an open template associated with a “fee-based” service might create a perceived barrier to entry. Personally, I know you’re giving back to the community…

I really do think you should be one of those who helps us build an online resource/library for everyone out there to learn so that new people can have a point of reference (a starting point) from which to learn and grow.

To the discussion regarding open source vs. TM – we released exactly what Shift did – a template licensed under creative commons – please use it, mash it up, take what we’ve learned and make it better. That’s the point – we wanted to share what we’ve worked through.

We’re also actually issuing SMPRs – and yes, they’re provided as a webservice that is available for a fee, and which is branded as Digital Snippets. The platform is emphatically open source – you could run along and make it yourself, should you choose to make the time investment that SMG did. But we’re in the business of selling services to our clients (not giving them away for free), as are most of the people involved in this thread, so we understandably won’t be releasing the backend code in the foreseeable future.

Nevertheless, this has (and continues to be) a great discussion!

@Brian Breslin, I have been actually saying that exact same thing for well over a year now. Don’t be surprised if you see just that. In fact, I have a paragraph about that very thing in this post.

@Jim, ok, you got me. That was good. Honestly, this is an important discussion and this post will most likely become a reference point for PR people now and in the future. It has to be comprehensive. PR 2.0 isn’t a machine gun blog. They’re essays designed to help people at every level. And in doing so, hopefully inspiring action. However, I do agree with your dad, spend less time talking and more time doing. This is a unique case and on the bright side, there is a paragraph about doing included, somewhere in paragraph 42…seriously though, I tabbed it so it’s easier to find.

@Rebecca, thank you. Welcome to the party.

@Tamera, thank you for feedback and observations. I agree, the (TM) across everything takes away from the “openness” of the community that got us to where we are today. However, Todd made it open originally and this is a competitive market. I suppose any one of us along the way could have done the same thing. But yes, exactly, the SMR is only a tool…one of an incredible array of social and traditional tools to get the job done. As you say, strategy first, tactics second.

@dbreakenridge, I’m at a loss of words. Thank you. You’re right…I see it all the time. And, you can count on it!

I’m seeing some change in the way professionals think about the SMR, but it’s a slow process! Keep explaining and hopefully it will sink in

Got here through your tweet

Excellent post, and I agree with many of your points. I think this is bang on:

Some PR and New Media agencies and consultants saw the opportunity to rebrand it as a differentiated service, this may be one of the main reasons that we don’t see many case studies available to the public as it could now be considered a competitive edge.

And I think that’s why I haven’t commented on “Digital Snippets”. Although the pdf structure is, as Maggie says, open source, the platform itself (digitalsnippets.com) is obviously being positioned as proprietary, hence the “All rights reserved” on the homepage. So is it OS or not? For me, OS is not a document that I could discern for myself just by looking at the actual SMR released for Ford and is not altogether that different from SHIFT’s template, but the code behind it. If the SMR is Creative Commons then so should the WordPress coding behind it.

Do I think it is a bad thing to try and have an edge? Not necessarily, although I would like to find out how all those SMR’s are actually working out for Ford vs. their traditional channels, including their brand pages (which the Ford SMR’s appear to be the standard brochure copy chunked out into an SMR template).

All in all, it’s a tad confusing, and I’m immersed in the space everyday.

Re: your point that the SMR is just a tool… Right. ON. Technology enables and tools are tactics. Everyone, newbie or not, need to remember the “social” aspect to social media first and foremost and think strategy first and tactics second.

I am sure this is all educational and even potentially interesting information. But OMG, I fell asleep somewhere between the 28th and 29th paragraph. It’s a blog, not a web novel.

I just completed a survey today asking me which of 35 PR blogs I found most useful…35! Does anyone actually work anymore or are we all just talking about ourselves and how smart we all are in our web 2.0 universe?

My dad used to tell me that actions speak louder than words; so please, can we all just set a good example through our work and stop writing about it? And if we MUST write, can we please be short and to the point?