It’s said that opposites attract. However, in social media, it’s quite the opposite. The idea of privacy and publicity are in fact at odds with one another. And at the heart of the matter, one social network is caught in the crossfire of sharing information and TMI (too much information). The line that separates privacy and openness remains undefined as it continues to shift as individuals learn important life lessons about the benefits and risks of living in public.

As we evolve into a more open society, the economic value of privacy has inverted. Years ago it was inexpensive to maintain a sense of controlled solitude and expensive to earn public attention. Now the cost of publicness is far lower than the expense of cultivating privacy.

The state of privacy online, or perceived lack thereof, is consuming media headlines and status updates worldwide and webwide. But what might appear to represent the sentiment of the people, may also in fact, represent media sensationalism. As you’ll see, conversations on Twitter regarding privacy fueled discourse and debate as well as awareness of the issue. At the heart of the privacy debate is Facebook and its ongoing series of changes to its privacy policy. This latest PeopleBrowsr report examines the extent of Facebook privacy story between Facebook’s F8 conference in April 2010 and now.

The Privacy Woes of Facebook

Over the years, and at the behest of mainstream and new media, Facebook seemingly monopolized all conversations related to privacy concerns. In 2007, Facebook introduced Beacon, an ad system that provided third-party websites with a script that fed the activity of users back into Facebook feeds. After a very public backlash and a class action lawsuit, Facebook changed its stance.

In December 2009, Facebook introduced a privacy overhaul that was met with immediate criticism. After a series of very public complaints, privacy rules were overhauled once again, this time with the input of its users. The examples continue and date back several years.

However, on April 21st 2010 as the world watched, Facebook introduced us to its Open Graph at its F8 developer event in San Francisco. The announcement was met with cheers and jeers, but what was clear, Facebook and its leader Mark Zuckerberg, were leading us into a new, more public and open Web and way of life. Essentially, we were moving beyond the point of no return.

The Open Graph is nothing short of a game changer, serving as a new platform that turns the 500 million user strong social network into a personalization engine and a fledging contextual network that connects relevant information, content and people. And now with the universality of “Likes” inside Facebook and around the Web, your Facebook persona and social graph becomes portable. The price? Your privacy is traded for openness. The benefits? A living searchable Web that’s personalized to you and your contacts and those topics that interest you.

By placing the power of “Likes” within clicking distance, users can literally set the foundation for the content and people to which they’re introduced in Facebook and at partner sites. Hyperlinks are becoming peoplelinks.

For those who were reluctant to say “ah” to the opening of the social graph, they were forced to manually dam the rivers that carried personal information into the social stream. Users deemed it too difficult to do so, and as such, Facebook simplified the process for erecting walls between you, your activity and relationships, and the rest of the Web. But, because Facebook puts its users in control of privacy, what they see and what they share is wholly defined by their user settings. The more open the preferences the more friends within the social graph see and learn about you. Additionally, it’s how Facebook and Facebook’s outside partners personalize your experience. However, you are in control of the impressions that others form as well as the level of customized information and content you see in Facebook and outside apps and networks.

Searching Public Conversations to Research Privacy

There’s an aura of irony here in researching online privacy and using a very open information network to analyze public conversations. While the content studied here is based on subject matter and not tied to individuals per se, one can expect that public profiling in social networks will soon soar. In many ways, we are already seeing the results of personalized marketing and advertising and the improvement of products and services based on the choice words and sentiments shared by like-minded groups and influential individuals online.

Twitter is a unique beast when it comes to social media. It is a network that’s not only open, but indexed by the search engines and open to APIs. Your profile, updates, and your social graph or as Twitter refers to it, your “interest graph,” is open for analysis and perception freely or for the price of admission set forth by third-party developers who house this data. Twitter COO Dick Costolo once stated that Twitter avoided privacy concerns and discussions as people registered for the service with a full understanding that their conversations took place in a very public and visible forum. While true, I’d argue that as individuals take to social media to broadcast their observations and experiences, they are learning the true meaning of privacy and going public as they go.

Judging by the numbers, Costolo is indeed right. Twitter users aim their attention at Facebook when discussing privacy and not Twitter.

Privacy by the Numbers

Working with PeopleBrowsr, we studied the number of Tweets that flew across Twitter referencing privacy or related keywords dating back just prior to the now infamous F8 conference.

Prior to the event on April 24th, privacy Tweets hovered between 1,000 to 3,000 references per day mostly in anticipation of the much-rumored changes to Facebook’s public policy. On the day of F8, privacy emerged as a focal point of many online comments, cries, and reactions, spiking to almost 9,000 in a single day.

As the event itself drew to a close, privacy discussions raged on, but at varying levels. On April 25th, privacy-related Tweets fell sharply to 3,500 only to surge the very next day to just under 7,500 when politicians joined the fray. Four senators sent a letter to Facebook demanding that the company refrain from “opting in” users to new information-sharing features and to provide easier ways to control what information is shared and to whom. Congressman Rick Boucher, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet led the draft of a new privacy bill to find a balance between privacy protection and the ability for online companies to introduce targeted advertising based on behavior and public information shared in the network.

As a result of government intervention, privacy-related Tweets escalated once again toward 9,000.

What’s clear, going back to the day when privacy took center stage, the media sensationalized the topic, but consumers, at least those on Twitter, did not flood the streets with 140 character picket signs. 9,000 tweets do not seem to account for the millions of Twitter users or the 500,000 million people who have Facebook accounts.

But around May 25th, we saw privacy discussions hit the ceiling, at least in this particular study, with over 20,000 unique discussions. Many individuals organized online protests, boycotts, exits, and privacy lobbies. For example, once such group in Facebook maintains a membership of over 2.2 million.

At the beginning of June, Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg held Mark Zuckerberg’s feet to the fire during the annual AllThingsD conference (D8).

Zuckerberg apologized for privacy gaffes and for questionable remarks he made as a teenager, early in Facebook’s rise. However, his stance was clear. He believes users want to share and experience a very public digital life and he will help them connect at varying comfort levels.

The Not-So-Private Privacy Conversation

In order to get a better look at how the conversations related to privacy were stacked, we focused on several specific keywords including Facebook, Open Graph, Zuckerberg, Google, #privacy, among others.

Facebook and Open Graph accounted for a majority of conversations taking place prior to F8 and through the beginning of May. With a high of 5,000 on April 22nd, 27th and again on May 5, Facebook dominated the landscape where mentions of “#privacy” hovered around 500 references per day and “my privacy” barely registering. On April 20th, Google was thrown into the mix with 3,500 appearances tied to privacy when 10 countries organized to send a public letter to Google to protect “our” privacy. Many news organizations publicized the news, which accounted for a majority of the tweets and retweets.

For the most part however, individual subjects hovered at or below 750 daily references.

Privacy vs. Facebook Privacy

The PeopleBrowsr team then focused on privacy related Tweets as compared to those that specifically referenced Facebook. On May 26th and 27th following Washington’s reactions, general conversations about privacy hit a high of just over 18,000 while those specific to Facebook topped out above 12,000. Over the coming days however, the subject of privacy would lose momentum. After dipping to 4,000 general privacy and 2,000 tied to Facebook, interest jumped again on June 2nd, hitting 8,000 and 4,500 respectively. By July 15, privacy tweets waned 4,000 (privacy in general) and 1,000 (Facebook + privacy), maintaining a delta of roughly 2,000 over the course of 45 days.

Following Zuckerberg’s appearance at D8, conversations about Facebook privacy on Twitter have idled.

The Media Sensation

Earlier in the report, we discussed the media’s role in fueling privacy discussions. As such, we decided to compare public “@” conversations against those clearly sharing links to stories regarding privacy and Facebook. As you can see, conversations follow the media, which one could argue, is true for most events. However, individuals carried the conversation forward, in many ways challenging the media’s coverage of privacy to express opinions, concerns, and points of resolution.

What’s clear however, individuals and the greater population of Twitter are not as concerned about privacy, the Open Graph, or privacy settings as the media would otherwise have you believe. But, when Facebook forces human connections and society into a more public spotlight, people and the power of the press will continue to push back. Without pushing back, we cannot push things forward collaboratively. The future of social networks, privacy, and publicness lay not in creation, but instead, co-creation. It is true, we are the last generations to know privacy as it was. Over time we predict this debate will evolve into a series of educational and productive forums and memes that explore the differences significant differences between public and publicness. The value in privacy will only escalate when compared to publicity. However, the value of publicness will also soar as individuals eventually learn how to shape their experiences and the impressions of others. While there are risks involved with living in public, there are also rewards for participation. What works against you also works for you.

To dive further into the real-time discussions on privacy, please visit the special Analytic.ly dashboard we created to help you stay connected to the privacy discussion as it unfolds.

Download the report…

Facebook and the New Age of Privacy

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I would like to take this moment to make an ambiguous announcement of sorts.

While I’m currently in the throes of spreading the word about my new book with Deirdre Breakenridge, “Putting the Public Back in Public Relations,” I’ve also launched into the development of my next book. I’ll let you know more very soon…

In order to provide you with the most relevant and timely insight and perspective on the social economy, I’ve asked some good friends to stop by to share their views with you here. I’m excited to read what they publish on PR 2.0 and I hope you enjoy the series. It starts next week.

I will continue to post, perhaps less frequently. The book writing cycle is very short and is on the fast track to market.

For those businesses who are looking for help, I’m still available to you here.

In the meantime, please consider picking up a copy of The Public. It’s a long time in the making and promises to help you learn and lead. Deirdre and I invested so much of our time, experience, and vision in creating a special book that will offer value for years to come.

Oh, join us over at The-Public.org…

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You’ve probably noticed a few things different here…

I’d like to take a moment to recognize someone for his exceptional dedication and hard work over the last several months.

Frederick Townes of W3 EDGE is the creative genius responsible for the new, stylish (and overdue) exterior here at PR 2.0. I’m very thankful for his help and artistry and I highly recommend Frederick and his team.

W3 EDGE is a new media oriented creative agency providing rich internet applications and WordPress solutions hinged on search or social media marketing. Is seems that I’m in good company.

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Following the solo media vs. traditional media race that led Twitter into both relevance and irrelevance, the result is that the carefully guarded community and its unique culture are now permanently altered – for better or for worse.

According to estimates sourced by Engadget Editor-in-Chief Ryan Block, Twitter grew by 1.2 million users simply as a result of the “Oprah-effect.”

TechCrunch’s MG Siegler also explored the process for estimating Twitter’s path into the mainstream.

What does 1.2 million new users mean for Twitter?

So, how many new users really joined Twitter as a result of the celebrity-fueled popularity contest?

I’m not sure the answer truly matters. If we explore it from a sociological perspective, I believe that the culture of Twitter has been introduced to a significant event that may indeed shift interaction and behavior overall.

Going into the race, estimates pegged the active userbase anywhere between 5 – 8 million. Now post race and the Oprah-effect, over 1 million people were introduced to the service guided by a “follow me” mentality. This “overnight” expansion represents a potential 10-12% saturation ratio. These new users will participate and build communities around them based on their interpretation of the network as framed by those whom they follow. Remember, we are measured by our last 20 tweets or updates within each social network. Take a look for yourself, www.twitter.com/insertusername

It is what it is. The real question is, what do you want to get out of these connections?

In the end, we are still responsible for creating our own experience within the community and that is one of the true advantages and rewards of Twitter. We foster and cultivate individual ecosystems that bind us contextually.

Competing for Attention

Perhaps what is most interesting and prevalent is the behavior transformation in content consumption that is taking place in “Twitter time” and it’s establishing a new world authority. For many of us, we’re migrating away from destinations and potentially RSS readers as well as our primary source of news, relevant information, pleasant distractions, and trending topics. We’re quickly focusing on Twitter, Facebook News Feeds, FriendFeed and the statusphere as our highly curated and personalized attention dashboards.

As content publishers, producers, and creators, we need to acknowledge, understand, and embrace this critical disruption.

Let’s take a look at Twitter as an example. Before the April’s madness of follower contests, Comscore reported that Twitter had experienced a new record of 9.3 million visitors in March, which represented a 131% jump.

As you can see, the growth curve is practically vertical. And, we’re sure to see yet another surge in growth when April numbers are released.

However, Comscore is also observing what I believe to represent the hope and potential future for traditional media.

When they examined the percentage of visitors to Twitter who also visited the top online news brands and compared it to that of the total U.S. Internet audience, they discovered a strong level of overlap. The result is that the average Twitter user was often 2 and 3 times as likely to visit the top online news brands as the average person. For example, while 17 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience visited CNN.com in March, more than double that percentage (38 percent) of Twitter users did so.

Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed and active online social interaction breathe new, and measurable, life into great content where it’s hosted, simply by connecting it to the potentially attentive people where and how they are currently engaged.

This is the Statusphere, a new ecosystem for sharing, discovering, and publishing updates and micro-sized content that reverberates throughout social networks and syndicated profiles, resulting in a formidable network effect of viral activity. It is the digital curation of relevant content that binds us contextually and through the statusphere we can connect directly to existing contacts, reach new people, and also forge new friendships through the friends of friends effect (FoFs) in the process.

In order to compete for prominence in the future, we must first compete for attention where and when it’s captivated. While we contribute to the evolution of new media and the supporting cultures within each network, we are responsible for what we contribute and what we gain from the interaction. We earn the relationships we deserve.

Update: comScore released global numbers that show a worldwide surge of 19.1 million visitors in March 2009.

Helpful Posts on PR 2.0:
- Online Reputation and Brand Management Starts with Identity
- The Social OS, The Battle Between Facebook and Twitter is the New Mac vs. PC
- The Domino’s Effect
- The Conversation Index
- A New Search Engine for Twitter
- Social Media Influences Buying Decisions
- Is Social Media Recession Proof?
- Facebook Now 200 Million Strong
- Twitter Traffic Surges to 10 Million
- The End of the Innocence
- The Social Effect and Disruption Theory
- Putting the Public Back in Public Relations is Now Available
- Twitter and Social Networks Usher in a New Era of Social CRM
- The Human Network = The Social Economy
- In the Statusphere, ADD Creates Opportunities for Collaboration and Education
- Humanizing Social Networks, Revealing the People Powering Social Media
- Social Networks Now More Popular than Email; Facebook Surpasses MySpace
- I Like You The Emerging Culture of Micro Acts of Appreciation
- The Ties that Bind Us - Visualizing Relationships on Twitter and Social Networks
- Make Tweet Love – Top Tips for Building Twitter Relationships
- The Battle for Your Social Status
- Twitter Tools for Communication and Community Professionals
- Is Twitter a Viable Conversation Platform

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This post highlights the nuances associated with crisis communications and not the merit of either case.

In the era of socialized media, brands and businesses are now vulnerable to a new era of influencers – their customers.

But what happens when the community that championed consumer experiences is accused of exploiting them to extort advertising dollars from the businesses affected by the reviews?

User generated reviews aren’t necessarily a brand new concept, epinions, Amazon, among any others have provided dedicated outlets for customers to share their experiences over the years so that other consumers could heed the words of their peers before making a purchase. The ability to integrate reviews at the point of purchase empowered consumers to contribute content as well as help them make more informed decisions – before the purchase.

Enter Yelp.com.

Yelp is an Amazon reviews fused with the Yellow Pages of local services and businesses. It empowered patrons and consumers alike to share experiences and sentiment associated with businesses, by locale, with other yelpers. Yahoo, City Guide, Trip Advisor, and other online properties have offered similar capabilities for a while, but Yelp connected people and experiences and built a dedicated community around them – whereas the other services organized experiences tied to somewhat isolated and explicit search results. Yelp connected people based on interests while giving them a voice that collectively could, in theory, influence a business to grow, adapt, participate, and learn.

Initially, businesses gasped at the popularity of Yelp. Most weren’t quite sure how to react – and still don’t to this day. Was it a threat? Was it wrong to empower customers to share negative and positive reviews together? Many businesses under estimated the socialization and amplification of experiences, and attempted to suppress them rather than address them. Others assumed the role of patrons and raved about their own services hoping to balance negative experiences or influence future contributions instead of simply embracing and responding to individuals, and/or evolving because of the interaction.

The same platform that can provide small businesses with visibility, a collaborative community, and new revenue opportunities can also affect their bottom line through negative commentary.

Now approaching 23 million unique visitors every month, it continues to change everything.

This week, the tables were turned, when Yelp found itself the victim of a bad review. The East Bay Express published what actually could be considered an exposé of the company, practically accusing certain salespersons of practicing what the piece dramatically referred to as “Extortion 2.0.” Essentially, the author, Kathleen Richards, interviewed several local businesses that claimed Yelp applied strong-arm sales tactics to exchange the promotion of good reviews and the elimination of negative commentary for advertising dollars to the tune of $300 per month.

As a practitioner of total transparency and just good business, Jeremy Stoppelman, CEO of Yelp, responded with an impressive blog post.

If the story ended there, we’d have a textbook case of what to do when confronted with bad PR.

However, The East Bay Express’ detailed six page article didn’t just accuse a highly popular company of unethical behavior, it humanized the alleged victims through their fearful narration of Yelp’s purported blackmail attempts over time. It engendered empathy.

And, Jeremy didn’t just write a blog post in defense of his company, he also fired back with a defense worthy of a legal drama, at one point, insinuating that Kathleen’s use of anonymous sources was beneath the standards of journalism and therefore less credible.

So let’s back up a bit and analyze this scenario from a communications and crisis response viewpoint.

Whether or not you agree with the practice of referencing anonymous sources is moot. The East Bay Express still published a piece that references several businesses who came forward, but chose to remain anonymous as they were literally afraid of any potential acts of retribution from Yelp.com. For the record, citing anonymous sources is a long-standing and respected practice in journalism and is protected by law in order to uncover the truth behind many stories

The article states, “During interviews with dozens of business owners over a span of several months, six people told this newspaper that Yelp sales representatives promised to move or remove negative reviews if their business would advertise. In another six instances, positive reviews disappeared — or negative ones appeared — after owners declined to advertise.”

The case was reinforced with a condemning statement, “Several business owners likened Yelp to the Mafia, and one said she feared its retaliation. “

The themes are reiterated throughout the verbose feature and actually serve as the foundation for Yelp to develop a strategic and meaningful response.

- Many business owners believe Yelp employees use such reviews as sales leads.

- Several suspect Yelp employees of writing them.

- Yelp does pay some employees to write reviews of businesses that are solicited for advertising. In fact, the publication uncovered one documented instance where a business owner who refused to advertise received a negative review from a Yelp employee.

Whether these accusations are right or wrong, they’re incredibly defamatory. And, if the reporter indeed interviewed dozens of fearful companies who shared this sentiment, perhaps there’s credence in the experiences. Either way, there’s a perception that certain Yelp salespersons are crossing the line. And, in the world of online social influence, perception can be reality.

It’s what you say about you, what they hear, how they share that story, and how you weave that insight into future conversations that underscore meaningful community-driven efforts. And, everything starts with listening and observing in order to maintain relevance to the very communities we wish to reach, learn from, and inspire.

In Yelp’s response, Jeremy cited an everyday local business to deconstruct Kathleen’s case, “As you can see while the first review is positive (and very clearly marked up) the reviews below are neutral and yes even negative. This is quite normal and if you look around the site and click on some ads you’ll find plenty of advertisers with reviews that look like… well, everybody else. We showed this evidence to Kathleen, but it didn’t find prominent placement in her story.”

He continued by sharing three additional supporting points that he hoped would discount the article.

1 – Kathleen relied on five anonymous sources and only three non-anonymous sources. Use of anonymous sources is fraught with hazards and is strongly discouraged by most editors, as explained by the American Journalism Review.

2 – Sadly at least one of the named sources is affiliated with a business that has spent a considerable amount of time and energy trying to mislead customers like you with fake reviews. Below is a sample of some of the many reviews we’ve removed from Sofa Outlet’s page…

3 – The accusatory thrust of article is essentially overturned at the very end.

But, what if those dozens of companies, irrespective of anonymity, actually experienced a fraction of their claims? After all, the COO of Yelp conceded in the article that there may be a miscommunication depending on the conversational skills of the individual sales rep. The pitch can be open to interpretation, “Do I think that sales reps call are saying, ‘We’ll move your bad reviews?’ No. But I think it could be true — when you get to pick your favorite review and put it to the top, if I said it a little different way, it might sound a little nefarious.”

This is the social web and not only is perception reality; it’s highly influential when not proactively engaged and steered.

Remember, the Motrin Mom controversy? Whether or not the Motrin Mom’s were justified in their reaction, it still reached a boiling point fueled by the absence of a corporate response or acknowledgment.

In every negative discussion there exists an opportunity to change perception and also learn and improve the communications and service infrastructure – winning customer support along the way.

I weighed in:

The Twitter community responded:

effbentley: their blog post was a pretty weak response imho

RunningRebel: it’s not just the sales tactics that bothered me. Crazier is that they pay people to seed reviews! Is anything legit there?

erikbratt: Think the Yelp response is effective, changing initial opinion. Interesting how cos. can now respond directly to neg. news

leslysimmons: re: yelp… sounds like they have some credibility work to do, and this is coming from an Elite Yelper!

kfleisher: I think that Yelp’s blog post was a great way to address the issue. transparent and informative.

Mjausson: Seems that EBE’s coverage of Yelp has had the desired effect. Time will tell if they return to their old ways.

Serena: I’m surprised. Is it true? Is it not? Do I still use yelp? I’m actually torn

slazarus: I like the fact a senior person responded directly to the article. Most companies ignore bad PR hoping is would go away

journalistics: they get points in my book for addressing the issue head on – “we don’t do this” and trying to provide proof via pictures

KPfefferle: Strange response, not sure Yelp really addressed the issue. The counterattacks alone make me think they’re hiding something.

However, this exchange published in the Wall Street Journal between Susan Mernit, Jeremy Stoppelman, and Schlomo Rabinowitz paints a very different picture…

Susan Mernit: Do Yelp sales reps sell bad review removal to local biz? East Bay Express says mebbe, yes

Stoppelman: @susanmernit We don’t: http://tinyurl.com/bbuvfa

Schlomo Rabinowitz: @susanmernit Yes, Yelp has offered me monthly plans where I can bury negative reviews for @houseofshields They are scummy; CitySearch2.0

Stoppelman: @Schlomo We have no such program, never have, never will.

The best defense is not being “defensive,” nor is it simply powered by going on the offensive. Bottom line, there’s always room for improvement. Communicate that message and watch the tone and flow of the conversations shift to your favor.

It’s the process of not only using the same tools that your community is using to share their opinions and emotions across the social web, it’s the ability to breathe it in and demonstrate acknowledgment – regardless of frequency.

Yes, the blog post was an excellent start. Yes stating, “You don’t do that” was reaffirming. But obviously, there are those that attest to the likelihood of miscommunication. Perhaps an opportunity exists in extending the COO’s acceptance that, “Yelp could do a better job of training our sales team to be crystal clear about what you get and don’t get.”

- Simply say that you’re looking into it or ensuring that training eliminates any likelihood of miscommunication

- Promote an official support network within Yelp

- Solicit anonymous feedback, but ask for specifics under a proactive immunity program

- Communicate information and status regularly

- Recruit and deploy a special service-focused community team (perhaps the Yelp Elite) and document the tonality and frequency of related conversations and impressions in a Conversation Index before direct engagement

- Then, participate in those conversations through genuine, helpful, and non-confrontational dialog. Document the results and effects of the team’s outreach as compared to the original index

- Monitor blog posts and blog comments, spark new dialog to demonstrate that you’re listening and learning

Participation is a powerful catalyst for positive reform and also garnering additional insight and support. Maybe it’s simply relegated to one salesperson or team. Maybe it’s a miscommunication from sales training to direct sales calls. Either way, the brand reputation was called into question and in all reality; it won’t be the last time. It’s the actions of the individuals representing the brand that define brand character measured ultimately by the trust and relationships that forge, break, or strain customer and influencer relationships.

In the court of public opinion, you’re guilty until proven innocent.

What would you do differently?

UPDATE: Stowe Boyd discusses the extortion claims and the potential fallout that possibly looms ahead of the popular reviews site. Yelp attempts to dispel the myths and also claims that the EBE story is unraveling. Yelp, this is bigger than your current defensive strategy. A simple, “We’re looking into this as your trust is paramount to our success. This is not anything we endorse or support. If someone is indeed communicating or reinforcing this inaccurate perception, we find it and stop it immediately.”

As Stowe says, “Even more important, reality can be reality. If Yelp is in fact — directly or indirectly — using strongarm tactics they should deal with the consequences, which may include legal action. I hope there is a DA out there somewhere willing to look into these allegations. And we, the social media technorati, should treat this on a much more serious level than the PR fallout. If a company like Yelp acts in the way that has been alleged, we should call for a boycott of the company, and an investigation to get to the bottom of this.”

@queenofspain chimes in at /Message, “Regardless of what comes to pass, it’s an issue and it should be blogged and looked into. Is this a matter of a digerati turning their heads to the sweatheart start up? I’m curious.”

Related articles on PR 2.0:

- Reinventing Crisis Communications for the Social Web
- Comcast Cares and Why Your Business Should Too – The Socialization of Service
- Crisis Communications: Facebook and the Reality of Your Online Content
- Crisis Communications: Ariel Waldman vs. Twitter, When TOS Doesn’t Apply to You
- Crisis Communications: Mark Zuckerberg Listens and Responds to Beacon Crisis
- The Art of Conversation - It’s About Listening Not Marketing
- Free ebook: The Essential Guide to Social Media
- Free ebook: Customer Service, The Art of Listening and Engagement Through Social Media

Today Anheuser-Busch announced AB-Extras.com – a social media destination for Bud fans 21 years of age and older to reveal the human element and stories behind the ads that will premier during the Big Game.

AB-Extras.com is a unique social platform for the internal PR team at Anheuser-Busch to also work more effectively with traditional and digital press and bloggers using the tools and services that they rely upon to publish and share stories.

AB-Extras.com features exclusive content using a combination of social tools and networks such as Social Media Releases (SMRs), YouTube, Blip.TV, and flickr, hosted on a blog platform. At the very least, it is a dedicated online newsroom that aggregates and packages disparate social elements from across the Web into a contextualized storyboard that streamlines the viewing, sourcing, and distribution of relevant information.

The press team at Anheuser-Busch is actively exploring the inherent benefits and opportunities of genuinely participating in the important and relevant conversations that are transpiring across the Social Web.

They’re learning from individual experiences driven by this new form of engagement to further evolve its communications methodologies and practices and also improve the foundation for building relationships. As the team is listening and internalizing activity, analysis, and feedback, they will also define new policies and amendments to the PR regiment in order to embrace public conversations through social networks and micro communities including Facebook, Twitter, and FriendFeed.

I’m also learning that much in the same way that public companies abide by existing processes and language when communicating through press releases for example, there are guidelines and procedures designed to help alcohol companies practice corporate responsibility not only in PR, but also in online community engagement.

I’m looking forward to working with Anheuser-Busch to further explore new ways to enhance and humanize the interaction between companies, journalists, bloggers, and the very consumers who contribute to the interpretation, perception, and dissemination of their story.

Press Release on PitchEngine

http://viewer.docstoc.com/

Anheuser-Busch Debuts AB-Extras.com

Related reading on PR 2.0:

- SEC To Recognize Corporate Blogs as Public Disclosure, What This Means for Wires and Press Releases
- Social Media Releases In Action
- The Definitive Guide to Social Media Releases
- The Future of the Social Media Release is in Your Hands
- The Poetry of Social Networking to Court Customers and Invest in Relationships
- Twitter Tools for Community and Communications Professionals
- The Essential Guide to Social Media
- The Social Media Manifesto
- Introducing The Conversation Prism

Credit

In what is sure to come as an absolute surprise to the tech PR industry, TechCrunch proclaimed that it will no longer honor embargoes, unless they’re granted exclusivity. The move was triggered by a growing pattern of underhanded and also irresponsible behavior in the backchannels of PR and blogger relations.

We are all guilty.

The problems are two-fold:

a) Unethical or opportunistic bloggers or reporters looking for an edge will break a story ahead of the agreed-upon embargo, even if only by one minute, in order to appear as if they got the scoop.

b) PR, continuing to use a broadcast methodology to pitch and place news, freely and foolishly wield embargoes as if they’re simply “scheduled” times for a press release to cross a wire.

According to Michael Arrington, “The reason this is becoming a larger problem is because there is no downside to breaking embargoes. The PR firm gets upset but they don’t stop working with the offending publication or writer. You get a slap on the wrist, and you break another embargo later that day. Our new policy is to break every embargo. We’ll happily agree to whatever you ask of us, and then we’ll just do whatever we feel like right after that. We may break an embargo by one minute or three days. We’ll choose at random. There will be exceptions. We will honor embargoes from trusted companies and PR firms who give us the news exclusively.”

In the comments section of the TechCrunch post, Richard MacManus, Editor-In-Chief of another popular tech blog, ReadWriteWeb, commented on a particular portion of the new policy, which sparked an open dialogue between MacManus and Arrington.

MacManus, There will be exceptions. We will honor embargoes from trusted companies and PR firms who give us the news exclusively. Nice.”

Arrington, “Actually Richard, you guys (ReadWriteWeb) and others like GigaOm are the good guys. I have no[t] problem working with you.”

MacManus, “And ditto, I have no problem working with you or other blogs. But seriously I don’t think asking PR firms and startups to give you exclusives is the way to go. That’s asking them to choose which blog they want to get on, and of course they will opt for the biggest one. It’s unfair to put that choice onto PR firms and startups too. It basically means that startups probably won’t be covered by other top blogs if they give an exclusive to someone else. Maybe that’s something they’re ok with, but I think it’s unnecessary as all the best blogs have a unique take on the good stories. So I take your point that breaking embargoes is ruining it for everyone, but exclusives isn’t the answer imho.”

At this point, arguing over whether the response and the new policy is right or wrong, is moot and useless when compared to the potentially grim future facing PR.

Is the act of breaking embargoes as retaliation to deserving or undeserving companies the answer?

No.

But the resolution with TechCrunch and other bloggers and media in every industry rests among those who practice PR, whether they’re PR or marketing professionals or the founders of companies who choose to employ DIY PR.

TechCrunch’s response is not isolated, nor is it relegated to the technology sector. I would bet that every blogger and reporter shares this sentiment daily, with some already publishing similar “no embargo” policies.

But, are you really surprised that it has come to this?

We can’t blame TechCrunch however, we have to hold up the mirror and take a deep, honest, and introspective look at our role in this debacle, as well as the overall branding crisis that shrouds the PR industry.

The truth is that embargoes are special. They are not supposed to be used as a “PR trick” for locking-in stories with anyone and everyone. Ideally, they’re strategically reserved for important stories and they’re only effective when used in a “less is more” approach. Embargoes ARE NOT dead, however, they need to be practiced with great focus and respect. I guarantee you greater results and stronger relationships if you work with a smaller group of trusted and relevant contacts rather than embargo spamming everyone from the A-list to the C-list in your wish list.

Yes, there’s pressure to send your news to everyone.

Yes, we’re judged by quantity, not quality.

Yes, it’s not fair

So what are you going to do about it?

Start by pushing back. But, do so armed with the tangible reality that there are consequences for not learning or emboding a “less is more” approach.

Print this post, the original TC post, and the following articles and share them with decision makers (this is just a short representation of the thousands of recent and readily available articles screaming for PR to change):

Michael Arrington
Chris Anderson
Gina Trapani
Duncan Riley
Steve Rubel
Robert Scoble
RWW – Why and How Embargoes Work
The Poster Child for Everything Wrong in PR

Next, contact a few key individuals and work with them, one on one, to develop an important story under embargo. Remember, less is more and ALWAYS ask first before arbitrarily sending embargoed information. Monitor the results using site traffic, registrations, sales, referrals, linkbacks, conversations, and host of “old but new” tools for measuring PR success.

PLEASE READ: PR doesn’t stop after the news breaks. Tomorrow’s PR is powered by a medley of informed, humanized, and participatory engagement strategies that help stories flourish, not just from a top-down, one-to-many “influencer” campaign, but also through direct, peer-to-peer and many-to-many conversations that connect with, and inspire, your communities. The people who identify with your story, recognize relevance and feel that they’re “heard,” will enlist as loyal, surrogate storytellers, who will organically extend your reach and create opportunities for new relationships. In the process, you will learn that people, whether they’re reporters, analysts, bloggers, customers, or peers, will redefine your interpretation and practice of PR from “media and blogger relations” to true “Public” Relations.

The Social Web is serving as an unprecedented platform and repository for the dissection and bashing of individual PR people, companies, and agencies. Its influence is only gaining force. Time is running out for those who choose to operate within the confines of an aging and broken model of Public Relations.

We, as an industry, must immediately embody the transparency and focus required to engage and cultivate meaningful and rewarding relationships with the very people who can help us connect our stories to those they’ll benefit.

This isn’t email marketing. It’s not a numbers game. There are real people on the other side of our “pitch.” This process must become humanized once again.

These are the new rules of engagement

This is the new art and science of breaking news.

Welcome to the new era of PR.

Other voices on the subject:
CenterNetworks
Jeremy Toeman
Louis Gray
Danny Sullivan
MG Siegler

Must-reads on PR 2.0:

- The New Rules for Breaking News Part I
- The New Rules for Breaking News Part II: Beware of Embargoes
- PR is Not Dead
- PR 2.0 = The Evolution of PR, Nothing Less, Nothing More
- Dear Chris Anderson, an Open Letter to Make Things Right
- PR Secrets for Startups (on TechCrunch)
—

Through brevity there’s clarity.

As marketers and communicators in the era of socialized media, we’re relearning how to summarize and illustrate what we represent so that we might briefly captivate the attention of those we wish to reach.

Twitter, FriendFeed, Plurk, Qik, Seesmic, 12seconds, Facebook News Feeds, and all other forms of micromedia communities prosper through a concise economy of language and forethought. It is the exchange of this richer dialog that flourishes through succinctness.

This introspective and empathetic form of micro messages inspires us to embrace and practice incisiveness and relevance outside of Twitter and micromedia, in the real world, to help people connect with what we do and why they should care.

Welcome to the art and science of the escalator pitch. It makes the elevator pitch seem like a luxury now.

As micro communities are anchored in a finite set of characters or time in which to communicate, the one key word to embody is relevance. Assume you have one shot at getting someone excited about what you’re doing, because, technically, you do.

The intrinsic worth of every second and character continues to gain incalculable value.

In the world of text-based micro communities, sharing important discoveries on the Web is emerging as an art in of itself. URLs are typically long and often exceed the 140 character limit most services employ. Short URL services are rapidly emerging to help us say more with less, especially when wrapping context around URLs we’re hoping to share. Every character counts.

I recently hosted a live survey on Twitter that generated pages of responses to one simple question, “What’s your favorite URL shortener and why.”

Let’s review the most popular services according to power users on Twitter.

Top Responses – In order of votes
1. TinyURL
2. Bit.ly
3. Is.gd
4. BUDURL
5. Tr.im

In the flood of replies, I was introduced to many new services as well as reminded of others I had not yet tested. As with the directory I created and maintain for sharing the vast ecosystem of Twitter Tools and Services, I will also host a listing of short URL services for those looking to explore options and analyze the differences to best match a particular service with their style of communication.

Note: Some shortened URLs, when used as a link within a blog post or Web page, will not count towards the authority or the ranking of its destination since it’s not directly pointing towards it. For example if I am writing a post about this directory, I will link to its native URL. If I’m sharing a link to the directory on Twitter, I’ll use a shortener to save room for supporting text and retweeting. Some offer 301 Permanent Redirect, which enables stats logs to show the actual URLs linking to you.

Bit.ly is one of the more sophisticated shorteners that introduces analytics and semantics into the URL sharing equation. Bit.ly remembers and presents the previous 15 links you’ve shortened when you visit the homepage by depositing a cookie in your browser. You can also register for an account and link it directly to Twitter. Every Bit.ly URL offers clickthrough analytics to review the volume of traffic and from where it was referred. Perhaps its most profound feature is that every URL is saved forever in a central repository and is packaged with a search interface for exploring user-qualified links associated with keywords.

Character Count: 20
Custom URL: Yes
Clickthrough Tracking: Yes
Bookmarklet: Yes

BudURL is aimed at small businesses and marketers to provide insight into the activity behind each URL shared in social networks, instant messages, email and ad campaigns, electronic newsletters, etc. The service not only shrinks URLs, but also provides a deeper level of analytics usually associated with Websites to garner intelligence associated with your outbound initiatives. BudURL also introduces SEO into the process to optimize your links as well as the keywords used to find your BudURL.

BudURL starts as a free service and ranges up to $49 per month for power users.

Character Count: 22
Custom URL: Yes
Clickthrough Tracking: Yes
Bookmarklet: Yes

cli.gs shortens your URLs and tracks the clicks they get. In order to review statistics, you need to register for an account. But doing so, provides you with a wealth of information regarding your URLs including traffic volume, referring sites, activity around the world, search engine sightings, and also mentioned in social networks. You can also shorten URLs and publish directly to Twitter from the service.

Character Count: 20
Custom URL: Yes
Clickthrough Tracking: Yes
Bookmarklet: Yes

Culld.us is a service of Cullect, which helps you find and share the relevant, important stories from your news and blog feeds. Every time a Culld.us link is clicked, that URLs ‘Important’ rank increase at Cullect.com.

Character Count: 24
Custom URL: No
Clickthrough Tracking: No
Bookmarklet: Yes

Is.gd is among the shortest, space conscious shorteners on the market weighing in at a mere 17 characters. It’s dead simple to use. Enter the URL and simply cut and paste the result wherever you’d like to use it. Also, adding a dash “-“ at the end of the URL will allow people to see content in a small preview window prior to clicking through

Character Count: 17
Custom URL: No
Clickthrough Tracking: No
Bookmarklet: Yes

Metamark is built and maintained by Ask Bjorn Hansen of Develooper LLC with help from Robert Spier. The service is simple, but highly reliable, which was their inspiration to “reinvent the wheel.” Metamark URLs expire after five years or two years after the last usage – whichever comes later.

Character Count: 19
Custom URL: No
Clickthrough Tracking: No
Bookmarklet: Yes

MooURL is the web’s “cutest” URL shortening service according to the company. As it produces your shorter URL it also automatically places it into your clipboard so that you can save a step when cutting and pasting. Like Metamark, MooURL was created to combat the frequent outages that many other shortening services experience. URL are also personalizable to share dedicated links featuring a keyword.

Character Count: 23
Custom URL: Yes
Clickthrough Tracking: No
Bookmarklet: Yes

Pitch.PE is developed by PitchEngine the DIY social media release creation and distribution service. This is ideal for PR and communications professionals as it’s a one-stop shop for creating and sharing content.

Character Count: n/a
Custom URL: n/a
Clickthrough Tracking: n/a
Bookmarklet: n/a

POPrl is a turnstile for shared links and by far one of the most comprehensive services on the list. While it’s character count is low, it is the back-end statistics and community that set POPrl apart. For example, I shared a link for an upcoming event and decided to visit the statistics page for it a couple of weeks later. Turns out that the link was accessed 271 times and when you click the stats link, you’re presented with a visually rich analytics dashboard that provides details and graphs for top referrers and US/Global visitor density, by location.

POPrl is also supported by the presentation of popular, upcoming, and all time top URLs, serving as a content discovery service. There is also a tab for organizing and reviewing the links/campaigns you’ve created.

Character Count: 20
Custom URL: No
Clickthrough Tracking: Yes
Bookmarklet: Yes

PR140 takes the long URL of your press release as posted anywhere on the Web and reduces it to about 22 Twitter-friendly characters, for example:
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl? ACCT=104&STORY;=/www/story/11-07-2008/0004920463&EDATE;=

Once passed that through http://www.pr140.com, the short URL and accompanying headline is produced: http://pr140.com/TTX

From there, you can then post it to Twitter:
http://pr140.com/TTX – Oh! What a Show! 2008 MTV Europe Music Awards Dazzle with Showstopping Performances

Journalists and other web watchers following you will hopefully see the release.

Snurl aka SnipeURL is a unique service compared to the other URL shorteners on the list. It might be best suited to businesses, marketing and communications pros, community managers and also content librarians and curators.

With Snurl, you can save URLs by using Snurl, Snipr, or Snipurl as the default prefix, it’s your choice. But, perhaps most interestingly, you can assign a security code to URLs for publicly and privately sharing with only those you wish to grant access. Like MooURL, snips are automatically copied to your clipboard, but can also add the headline of your content as well. The service provides the ability to create multiple snips at once for those who need to batch process content.

Not only does it provide the ability to manage your snips, you can also produce and publish an RSS feed for your latest or most popular snips. And for those content managers collecting and repurposing Web content, you can also produce a feed for exporting snips directly to Excel.
Integrated distribution options are also unique to Snurl. Not only can you directly Tweet shortened URLs, they can automatically route to other services including email, Google Bookrmarks, Reddit, Facebook, Myspace, WindowsLive, MyYahoo, DIGG, StumbleUpon, and Technorati.

Snurl is also a community for popular snips from around the Web to provide a crowd-sourced hub for interesting content.

Character Count: ~22
Custom URL: Yes
Clickthrough Tracking: No
Bookmarklet: Yes

By far the most popular shortening service, TinyURL offers a super simple solution for creating tiny URLs. It offers the ability to create custom URLs and also URLs with embedded previews.

With TinyURL, you can also make a
smaller URL that will work for any page on your site. Let’s say that you have a website with the homepage that is at:
http://www.my-internet-isp.com/~myusername< /span>

Entering that URL into TinyURL will create a URL such as:

http://tinyurl.com/3

You can then redirect someone to anywhere within your site by appending a slash and the pages filename to it. So if you have a page at http://www.my-internet-isp.com/~myusername/my-links-page.html, you can use the URL http://tinyurl.com/3/my-links-page.html . Going to this URL will forward the visitor to the specific page.

Character Count: 25
Custom URL: Yes
Clickthrough Tracking: No
Bookmarklet: Yes

Tr.im is among the few that offer the lowest character count. It is also a feature-rich service for businesses and marketing professionals. URLs are trimmed to paltry 17 characters, but also weighted with the ability to associate the URL with search tags.

Unlike other services, Tr.im doesn not require registration to create and track URLs and their performance. It leverages your existing Twitter or Identi.ca accounts. As such, your shortened URLs can also seamlessly publish to one or both services.
Tr.im tracks and presents statistics that measure URL visits: when they happened, the visitor’s location, the referring website, and, simply, the number of clicks that it received.

For Mac users, Tr.im also offers a widget for your dashboard.

http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/blogs_forums/trimit.html

Character Count: 17
Custom URL: Yes
Clickthrough Tracking: Yes
Bookmarklet: Yes

twurl.cc is an early alpha, but functional service that aims to deliver more than it offers today. Currently you can shorten URLs to about 19 characters, with customer URLs and stats promised in the near future. Twurl also offers a live list of the top links based on clicks.

Character Count: 19
Custom URL: No
Clickthrough Tracking: No
Bookmarklet: Yes

TweetBurner, twurl.nl, offers integrated shortening and distribution on Twitter and FriendFeed with lite back-end statistics.

The service also tracks and showcases the most popular links based on clicks within the last hour as well as those recently shared.

Character Count: 22
Custom URL: No
Clickthrough Tracking: Yes
Bookmarklet: Yes

Ucash.in is just that, a URL shortener where you can hopefully cash in based on the traffic generated on the links you share.

Ucash.in provides the ability to combine three important aspects, social bookmarking, a url service that converts long url links into shorter url links, and a service that turns your existing links and new links into $. The company is designed for bloggers, forum users, webmasters, business users, et al.

When your Ucash links are clicked, you derive revenue from a redirect that can be an interstitial or top frame type advertisement. The current Revenue Sharing Rate (RSR) is $1 US for every 4000 top banner ad impressions, and $1 US for every 2000 intermission ad impressions.

You can also save and share bookmarks with a personalized url: username.ucash.in

Character Count: 22
Custom URL: Yes
Clickthrough Tracking: Yes
Bookmarklet: Yes

URLZen is a simplified dashboard for creating short URLs and then monitoring clicks and referring domains. Each time a URL is generated, you’re also provided with a dedicated link to track stats – thus eliminated the requirement to create a user profile.

The service also provides integrated copy and sharing bookmarklets for your browser

Character Count: 21
Custom URL: No
Analytics: Yes
Bookmarklet: Yes

Zi.ma is a powerful and SEO optimized service but packaged in an incredibly friendly and easy to use interface.

Zi.ma offers the ability to create short URLs at 19 characters, but also offers a customization tool to create personalized/vanity addresses and also provides the ability to create secure links and also URLs with expiration dates. Like Snurl, Zi.ma also includes the ability to batch process shorter URLs.

The solution offers redirect statistics, such as visitors’ referrer domain, page, visitor’s IP (+ link to geographical information about each visitor), and the associated date. 301 Redirects ensure that your links get all the link love they deserve.

Character Count: 19
Custom URL: Yes
Analytics: Yes
Bookmarklet: Yes

—
Brand Managers and Developers: Many of these services offer APIs to integrate “branded” URL shortening capabilities into your site and services. It encourages your community to easily share content within their micro communities of choice, saving them time and energy from shortening your URLs.
—
For a deeper list of URL shorteners, please visit RateItAll.
—
Related posts on PR 2.0:
- Introducing @MicroPR, A PR Resource for Journalists, Analysts and Bloggers on Twitter
- Twitter Tools for Community and Communications Professionals
- In the Social Web, We Are All Brand Managers
- The State of Social Media 2008
- The Social Revolution is Our Industrial Revolution
- The Essential Guide to Social Media
- The Social Media Manifesto
- PR 2.0: Putting the Public Back in Public Relations
– Introducing The Conversation Prism
—

In the era of the Social Web, transparency, engagement, and a commitment to authentically connect people to your story are essential principles for practicing successful and meaningful Public Relations.

Concurrently, the socialization of media is creating new communities and communications channels that are empowering journalists, bloggers, analysts, as well as everyday people, to actively and passionately contribute, share, and discover the stories around us. It’s changing the information ecosystem.

Media and communications professionals must stay connected and work together now more than ever to compete against the amplifying volume and frequency of information.

Stowe Boyd and I, in development with Christopher Peri, are contributing to the improvement of communications and relationships between media and PR.

PR + Media + Twitter = @MicroPR

If you don’t have time to read the entire post, here’s a quickstart guide:

• Journalists, bloggers, and analysts, send a tweet to @micropr (www.twitter.com/micropr) with what you need help with. The PR subscribers will read it and only those who can help will respond. Always start your message with @micropr.

• PR, follow @micropr to monitor the inbound reqests from the media and to determine how you can help. This is a listening and response service for you, not a broadcast channel. Do not send a message to @micropr unless you need the assistance of the PR community.

• If you want to refer to micropr on Twtter please use the hashtag, #micropr.

Remember, this is BETA, so if something goes wrong or if you have suggestions, please send me a message via @ or DM.

For those who wish to learn more about MicroPR, please continue…
—
PR

As PR professionals, we’re driven to proactively identify relevant editorial and publicity opportunities to link our respective companies to the stories currently in progress. Today, we most likely use a combination of direct editorial calendars and services such as MyEdCals.com, Profnet, HARO (HelpaReporterOut.com), Vocus, among maintaining day-to-day relations with our contacts to stay in sync.

Media

Journalists, analysts, and bloggers face constant deadlines and experience practically impossible tasks of managing expansive networks of PR representatives, experts, and spokespeople who represent particular industries.

Twitter

Twitter is nothing short of phenomenal and it only continues to experience incredible growth in both traffic and users – currently at six million registered people. It has created a dedicated, vibrant community that will fundamentally change and improve the communications channel between media and PR.

@MicroPR

Introducing MicroPR (@micropr on twitter) a new, free service on Twitter that advocates the shift from Public Relations’ traditional broadcast pitch methodology to one of listening and individual response.

Through Twitter, MicroPR connects journalists and bloggers to qualified, targeted PR professionals who can help you with the stories you’re currently writing.

How MicroPR Works

MicroPR is an automated, solution designed for simplicity.

For Bloggers, journalists, analysts, when you need help with a story:

1. Send a public message on twitter to @MicroPR.

2. Your tweet will automatically retweet from the MicroPR account to the PR and communications professionals monitoring the stream or the feed.

3. A knowledgeable PR person following the #MicroPR feed will see your individual request and respond directly via your preferred channel.

Basically, you’re inviting the community to help crowdsource elements of your story to streamline the process of story development, reducing research time and improving its quality and accuracy.

Tip: try to keep your request under 140 characters as the Twitter community may also retweet your request through their personal accounts.

Tip #2: Share @micropr with your entire editorial department and community. The process will only improve the more you use it.

For Public Relations Professionals, either follow MicroPR or subscribe to the RSS feed on Twitter. You can also run active searches for “@MicroPR” on Search.Twitter.com or TweetScan.

Examples for Journalist, Bloggers, Analysts:

- Writers looking for help with on story development can send a tweet, “@micropr Need startup recommendations for story on new micromedia tools. Reply via public tweet to @reportername” (112 characters).

- Journalists, analysts and bloggers can share that they do or do not want to be pitched via Twitter and other micromedia tools. They can also announce their specific preferences for contact.

- They could declare what sorts of microPR they want (or don’t want) to receive, and in what mode — @public messages or direct/private.

- A writer can share relevant beats @micropr beats = #social #web #networks #automotive #environment
#politics.

- Conference and awards organizers can call for speakers or submissions.

- Media can also block certain PR people who are doing it wrong.

- Other services could include scheduling calls and or meetings, etc.

Examples for PR and Marketing Professionals:

- This is mostly a tool for media to reach out to you, so please don’t abuse the @micropr channel.

- If you’re looking for strategic partners or information from the PR community, feel free to send a tweet to @micropr.

- Do not use MicroPR to proactively pitch media on Twitter. Stowe Boyd and I will be introducing TwitPitch shortly.

Tip: if you want to talk about MicroPR on Twitter and don’t wish for it to appear in the stream, use the Hash Tag, #MicroPR. For example, “I really love #MicroPR because it helps me build new relationships.”

M1cr0PR.com – A Wiki to Support the Refinement of @MicroPR

First, bookmark www.m1cr0pr.com.

M1cr0PR.com is a central resource for communications professionals to learn more about the principles, methodologies, and tools to enhance your relationships through brevity, fidelity, and clarity.

It is a community-powered wiki that features:
- A list of journalists, bloggers, and analysts on Twitter and their Twitter IDs
- A directory of Micromedia Tools for PR
- Links to helpful discussions on improving PR
- In the future, we’ll also feature an FAQ page (feel free to start one)

A Draft List of Media Currently on Twitter v2.0

Hopefully, this list triggered a Google Alert. This is your invitation to use @micropr to help you source information from the PR community without getting inundated with irrelevant pitches and responses.

Please note that this list is in the process of being updated and corrected over at www.m1cr0pr.com.

Adam Boulton, Sky News UK,
Allen Stern, CenterNetworks
Amanda Congdon, AmandaCongdon.com
Ana Marie Cox, Time.com
Anthony Ha, VentureBeat
Arthur Germain , Brand Telling
Bicyclemark, Citizen Reporter
Brent Terrazas, Brentter.com
Brian Morrissey, Adweek
C Kirkham, Times-Picayune
Carlo Longino, MobHappy
Caroline McCarthy, News.com
Chris Shipley
Chris Ziegler, Engadget
D Sarno, L.A. Times
Dan Farber, CNET
Dan Kaplan, VentureBeat
Dan Thomas, WSJ
Daniel Terdiman, Cnet
Darren Waters, BBC News
Dave Slusher, Evil Genius Chronicles
Dave Winer, Media Hacker
David Griner, Luckie.com
David Kirkpatric, Fortune
David Lidsky, Fast Company
David Wescott, Its Not A Lecture Blog
Dawn Foster, Fast Wonder
Dean Takahashi, Venture Beat
Doc Searls,
Dwight Silverman, Houston Chronicle
Dwight Silverman, Houston Chronicle
Dylan Tweeny, Wired.com
Elisabeth Lewin, PodcastingNews
Eric Schonfeld, TechCrunch
Eric Zeman, PhoneScoop
Etan Horowitz, Orlando Sentinel
Ginny Skal, NBC 17 Raleigh
Graeme Thickins, Tech~Surf~Blog
Harry McCracken, Technologizer
Heather Green, BusinessWeek
Henry Blodget, Silicon Alley Insider
Houston Chronicle, Houston Chronicle
Hugh MacLeod, Gaping Void
Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica
Jason Calacanis, Mahalo
Jeff Pulver, Pulver Blog
Jemima Kiss, JemimaKiss.com + The Gaurdian
Jim Long, NBC
Jim Louderback, Revision3
Joel Johnson, BoingBoing
John Dickerson, Slate
John Dvorak, Dvorak Blog
John Markoff, NYT Bits Blog
John Paczkowski, AllThingsD
Jonathan Fingas, Electronista
Justin Beck, SF Chronicle
Justine Ezerik, Tasty Blog Snack
Kara Andrade, Maynard Institute
Kara Swisher, AllThingsD.com
Katie Fehrenbacher, Earth 2 Tech
Kevin Allison, Financial Times
Kristen Nicole, VentureBeat
Laura Lorek, My San Antonio Blog
Leo Laporte, Leoville.com
Lisa Picarille, Revenue Magazine
Liz Gannes, GigaOm
Loren Steffy, HoustonChronicle
Louis Gray, LouisGray.com
Marc Canter,
Mark Glaser, PBS
Mark Hopkins, Mashable
Mark Krynsky, Lifestream Blog
Marshall Kirkpatrick, Read Write Web
Mathew Ingram, MathewIngramBlog
Matt Buchanan, Gizmodo
MG Siegler, Paris Lemon + VentureBeat
Michael Banovsky, Banovsky Blog
Michael Singer, InformationWeek
Mike Arrington, TechCrunch
Mike Butcher, TechCrunch UK
Mike Cassidy, SJ MercNews
Molly Wood, CNET
Natali del Conte, CNET
Om Malik, GigaOM
Owen Thomas, Valleywag
Pete Cashmore, Mashable
Peter Ha, CrunchGear
Peter Rojas, Engadget
Rafe Needleman, Webware
Richard MacManus, ReadWriteWeb
Robert Hof, BusinessWeek
Robert Scoble, Fast Company
Robert W. Anderson, Expert Texture
Ryan Block
Saleem Kahn, tech journalist
Sam Whitmore, Media Survey
Sarah Lacy, BusinessWeek
Sarah Perez, Read Write Web
Saul Hansell, NY Times
Steve Baker, BusinessWeek
Steve Gillmor,
Steve Spaulding, How to Split an Atom
Stewart Alsop, StewartAlsop.com
Stowe Boyd, /Message
Tannette Elie, Milwaukee Journal
The Guy Report, ESPN &Playboy;
Tod Maffin, CBC
Tom Foremski, Silicon Valley Watcher
Tom Merritt, CNET
Tricia Dureyee, MoCoNews
Veronica Belmont, Revision3
Walt Mossberg, AllThingsD/WJS
Wayne Sutton, NBC 17 Raleigh

Warning to PR: Only contact reporters and bloggers using their preferred methods and channels. Do not send spam. Doing so will not only get you blacklisted, but will also get you blocked on Twitter.

Stowe says it best, “On Twitter, I will simply block people that abuse my willingness to have an open dialog about products with PR folks, or basically anyone else, for that matter.”

—
Special thanks to Brad Mays and Evan Solomon for their priceless participation and advice.
—
MicroPR on Twitter by Brian Solis http://documents.scribd.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=8479271&access_key=key-9l2ymvujydd516lf0al&page=1&version=1&viewMode=list
—

The book is already in production and we still have a few bits of final editing and tweaking ahead of us. We’ll follow up to let you know more once we have the final timeline available.

Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How Social Media Is Reinventing the Aging Business of PR.

Please note that this is a holding page for the early preview release of the book and it is not representative of the final cover nor the book’s official description.

Once published, Deirdre and I will be in a city near you!

Looking forward to it…stay tuned.

I’ll also start returning to a regular blogging schedule very soon.

Connect with me on:
Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, or Facebook

Disclosure: I am not affiliated with TechCrunch50. If you are a participating TC50 company, resident TechCrunch PR expert Sarah Ross is available to share and review the public relations guidelines with you. It is important to work directly with Sarah to ensure you are in compliance with these guidelines to maximize your PR opportunity while also avoiding disqualification.

With TechCrunch50 and DEMOfall 2008 around the corner and over 120 companies debuting at both events, I thought this would be a good time to stop talking theory, refrain from bashing PR stereotypes, and start talking about how to successfully create visibility for startups, specifically at events that will command a global audience.

Even though some A-list bloggers and high profile entrepreneurs have publicly implied that any good product or eloquent and outspoken CEO will easily traverse the roads cluttered with inferior startups to quickly rise to stardom simply by existing, the reality is, you really do need some-level of PR. Let me clarify that statement. You need intelligent, informed, objective, and highly connected PR, which is very different than the typical Public Relations you may have experienced or frequently read about. You also need a strategic launch plan and a polished, professional, and creative demonstration that will resonate with attendees and compel them to positively react.

Allow me put a few things in perspective for you. September is a busy month. TechCrunch50 is surrounded by some of the industry’s most anticipated, attended and watched conferences including Office 2.0, DEMOfall, Web 2.0 Expo, and BlogWorld Expo (I’ll be at all of them by the way). Whether you support them or not, they’re still competing for mind share and they are attracting influential attendees and spectators who will report their experiences and observations. In those two-to-three weeks, we’re expecting over 200 companies to launch and vie for attention and precious blog and media real estate.

This isn’t the time to leave your company’s future up to chance. This is the time to seize your opportunity to demonstrate why your startup should garner the attention you believe it deserves.

Let’s start with the obvious. Your story, as wonderful as it is, will need help rising above the flurry of news that will jockey to reach the ears and eyes of bloggers, press, customers, investors, and partners. TC50, and DEMOfall will give startups a huge boost. Let’s take this time to reel everything in to make sure you’re on track.

Public Relations

This advice may seem 101, and in some cases it is. Nonetheless, it’s an important refresher for those companies who are using TechCrunch50 to debut their company or new products.

For those lucky 52 handpicked companies, there is a clear and prevailing rule to participate and it will make the difference whether or not you launch to accolades or you’re dis-invited from the event. You have to introduce your new company or product, for the first time, on stage TC50.

With that said, there are also a few additional directives that presenting companies must abide by which may present a challenge for PR. Don’t let it tempt you into cutting corners or trying to bend thing to work for you. These points are critically important, as they’re not open to interpretation or negotiation:

- Until your presentation on stage, you must keep your site password protected with only limited private access provided to a trusted group of alpha or beta users for testing purposes.

- You CANNOT demo your product to the press for publication in advance of the conference, even if it’s under embargo. Pre-briefings are not allowed.

- You can’t announce that you were selected as one of the TechCrunch50 companies until after TechCrunch announces the list on Monday, September 8. As proud and excited as you are, remain patient.

- No screenshots or video demos of your product can be shared on the web in advance. There is a great deal of interest and speculation and other reporters and bloggers are actively seeking clues. Uploading test videos and images to your Website, YouTube, or Flickr, run the risk of discovery and public dissemination. Just wait…

- Information regarding your new company or product can not premier on online, including your corporate or product Website, until after the stage presentation.

Although these rules are highly debated, they are what they are. So, let’s explore a few other ways that PR can safely leverage this event.

What’s Your Story?

So many startups forget that there’s more to the story than the technology that powers their new product or service. It’s absolutely imperative that you demonstrate how it will be used in the real world, by whom, and why it’s truly better than anything else out there.

Let’s start by determining who your customers and users are and where they go for information and insight. Identifying these groups will humanize the process of crafting your st
ory. It forces you to adapt
what you’re introducing specifically to the people you’re hoping to reach.

The next step is to summarize not only what you’re introducing, but distill the value, benefits and extraordinary features that differentiate you from your competition and also highlight how you’re solving real world problems and challenges. This process will impact your press materials, your stage demo, your pitch, and ultimately the perception that conference attendees form.

Get it in Writing

After you’ve run through your messaging exercises, document the story in a convincing press release, product/company overview, and unpublished blog post that officially announce the product or service (do not publish or share them until after your stage presentation).

Make sure that the solution and the value is upfront.

Assume that the people who will ultimately read your story are short on attention span, whether they’re a blogger, reporter, customer, partner, investor, or potential acquirer. Just because you’re selected to launch out of the hundreds of companies that applied, doesn’t mean your story is a guaranteed success.

In PR, writing usually follows an inverted pyramid format, which recommends that you pack all of the pertinent information at the beginning and conclude with the supporting details. In today’s highly competitive Web economy, solely relying on traditional press releases to tell your story greatly restricts its potential. Time and attention are precious commodities.

Find a way to tell your story as quickly and as compelling as possible. If it’s one thing that Twitter has taught us, it is how to say something significant in 140 characters or less. Twitter and the onslaught of emerging micromedia communities are reinforcing this process of sharing updates and insight through brevity and clarity. In PR and marketing, the study and practice of saying more with less online, is referred to as MicroPR.

With every sentence, description, or statement we verbalize or write effectively, we can earn the chance to open the next door. The goal is to continue to tell the story progressively, gaining momentum and increasing resonance along the way, and continue to open enough doors to tell our story completely. This methodology helps tell the story quicker and more persuasively. Just in case someone stopped listening at any point, the important information and market opportunity should have already been communicated.

Piecing Together the Puzzle

In addition to having a press release, overview, and blog post drafted, and ready to share after you the stage, also draft an “at a glance” summary supported by bulleted value statements to tell and support your story. This is usually shared in the form of email when introducing your company/product, as it tees up interest for the full press release, and can also serve as the outline for your demonstration and presentation.

There are other ways, beyond press releases, summaries and blog posts to break news. With Web video production and screencasting tools readily available, affordable, and easy to use, producing a visual demonstration will only help convey your story and fortify message integrity when you’re not present to personally explain it. Also, short videos and demos are shareable and embeddable to expand the story across the social Web.

While paper press kits are long gone, or should be, digital press kits are still alive and well. Pull everything together in one place, such as a USB key, a downloadable zip file, an online press room, and consider experimenting with a social media press kit or a social media release.

The Social Media Release (SMR) is an online blog post or socially-rooted Web page that centralizes your news summary, bullets, quotes, outbound links, as well as the supporting social objects that you create to support the news, including images from flickr, video from Viddler or YouTube, embeddable content from Docstoc or Scribd, widgets, delicious bookmarks, etc. For more on press releases, please read, “The Evolution of Press Releases.”

A Social Media Press Kit (SMPK) a.k.a. online press kit/press room is a dedicated, one-stop destination for your specific news event, usually hosted on a social platform such as WordPress, MoveableType, etc., but can also reside on a traditional Website – tethered to your corporate site. This landing page contains embedded objects that help reporters and bloggers assemble the news their way. It can feature an embedded version of the press release and all other related social objects, for at-a-glance viewing and also for quickly grabbing the necessary embed codes.

Launch Alternatives

TC50 will attract some of the most influential people in tech and therefore requires a creative launch strategy to prevent your story from getting eclipsed by the other great companies who are also presenting. Again, just because you’re invited to launch at TC50, doesn’t mean everyone will cover your news let alone remember you the next day.

Last year, we launched a company at TC40 and opted for a public preview versus a public release. The site and the company went live during the event, but it debuted as an invitation only service. We provided all attendees with a special access code to access the product. We also presented press with invitations to share with their readers. While this strategy isn’t an effective option for every company, it hopefully inspires you to consider alternative approaches that may increase visibility over a standard public debut – all of which can’t take place until you take the stage.

Releasing a private beta is has its advantages. One, it provides the development team with some breathing room instead of rushing to finalize everything that’s necessary for a true public beta launch, which can sometimes compromise and potentially taint first impressions. Second, it allows you to harness and prolong the buzz, awareness, and credibility generated at TC50 through invitations, community participation, and word of mouth. After 30-45 days, you can earn a second opportunity to spotlight the service/produce when you eventually release in public beta, using the PR tools and processes to announce availability.

Demonstration/Presentation

Your time on stage is well-deserved and you have an obligation to attendees and also to your development team to present your company in a way that makes people remember who you are and why you were invited to participate in the first place.

This isn’t a local meetup for startups. This isn’t just another opportunity to practice your everyday company pitch. This is a major production that requires an entirely new level of presentation, probably of the caliber that you may not have experienced previously. The world will literally be watching, sitting through 52 demos, so what are you going to do that will make everyone in the room stop checking email or updating Twitter, pay attention to your time on stage, and more importantly, remember you after the event – not to mention the ability to create enthusiasm and support in order to ignite referrals and potential word of mouth for being one of the hottest companies to debut.

Ditch the Powerpoint presentation. No one wants to see bulleted lists that say what you do and or endure a series of slides that detail your professional credentials and career experience. They want to see what you do and how it was selected over the hundreds of other companies that were hoping to make the cut. Quickly explain the pain that your solving, make us empathize with it. But, get to that demo as quickly as possible. Show, don’t tell. You may need help and coaching to become an incredible presenter to maximize your time on stage and that’s OK. It’s how we become more incredible public speakers.

As TC50 co-founder and co-host Jason Calacanis has recently emphasized in his email newsletter, companies need to attach their brand to a movement, a trend, something bigger than just the next shiny new object, search engine, widget, or next new social network.

Have charisma. Express your passion. Speak clearly with authority and confidence. Move around the stage as you demo your product. Get someone to run the notebook and don’t lock yourself in that comfort zone behind the podium. Please don’t subject us to a dry demo of you staring at you notebook screen, clicking buttons and talking monotonously.

Ensure that portions of the demo canned so that we can breeze through the frontlines and get into true value of what it is you’re launching. We don’t need to see the registration process. We don’t need to endure the discomfort of watching you fumble through typos as you enter unnecessary data to support your presentation.

Have everything ready to go and have it rehearsed and polished. You don’t need slides. You don’t need 3×5 cards. Connect with the audience. Grab and hold their attention. This is your baby and you know it better than anyone. Passion and enthusiasm are contagious and we want to be amazed!

We’re there for you, so it’s your job to not let us forget who you are.

Calacanis recently published his tips (Part I and Part II) for demoing your startup. Here are a few highlights:

- Show your product within the first 60 seconds
- The best products take less than five minutes to demo
- Leave people wanting more.
- Talk about what you’ve done, not what you’re going to do.
- Understand your competitive landscape–current and historical.
- PowerPoint bullet slides are death
- Show Don’t Tell
- One driver, one navigator

On Site Briefings

Many of the industry’s most influential bloggers, analysts, and reporters will attend TC50, with many more observing and reporting on the event highlights from all over the world. It’s in the best interest of your company and your personal brand to judiciously meet with those who truly cover your industry and ultimately affect your markets.

Every reporter and blogger is different in their preferences for contact, requests for briefings, etc. After your company is announced as a presenter, realize that most of the reporters and bloggers on the pre-registered media list will receive inbound requests from the other attending companies for on site appointments almost instantly.

Nothing beats a handshake and an in person introduction. This is about building relationships that you carry and cultivate throughout your career. Press and bloggers are open to meeting companies and many of them are more than happy to discuss your company – albeit briefly. Introduce yourself as one of the presenting companies and ask if they have a moment to talk now (as in during the event) or see if they’re scheduling slots for briefings during or after TC50.

For example, last year, we (bub.blicio.us) scheduled on site interviews with everyone who asked and also made a compelling case for us to do so.

One thing to keep in mind however is that this event is a major production and it can be overwhelming, even for the most professional and experienced journalists. Following up after the conference with all of your key reporters and bloggers is always a good idea. Meet them for coffee, take them to lunch, or simply schedule a short teleconference or screenshare session to give them a deeper look at what was introduced.

Lobbycon

At any major industry event, there are always scores of people who don’t have passes who want to participate in the can’t-miss excitement and action and also promote their agenda. This adds a new layer of dynamics to an already incredible environment. When combined with the onsite PR and marketing activity of the TC50 presenters and also those in the Demo Pit, it also creates an additional possibility to promote your company among those networking in the event lobby.

At TC40, PowerSet served delicious “branded” shots in test tubes to attendees as well as the huge contingent that formed the unofficial lobbycon. Other promotional items and clever memorabilia were also freely distributed all in the hopes of striking a chord with attendees and rising above the fray.

Make no doubt that there will be an influx of companies competing for attention, whether or not they’re part of TC50. You do need to offer something that helps you stand out. So think of this as your chance to
create and distribute something m
emorable that also correlates with your brand so that attendees not only remember you after the conference is all said and done, but are also reminded to test, and hopefully use, your product.

Summary

TechCrunch50 is going to be an extraordinary event and it’s up to you to make it the most successful debut possible. There’s still plenty of time to get things right and to ensure that you indubitably stand out against everything that will transpire over the course of three days. Make sure to follow the rules in order to properly and effectively leverage your PR opportunities on site and after the conference. And, prepare (and also rehearse) the most compelling and amazing presentation and demonstration of your life.

Other Voices on the Subject:

Rafe Needleman of CNET, A user guide to following DEMOfall and TechCrunch50

Robert Scoble, Startups: your web site sucks

Daniel Terdiman, Are Demo and TechCrunch50 fragmenting their audiences?

Allen Stern, How DEMO and TechCrunch50 Differ in Pre-Event Press Handling

Additional Resources on PR 2.0:

PR Tips for Startups

PR for Startups Now Available as a Free ebook

Connect with me on:
Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, or Facebook

Here’s the director’s cut, “SEC To Recognize Corporate Blogs as Public Disclosure, What This Means for Wires and Press Releases”

For several years, Sun CEO, Jonathan Schwartz has lobbied the SEC to allow disclosure of financial information through corporate blogs. In a landmark announcement, it seems that Mr. Schwartz may indeed get his wish, and with it, a historical decision that could break the age-old shackles that bound businesses to traditional media and distribution channels in order to satisfy full disclosure.

The SEC has announced that it will recognize corporate Web sites and blogs as channels for satisfying the full disclosure required by Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure).

According to the SEC announcement, “UNDER certain circumstances, companies can rely on their websites and blogs to meet the public disclosure requirements under Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure), according to new guidance unanimously approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission today.”

Chairman Christopher Cox opened up the discussion by recognizing that the Web has matured providing a big step forward for investors, “Ongoing technological advances in electronic communications have increased both the market’s and investors’ demand for more timely company disclosure and the ability for companies to capture, process and disseminate this information to market participants.”

The SEC documents boundaries for sharing information as well as holding companies and their employees liable for the information that they post on blogs and discussion forums.

Disclosure is an Expensive Business

Naturally, this is at the very least, represents a potential harbinger for each of the popular wire services.

A significant percentage of their lifeblood is tied to market-relevant or earnings content that, until now, required wire services, and cost hundreds of dollars (in some cases over $1,000) per announcement in order to satisfy disclosure. For many companies, a fixed budget for disclosure absorbed the critical resources necessary to support the activity of sharing news and therefore relied upon wires to do their public and investor relations on their behalf.

But as many PR and IR professionals will concede, issuing releases on the wire is merely an expensive step in a process of creating and distributing news using traditional tools. If you represent a publicly traded company that is actively monitored by market influencers, it’s very likely that your press release will reach their systems via the wire.

These days, it’s almost certain that a reporter or analyst will, in the best case, see and file the release but most often, the very people we hope will find and in turn, report on the information discovered, will honestly never know that you released news at all unless they’re proactively contacted. Any good public relations or investor relations professional will ensure that their top financial and business contacts are alerted to upcoming news, with or without giving away the news, in advance – depending on their interpretation of Reg FD and the trust level of their relationships.

There is no substitute for the real world relationships we forge in order to bridge the right content specifically for the right people.

Do these new guidelines offer companies the ability to shift some or all of its wire budget back into the critical role of outbound support for corporate news?

Disclosure Versus IR/PR

Disclosure relates to the market – the people who trade or may act based on the information you publish. Reg FD protects the voice and pocketbook of the investor and guides companies on how to publish information so that it reaches a fair share of the market so that no one person has access to information before the other.

We can’t deny or ignore the value and benefits associated with strategic support for connecting corporate news to market influencers. Now, to the defense of wire services, and as I’ve written before, wire services can bypass those very influencers to reach people directly.

Not only does wire distribution meet disclosure, the art of search engine optimized press releases (SEO releases) have the unique ability to appear in search engines tied to the key words your market uses to search for related and relevant information. PR Newswire, MarketWire, Business Wire, and PRWeb offer businesses the ability to distribute news with added SEO functionality. When paired with a well-written, SEO optimized press release, wire distribution can more than satisfy disclosure, it can carry your story directly to the people looking for it.

In addition, wire services have invested over the years in the development of a secondary distribution channel that has, in my opinion, remained relevant even as the Web continues to rapidly change and evolve.

When a press release crosses a wire, many search engines and their financial properties (finance.yahoo.com or finance.google.com) and all market-powered hubs, portals and dashboards, receive wire feeds which automatically populate respective “Recent News” sections. Similar to how we subscribe to RSS feeds to seamlessly receive the news and information we prefer, investors, analysts, press, and decision makers can see, in one place, the trading status, coverage, related news, and crowd-powered discussions around the activity. This has been the case since the days of Web 1.0 and was our first taste of the finance and the Social Web as we know it today.

Without wire services, penetrating these valuable dashboards, that are still today, a primary source of financial information and activity, is incredibly difficult, if not impossible.

This new guidance, however, presents an opportunity to connect corporate information from sites and blogs to these powerful financial online hubs so that important corporate news can still reach people, the way they’re used to receiving it.

Forcing them to change their habits isn’t a realistic expectation in the short-term.

Regulation FD and Social Media

The SEC is taking the right steps to embrace the new tools and services that reach people in addition to wire services. With the recognition of blogs as a viable form of disclosure, under certain circumstances of course, the SEC is officially recognizing Social Media and in a sense, socializing the rules associated with Reg FD.

Perhaps, the most significant change stemming from the new SEC guidance is that Web-based disclosure does not have to appear in a format comparable to paper-based information, unless the Commission’s rules explicitly require it.

This announcement finally opens the door for the Social Media Release aka a media-rich blog posts that package news with social objects in a shareable and conversational format. We’re not talking about about opening the door for using a new tool to pump out the same old hype or BS.

For a few years, Todd Defren, Chris Heuer, Shannon Whitley, Shel Holtz and I, along with the rest of the Social Media Release WorkGroup, not only defended and defined the opportunity for Social Media Releases (SMRs), but also fielded emotionally-charged questions from the financial and IR communities asking about whether or not an SMR would ever meet disclosure requirements for Reg FD, and without it, what good would it ever be…

While there have been many discussions and debates to whether a Social Media Release should cross the wire and if so, what format and design it should resemble, my belief is that SMRs should always reside on dedicated blog platforms (WordPress, MoveableType) as part of a Social Media Newsroom. And, Social Media Releases should only complement a traditional press release and disclosure activity and not replace it.

Originally introduced by Todd Defren in response to Tom Foremski’s call for the death of press releases, the SMR represents a new socially-rooted format that complements traditional and SEO press releases by combining news facts and social assets in one, easy to digest, and repurpose, tool.

Giving everyone what they need and how they need it, requires a different approach. Almost every press release issued today is done so without video or audio, and many still do not include links to additional information or supporting content.

While these multimedia pieces are underlying components of SMRs, there’s more to the presentation than multimedia content. The value of aggregating Social Media in one digital release connects information and content across social networks with the people looking for it, as well as the conversations that bind them together.

And not only do SMRs socialize content and link conversations across the Social Web, they also help bloggers and online journalists more effectively write a rich media post using one resource that provides them with everything they need.Now that we don’t need to adhere to a fixed form or design and presentation aesthetics, technically there’s holding us back from carrying the torch forward. It can only help present and share information in an alternative method that complements traditional releases, outbound contact, and market-related conference calls.

Coming back to my belief that Social Media Releases should be hosted on blogs (because they really are a combination of a blog post and a great press release) and not cross wires, with the new rules for Reg FD, an SMR by default, could now meet disclosure – assuming that the host site is recognized as meeting the disclosure standards.

Social Media Releases offer the ability to not only share relevant financial data, but also feature social content that reinforces that data and the overall company story.

We’ve discussed how information can reach the market, investors, peers, and customers through search as well through articles and blog posts and also via financial portals. Search engines are manipulated by SEO (search engine optimization). Social Media is powered by SMO (social media optimization) and the results are different in how, when, and where they appear. In most cases, SEO doesn’t affect the outcome of content within social networks. But, dedicated tagging, key words, and crowdsourced participation drive the “discoverability” of content in the Social Web.

Picture a blog post that announced corporate data (not unlike a standard financial press release) but now, along with a custom video hosted from YouTube, supporting graphs and exec images funneled from flickr, pre-recorded audio podcasts/conferences piped in from iTunes, packaged market data sourced from Docstoc, related company and landscape stories and public commentary linked from Delicious. Content can also push to micromedia services such as Twitter, Identi.ca and FriendFeed to contribute to the company’s brandstream. In a sense, the Social Media Release, hosted as an elegant and media rich blog post, acts as an aggregated hub for these disparate brand beacons, and at the same time, each piece is findable and sharable within each social network and they all point back to the Social Media Release.

Also, the SMR can feature tags and outbound links to increase exposure in social networks and blog-specific search engines.

Social Media Releases not only feature social content to more visually and authentically tell stories and share information, they also provide the tools necessary for people to further socialize and interact with them.

For readers of an SMR, the options for interaction are virtually endless. They can respond through a “moderated” comment system, much in the same way they do today in online financial forums. They can grab pieces of the content, such as embeddable video, audio, documentation and images, to repurpose as blog posts and online stories, which can also send trackbacks to help pool collective coverage. Stakeholders can subscribe to RSS feeds for the entire news stream or just those related to financial/market information. Readers can send the story back out to the social web through bookmarking tools such as diigo or delicious, as well as crowdsourced news communities including Digg and Mixx. As the existing social tools evolve and new services are introduced, the potential for SMRs aka blog posts, are truly a blank canvas for PR, marketing, and the community to define how they’re read and shared.

This is a Chance to Reach More People, Their Way

Executives and marketing professionals must now weigh whether the company Web site or blog are indeed a recognized channel of distribution and more importantly, whether these online properties meet public disclosure requirements under the new rules Regulation FD.

I believe this new guidance only expands the ability to share information using a variety of approved channels – bound by the legalities of doing so ethically, honestly, and informatively. It may or may not reduce costs associated with meeting disclosure, but it will in fact, improve the infrastructure for investor and public relations by socializing the process to more effectively communicate with investors and the people who care.

No, it doesn’t kill wire services or press releases, it just changes how we create and distribute them.

The reality is that businesses can only benefit by not limiting itself to one form of communication. People seek, discover, and share information differently, and combining strategic wire, Web, and blog channels will only amplify reach and visibility.

Thanks to Jennifer Leggio and the IRWebReport for getting this story started.

Follow the SEC on Twitter.

Connect with me on Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, Plurk or Facebook.

Related articles on PR 2.0:

- Comcast Cares and Why Your Business Should Too, The Socialization of Service
- The Social Revolution is Our Industrial Revolution
- The Social Media Manifesto
- New Communication Theory
- The Evolution of Press Releases
- The Definitive Guide to Social Media Releases
- Wire Services Bypass Journalists and Bloggers

social+media+release

Discussions and debates on the viability, necessity, and effectiveness of conversational aka social media marketing continue to roar across the Social Web.

There are three sides to this equation:

- New media pioneers and practitioners who defend and evangelize the art of conversations because they’re investing in people and their feedback and have the experience to showcase value and ROI.

- Social Media marketers who embrace social tools and promote their use in corporate/brand marketing and Public Relations, learning in the process and building relationships along the way. They may or may not be tying these initiatives to business metrics.

- Some experienced business and marketing professionals who view conversations as potential distractions that are immeasurable, expensive, not scalable, and ineffective in purporting corporate messages to their “target audiences.” To them, Conversational Marketing and Social Media are buzz words without substance or statistics to support their reason for being.

As Social Media continues to impact everything from journalism and communications to customer service and the foundation for Website design and network dynamics, it’s also inspiring a new army of purported and legitimate “experts” who are offering assistance to those companies seeking to understand and engage in online conversations.

Social Media Marketing combines, in a perfect world, the most effective attributes of PR, Web Marketing, Customer Service, and a working knowledge and genuine enthusiasm of the social networks and tools to listen to, spark, and engage in relevant discussions – not all but, those with influence. Marketers in the social realm will also embrace social sciences to observe and understand the online cultures and social dynamics where they ultimately wish to participate, while also maintaining a working knowledge of their company’s business model and markets..

Social Media experts must have the ability to determine which networks are relevant to the businesses that they represent, why they need to pay attention, how to listen, and how and when to engage. Most importantly, they must connect participation to brand resonance, customer loyalty and also the ever prominent “bottom line.”

Without a deep understanding of customers, markets, online communities, and the dynamics of their company’s business model, Social Media Marketers will succumb to the brilliance of shiny new social objects and remain hypnotized by their allure and promise – missing the true opportunities of engagement in favor of popular social tools.

Let me tell you where I stand…

Conversational Marketing and Social Media Marketing, to me, aren’t truly rooted in marketing at all, nor should they be. This is about learning from listening first, and engagement afterward.

It’s not a miracle cure for years of one-sided, top-down push marketing.

Assuming that we can change the greater public perception one conversation at a time isn’t realistic and it isn’t scalable in the short term, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t value by investing in the future, now.

If a conversation takes place online and you’re not there to hear or see it, did it actually happen?

Influential conversations are taking place with or without you. If you’re not part of the conversation, then you’re leaving it to others, and possibly competitors, to answer questions and provide information, whether it’s accurate or incorrect.

The ability to listen to public impressions, questions, and discussions that would have otherwise gone unnoticed or unanswered tell us everything. And, the exercise of genuinely engaging and helping forms valuable relationships and inspires brand enthusiasts in the process. These conversations are an opportunity to change perception through dialog, but more importantly, by feeding the information learned in the field back into a company can improve product development, enhance service, and educate executives through real world feedback.

But words aren’t a means to an end. Everything starts with listening and observation and as always, actions speak louder than words.

It’s not the act of conversations that immediately provide value to an organization, it’s the listening, observing and ability to then learn from the inspired engagement.

Are the results of conversations trackable?

Yes.

Is activity measurable?

Yes.

Are relationships scalable and able to demonstrate a return on investment?

That’s the million dollar question.

How do you measure the value of online relationships right now? It can’t simply be tied to sales when referrals, word of mouth, brand awareness, and evangelism are priceless and mostly immeasurable. And, there’s no price too great for paying attention.

I wrote about the concept of Conversational Marketing vs. Market Conversations almost a year ago. I believe it still holds true today…

If it’s one thing that we can learn about Social media is that people and the markets they represent have rallied against marketing and slick marketers and have demanded personalization, transparency, and sincerity.

They don’t want to be told what to buy, what to think, or have their views and opinions disregarded simply because they are not classically trained in the art of service, design or marketing.

Brands have become democratized. Audiences have evolved into factions of people linked together by common interests and populate and define communities throughout the static and social web. In some cases, there are thousands of conversations taking place across multiple networks.

Is it possible or even warranted to have a Community Manager track and respond to everything?

No way!

The chances of a company releasing a perfect product and having the public embrace and accurately share its benefits, applications, and value proposition through their peer networks is implausible. It’s called the grapevine and the story will lose precision and factuality in the process of storytelling. And since we live in the real world, not every product or service is perfect, therefore they require listening and discussions to improve them over time.

Perception management is the process of reaching out to these communities and quite honestly, it’s nothing new. The social tools available today only provide an easier solution for li
stening
and reaching people. It’s still designed to create champions and enthusiasts who can help you tell your story within peer networks, accurately and passionately.

Not only can we learn from these real time focus groups, we’re also guided towards the development of more informed and poignant outreach moving forward.

As Sean Maloney of Intel says, “It’s not what you say about you, it’s what they say about you.”

Talk is indeed cheap and a complete waste of time if conversational marketing is used to spin products or services into something they’re not.

However, if your company, and a completely renewed and redesigned infrastructure, is ready to change based on those conversations to improve product/service design and quality, as well as becoming a proactive resource to their communities, then talk begets action, and action is toll for change.

But participation for the sake of participating or engaging in online conversations must be more substantive than hosting one-off conversations in order to truly impact communities and have positive influence on the economics of business.

Richard Binhammer, a primary community leader at Dell, recently commented, “My actions on behalf of Dell are not mere talk and conversation. Everyday we follow up on the online listening and the learnings we get from customers, fixing issues and bringing customers’ perspectives inside Dell — real time, real views and real customer experiences. We believe that is improving our response times, contributing to better products and services and making us a better company, that is directly connecting with customers who care enough about us to talk about us on the web every day.”

As I’ve said before, it’s so much more than the ability to guide companies on how to create fan pages on Facebook, islands on SecondLife, accounts on Twitter, Pownce or (insert microblog of the month here), and profiles on YouTube and Myspace.

Businesses who socialize their marketing because Social Media is the New Black, are in for a rude awakening. Those who realize that conversations are taking place with or without them, invest in the process of listening to reveal public perception and identify the networks where meaningful conversations take place, engage with those seeking a response, and analyze the feedback to improve processes as well as future products, are investing in a brighter, more profitable future.

Insight can not fall upon deaf ears. And, silence is never golden.

It’s the listening, analytics, charting social maps, drafting strategies for meaningful engagement, understanding our relevance in the short and long tail, and the definition of metrics and ROI that count for everything to businesses and respective decision makers these days.

- Traffic
- Links
- Trackbacks
- Comments
- Threads
- Registrations
- Referrals
- Sales
- Loyalty

Functional, real world, and measurable attributes can be tied to any community-focused program today. But, we need to start first start backwards and work our way forward in order to determine and track ROI.

Remember, it’s what you say about you, what they hear, how they share that story, and how you weave that insight into future conversations that underscore meaningful community-driven efforts. And, everything starts with listening and observing in order to maintain relevance to the very communities we wish to reach, learn from, and inspire.

Other relevant voices on the subject for a balanced perspective:

Chris Heuer, “It’s About Conversation, Not Marketing”
e-consultancy, “The Problem with Conversational Marketing” – the comments are important
The Drama 2.0 Show, “Note to Tide: Detergent is Detergent”
Kathy Sierra, Be Brave or Go Home

Related articles on PR 2.0:

Free ebook: The Essential Guide to Social Media
Free ebook: Customer Service, The Art of Listening and Engagement Through Social Media
The Art of Conversation – Thoughts and Observations
The Social Media Manifesto
Cultural Voyeurism and Social Media
Intel Insiders to Advise Intel on Social Media Strategies

UPDATE: Tamar Weinberg includes my definition in her post, “What Traits Define a Social Media Marketer.” It also includes quotes from Chris Brogan, Valeria Maltoni, Jason Falls, Geoff Livingston, MG Siegler, Allen ref=”http://www.centernetworks.com/”>Stern, Laura Fitton, Darren Rowse, Muhammad Saleem, Chris McGill, Adam Metz, Louis Gray, Jane Quigley, and other incredible voices.
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Connect with me on Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, or Facebook.
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I’ve been involved with Social Media since the beginning and the more I work, write, and speak, the more I learn. Over the years I’ve observed a series of questions and reactions that I’ve documented along the way and have actively included them in my posts, ebooks, contributions, as well as at my speaking appearances. Over the last year, I’ve assembled the most commonly asked questions and the answers into a free, downloadable ebook as a way of contributing to this active social community that has so graciously shared knowledge, insight, and experience.

The Essential Guide to Social Media is a “quick start” overview of how to listen and participate in social media and new media marketing.

I hope this helps you and please let me know if there’s anything missing so I can be sure to include it in the next version.

The content from the ebook is below and you also can download a Word or PDF file on Scribd or Docstoc.

The Essential Guide to Social Media

An executive outline of Social Media tools and resources needed to listen and participate, guiding PR, Customer Service, Product Development, and Marketing

Introduction – The State of Social Media and Business Marketing

We live in interesting times. We’re currently enthralled in an immersive, confusing, and definitive transition in our “day job.” If you don’t engage, your competition will. This session will help you become a Social Media sociologist and participant observer, not a cultural voyeur, in order to get to work and build relationships along the way.

Question: If a conversation takes place online and you’re not there to hear or see it, did it actually happen?

Indeed. Conversations are taking place with or without you.

If you’re not part of the conversation, then you’re leaving it to others to answer questions and provide information, whether it’s accurate or incorrect. Or, even worse, you may be leaving it up to your competition to jump in to become the resource for the community. Yes, there will be negative comments. Yes, you’ll invite unsolicited feedback. Yes, people will question your intentions. Negativity will not go away simply because you opt out of participating. Negative commentary, at the very least, is truly an opportunity to change the perception that you did or didn’t know existed.
Many companies are participating in social networks as a form of proactive outbound customer service with a twist of social marketing such as…

- Zappos

- JetBlue

- Southwest

- H&R; Block
- Dell

- Wine Library

- Freshbooks

They’re engaging customers on their turf, in their way, in order to help them solve problems, find information or simply engage them in valuable dialog. In turn, they’re turning customer relationships into a powerful competitive advantage.

It’s breaking new ground and it’s setting a new standard.

Engaging with and empowering your customers as an extension of your marketing efforts isn’t new. However, in the era of Social Media, there are new tools and philosophies to more effectively listen and engage with customers and in turn…

- Cultivate a more significant community

- Enhance your brand

- Build relationships

- And, create evangelists along the way.

Participation is marketing.

Intention is everything.

And, actions speak louder than words.

However, marketing needs to be clarified as I am not referring to the traditional marketing that typically “speaks” at “target audiences” through “messages.”

In Social Media, this is about dialog, two way discussions that bring people together in order to discover and share information. Joining the conversation isn’t as simple as jumping in however.

Social Media Tools

If you’ve ever walked into the tool section of any hardware superstore, you’ll be more than inundated with options.

There are tools for everything, more than we knew – with more introduced every week.

Let’s not forget that these tools serve a purpose, some general, while others more specific.

- You wouldn’t show up to fix a hole in the wall with everything in the store.

- You bring what you need and you learn how to use them.

With Social Media, there are more tools than you can possibly imagine and quite honestly, more than you can ever or should ever use.

We assess the tools based on our objectives and the conversations that are taking place.

- We don’t just start using everything because they’re shiny, new, slick, or popular.

We embrace only the tools that facilitate conversations between the people we want to reach, where they’re taking place.

- The rest is about Social Science and the art of nurturing discussions and relationships.

Social Media is About Social Science and Not Technology

Social Media is much more than user-generated content.

It’s driven by people in the communities where they communicate and congregate.

They create, share, and discover new content without our help right.

They’re creating vibrant and rich cultures across online networks and using the social tools that we learn about each and every day to stay connected.

- Any social network is a melting pot of various cultures.

What are the Social Sciences?

Social sciences provide us with an understanding of how human interaction and the ensuing ecosystem shape individual attitudes and behavior.

Sociology is the study of human social behavior, especially the study of the origins, organization, institutions, and development of human society.

- Observation of cultures, people, and the dynamics of interaction.

- The recognition of people independently from the tools is an important reminder that their interests are at the center of what we do.

Sociologists study society and social action by examining the groups and social institutions people form.

Anthropology is the scientific study of people, including the development of societies and cultures.

Ethnography is the study of people in their natural or “native” environments—where they live, work, shop, and play.

- In many cases, it is an ethnographer (or someone following in the guiding principles of ethnography) who observes a community to learn the socio-cultural behavior and interaction to hopefully become accepted by the community and in turn, engage as a true member of the desired digital society.

Margaret Mead is known for championing a style of anthropological research called participant observation.

Participant-Observation Fieldwork – When Margaret Mead studied in the field, she set out to both observe people and also participate in the life of the community. It was her belief that it was the only way to more fully understand the culture. Participant-Observation fieldwork is a hallmark of contemporary anthropology.

Social Sciences and Social Media

In Social Media, communities take the form of social networks and the communal groups within them.

People establish associations, friendships, and allegiances around content, objects, products, services, and ideas.

How they communicate is simply subject to the tools and networks that people adopt based on the influence of their social graph – and the culture within.

- Cultures are different and unique within each social network and the groups that define them.

Through social sciences, we’re learning to peel back the layers of our target demographics to see the people underneath.

It reminds us that we need to humanize our story.

- We would never speak to our friends and family through messages, so why should we speak “at” the very people we want to reach and befriend?

We’re opening our ears and our minds to acknowledge that we can no longer push our impressions upon people in order to earn resonance

We have to listen, talk, listen again, assess, and contribute value – as if we were citizens of each respective community we wished to join.

Differences Between Listening and Research

By listening, reading, and participating, brand marketers have an opportunity to make their brands more approachable and shareable than ever before.

Most Social Media Marketing initiatives have started with the tools first…

- Brands opt to engage using the most popular tools and networks to attract relationships instead of going to where their existing or prospective customers are congregated.

- They didn’t observe or listen prior to jumping in.

Many have incorrectly viewed the process of social media as “build it and they will come.”

Companies simply create profiles on Facebook and Myspace, accounts on Twitter, uploaded videos to YouTube and images to flickr, and simply hoped for a mass wave of friending and interaction.

- We can’t simply walk into a public square or park, plant a sign behind us with our name, interests and affiliations and expect real people to come up to us for meaningful and long-term dialog.

- This is the equivalent of setting up camp next to a village because you have the tools to do so and expecting the village to integrate you into their society.

Conversational marketing requires observation, which will dictate your engagement strategies.

It starts with a combination of social and traditional tools to discover, listen, learn, and engage directly with customers.

- It helps us find where the conversations are truly taking place.

- The goal is to help them make decisions and also do things that they couldn’t, or didn’t know how to do, before.

- Build relationships through conversations without objectives.

It’s about gathering intelligence.

It removes the tendency to “market at” people and instead naturally shapes a more honest, meaningful, and informative approach.

It helps us humanize our story in

order to create loyalty and earn customer business and ultimately their respect.

Social Media Voyeurs

Many marketers are merely engaging in cultural voyeurism at best

They look from afar and roam the perimeters of online societies without ever becoming a true member of any society.

They don’t truly understand what, where, or why they’re “participating,” only jumping in because they have something to say and have access to the tools that will carry their messages into play.

This like someone standing on top of a table during a cocktail party shouting marketing statements at the party in the hopes that it may inspire, compel, or resonate with someone to start a series of healthy and spirited conversations that extend the intended messages.

- Instead, the only conversation it’s starting is propelled by disbelief and/or anger for interrupting the dynamic of the interaction and the flow of dialog that was already underway.

The Breakup – A Comedic View of One-sided Relationships

Video Link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=DkOHsjZKBB0

There’s a popular short video circulating the Web that demonstrates the marketing stereotype of taking through messages without listening directly to the needs of the customer.

The video spotlights a young couple dining at a local restaurant where he represents The Advertiser and she The Consumer.

The scenario plays out with the woman raising concerns over their relationship, specifically complaining that “he” never listens to her, nor does he really understand her wants and needs.

As she continues to share examples of his one-sided behavior, he responds with witty, one-liner messages that paint a very vivid, and familiar picture of how brands usually approach relationships.

In one telling scene, the Advertiser proclaims he cares by referencing a big television ad, a print campaign and even a billboard in Times Square which “was like a 200 foot tall declaration of love.”

When the Consumer tells the Advertiser that she has changed and he hasn’t, the advertiser responds with “coupons!”

After being told that he knows nothing about her, the Advertiser says “I know everything about you. You are 28-34, Your online interests include music, movies and laser hair removal. You have a modest but dependable disposable income.”

The Advertiser merely continues to speak at the customer ignoring her complaints and concerns, behaving as he always has.

This is a representation of how not to engage in Social Media – but it unfortunately happens every day.

Relationships require more than one person and definitely offer benefits to all parties involved.

You can’t manage a relationship, you need to be a part of it, fully engaged.

By embracing the social science in Social Media, we can not only observe social behavior and engage with our peers, but also keep communities intact and unaffected by traditional marketing.

The customer comes first, and if we fuse sociology, social media, customer service, relationship marketing, experiential marketing, and traditional marketing, we’re creating a new formula for outbound influence and fueling a new generation of brand ambassadors and loyalists.

Getting to Work…

Observation

The true form of observation starts with just that, observation.

It’s the listening and monitoring that tells us everything.

We’ll learn:

- Where the relevant conversations are taking place

- Who’s participating

- What they’re saying and the tone of the discussions

- The specific information they’re looking for

- Impressions and conceptions

- The patterns of behavior within specific communities

Important Next Steps

Identify who your customers are and where they go for information.

Search for key words: Product and Company names as well as competitors and their products and services.

Please don’t forget the relationships that exist in the real world.

- They’re also indispensable for providing the feedback and insight you now and later.

Social Tools for Listening

There are many tools available to us for listening, both free and those that require subscriptions, which will reveal the conversational hubs that require our attention.

At the moment, the tools are mostly specific to each category of social media as well as specific networks.

Social Bookmarks

Ma.gnolia

Delicious

Diigo

StumbleUpon

Crowdsourced Content

Digg

Yahoo Buzz

Mixx

Hubdub

Reddit

Newsvine

Blogs/Conversations

Google Alerts

Blogpulse

Radian6 (paid)

BuzzLogic (paid)

Ask.com

Google Blog Search

Technorati

Blog Communities

Blogged.com

MyBlogLog

BlogCatalog

Bloglines

CoComment

Tangler

Micromedia

FriendFeed

Pownce

Tumblr

Seesmic

Jaiku

Plurk

Utterz

Pinger

Jott

Twitxr

Specific to Twitter:

Tweetscan

Hashtags.org

Summize

Twemes

TwitterLocal

Social Networks

MySpace

Bebo

Facebook

Niche Networks

Ning

Plaxo

LinkedIn

CrowdVine

Location

TripIT

Dopplr

BrightKite

TwitterLocal

Live Video and Audio

Ustream

Justin.tv

Veodia

BlogTV

Kyte

Qik

BlogTalkRadio

Customers Service Networks

YahooGroups

GoogleGroups

GetSatisfaction

Yelp

Video

YouTube

Metacafe

Blip

Viddler

Video Aggregation

Magnify.net

Pictures

Flickr

Zooomr

Smugmug

Documents

ThinkFree Docs

Scribd

Docstoc

Creating a Social Map

By searching for keywords in each of these communities, we can create a detailed blueprint for engagement. Here’s an example of the communities I identified that were important to my personal brand as determined by my research and listening.

Immersion

Sociology isn’t simply relegated to observation, it encourages and requires full immersion.

Once you’ve outlined the targeted conversations and who should engage, the process of participation craves a very human approach.

- It starts with respect.

- Participate as a person, not as a marketer, sales person or message factory.

- Be helpful and bring value to the conversation.

- During this entire process, you’re contributing to the personality and the perception of the brand you represent.

– It’s the only way to earn their respect in return and hopefully their business and loyalty.

- Remember, the lessons learned in the field should in turn be fed into the marketing, customer service, product development, sales, and executive departments.

– This inspires more intelligent, experienced, and real world initiatives across all forms of marketing, PR, sales, service, and advertising.

Any sociologist will tell you that the best way to truly “go native” in a new culture or society is through immersion.

- However, they’ll caution you on several things.

– Don’t be naive, don’t be ignorant, and don’t get too immersed where you lose your perspective and value.

Becoming the Customer

In life, you are also customers.

- You buy things.

- You complain about products and services you don’t like.

- You recommend those that you love.

You have to be a customer to think like a customer.

You have to have experienced the product or service your represent in order to be empathetic, knowledgeable, and genuine.

We’ve all heard that in Social Media, we can’t control the message.

- To some extent, we can’t control perception, but we can help steer it.

Be helpful and ensure that your solutions and benefits are clear in a way that can be understood by the different demographics of users that populate your markets. They need to hear things differently across each segment, from the head, to the long tail across every chasm in between.

It’s not just about the masses, but the niche markets as well.

The importance of engagement is to ensure that you engage on their terms according to the rules, and culture, across each community.

Be the people you want to help.

Resources – Personnel and Budgets

Based on the research results, you can measure:

- The average frequency of relevant conversations

- Identify the more active hubs and communities

- The context of the conversations in order to determine time and variety of resources required (a community manager is required at the very least.)

The formula is calculated this way:

- The number of average relevant conversations per day per community.

- Multiplied by the quantity of relevant communities

- Multiplied by 20 (minutes required to research and respond and also monitor for additional responses), variable +/- dependent on the case, usually +

- Divided by 60 (minutes)

- Equals the amount of time required and in turn, the resources and associated costs required depending on internal labor or external consulting fees

Throughout the research process, you’ll undoubtedly see that relevant conversations occur across disparate networks.

- They’re representative of a sweeping variety of related topics

- They require varying responses

- And, they usually map to specific departments within your organization (those most qualified to respond)

– Marcom

– Product management

– Customer service

– PR

– Executive management, etc.

Keep a pulse on relevant conversations.

Feed them, intelligently, to the right people internally.

Guide them on the required response.

Follow-up to ensure that the interaction is more meaningful and helpful

- Distribute the responsibility across existing resources.

Establishing Policies and Guidelines

Understand that whether they know it or not, everyone within the organization contributes to the public perception of the company brand.

Create communication policies and guidelines for all personnel, not just those tasked with participating in social media.

- There are examples and tips online, review them for inspiration and also adapt what works specifically for your organization.

Get IT involved as in many cases, popular social networks are blocked at the firewall.

Craft outlines and determine response strategies based on a series of predictable scenarios.

Assign leads for listening and responding.

Training and education bring things into perspective for everyone.

- Share examples of how to do it right and also circumstances where a variety of scenarios didn’t pan out ideally.

– Note how they were or weren’t corrected.

– One of the best lines I’ve heard when thinking about establishing guidelines is “don’t be stupid.”

Your Personal Brand

Even though you’re representing other brands, your personal brand is also a factor in Social Media.

- It is sculpted and shaped by your online activity.

Determine upfront, whether you are participating as “you” or as “you@company name.”

- Either way, be transparent in your engagement.

Beware the things you share on social networks.

- Realize that everything you share online can be used against you, usually when you least expect it.

- Everything you upload, say, tweet, comment, post, etc., is usually indexable and discoverable through traditional search engines.

- It can positively or negatively affect the company you represent.

Use this as an opportunity to demonstrate and build thought leadership, value, and expertise.

- Google is the new resume.

- Knowledge and relationships are portable.

Summary

At the end of the day, we’re all people and thus we should approach conversations as such.

It may seem like common sense, but as classically trained marketers, we tend to approach these things with our marketing hat on.

- It’s the difference between authentic conversations and one-sided talking “at” people similar to the examples above.

Conversations are feeding communities and communities are markets for relationships.

- Relationships need cultivation and value from both sides in order to grow into something of value and longevity.

Relationships are the new currency in Social Media.

In a social world, engagement is a privilege.

- Friendship, trust and loyalty are the rewards.

In Social Media, we earn the relationships, and the reputation, we deserve.

Additional Resources

Society for New Communications Research – www.sncr.org
SocialMediaClub – www.socialmediaclub.com
Gooruze – www.gooruze.com
Marcom Professional – www.marcomprofessional.com
Now is Gone – www.nowisgone.com
Sphinn – www.sphinn.com
Junta42 – www.junta42.com

Free ebook: Customer Service – The Art of Listening and Engagement Through Social Media

Connect with me on Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, or Facebook.

Due to space constraints, the original draft, which was entitled “PR Tips for Startups,” did not run in its entirety. Some of the edits actually wound up changing the context of the post and its intentions. I’ve included the full draft for you here, as I think it’s helpful for those entrepreneurs and executives looking to determine whether in house, DIY, or external PR and marketing is best for their company – specific to their current state of growth. Either way, it’s intended to help you make decisions in the face of varying outside influences.

This is about your idea, your participation, your success, your community, your relationships with customers, bloggers, press, and analysts, and most importantly, this is about learning and sharing together in order to move forward, informed and experienced – with or without outside help.

PR Tips for Startups

I’ve been overwhelmed with requests from executives and PR professionals to explain how this new media (r)evolution applies to them specifically and how they can make PR more effective and personal during these interesting times. I recently discussed it here and have been doing so for a long, long time. But since conversations and attention is discontinuous and distributed, I asked if I could bring this discussion to a more prominent online epicenter to help reach a wider array of those looking for answers.

The Long Road Back to Public Relations

Public Relations is experiencing a long overdue renaissance and its forcing PR stereotypes out from behind the curtain where they operated comfortably for far too many decades. It didn’t begin this transformation because of Web 2.0 or the latest Social Media wave, but instead in the 90’s when the Web gained mass adoption. Yes, it’s taken that long and it will continue to evolve over the next decade as communications professionals struggle with putting the public back in public relations.

Regardless of what you think you know about PR and the New Media or Social Media revolution, the truth is that we actually may know less about everything than we actually care to believe. These are times where we can lead and learn in order to improve an industry long plagued by misconceptions and the lack of PR for itself.

PR is now more than ever, something more capable and influential than simply writing and sending press releases to contacts generated by media databases. The media landscape has been completely blown open to not only include traditional media, but also bloggers and most importantly the very people we want to reach, our customers.

PR 1.0

About 100 years ago, Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays created and defined the art and science of modern-day PR. Believe it or not, their philosophies and contributions can be sourced to further evolve PR today – especially when it comes to Social Sciences.

Over the years, the PR 1.0 publicity machine lost its way and its spark. We got caught up in hype, spin, buzzwords, and spam, and forgot that PR was supposed to be about Public Relations. But, its still how many companies continue to approach PR today.

Enter Social Media and the democratization of the Web and content. Now media and content producers are pushing back, demanding a more targeted and relevant form of outreach. For those who confuse Social Media with online marketing, Social Media is anything that uses the Internet to facilitate conversations between people – it is not the practice of social marketing. I say people, because it humanizes the process of communications when you think about conversations instead of companies marketing at audiences.

PR 2.0 = Conversational PR

The Web changed everything and this ongoing reinvention of PR has been dubbed PR 2.0 or New PR.

PR 2.0, as I defined it many years ago, is the realization that the Web changed everything, inserting people equally into the process of traditional influence. Suddenly we were presented with the opportunity to not only reach our audiences through gatekeepers, but also use the online channels where they publish and share information to communicate directly and genuinely.At the very least, PR 2.0 is going back to its roots to bring public relations back to PR.Social Media refers back to the “two-way” approach of PR that Ivy Lee discussed in his day. And, Bernays viewed public relations as an applied social science inspired by psychology, sociology, and other sciences to influence behavior.

Their philosophies combined with the socialization of media creates a new prerequisite and standard for PR professionals.

Now it’s about listening and, in turn, engaging influencers and stakeholders on their level. It forces PR to stop broadcasting and start connecting.It is a chance to not only work with traditional journalists, but also engage directly with a new set of accidental influencers, and, it is also our ability to talk with customers directly.

No BS. No hype. It’s an understanding of markets, the needs of people, and how to reach them at the street level—without insulting everyone along the way. Conversational PR is becoming a hybrid of communications, customer service, evangelism, and Web marketing.

The evolution from PR 1.0 to PR 2.0 will result in more informed, effective, and meaningful Public Relations, without a version number. It’ll just be good PR whether it stands for Public Relations, Professional Relations, Personalized Relations, People Relationships, etc.

So what does this mean for you?

It means we have to start thinking about things more intelligently, differently, and personally.

Applying Traditional and New PR Methods for Startups

You’re an entrepreneur with a recently funded company in need of users, or perhaps you’re bootstrapped and actively seeking financing and you need a little something that will land you a more attractive term sheet.

Every VC, as well as every successful entrepreneur, will tell you, great PR can make you, whereas bad or mediocre PR can stifle your growth and pos
sibly damage existing and prospective relationships. And, they all have ideas on how you should proceed.

But right now, the main thing that stands between you and success are users and customers – and good press (traditional and new media) builds the bridge between you and them.

In order to get to the next level, it helps to think about PR strategies and tactics to create a foundation for effective PR, especially in today’s competitive Web 2.0 world.

These are critical times for your business and you can’t simply entrust the future of your brand to anyone who knows how to write a press release, place it on the wire, and send it in email. These tips are designed to provide insight into the PR process so that you can navigate the seas of everything required for creating, implementing, and assessing successful PR programs.

While this may seem like basic common sense or generic PR 101, the truth is that the points I’ve shared are what most company founders and executives usually overlook, or don’t know to look for. And, as we all know, common sense is not too common.

#1 – Understand You’re Not the Only Story in Town

Bloggers and reporters are some of the busiest people you could possibly hope to meet. They’re actively looking for the most interesting, relevant, and linkable stories out there, preferably before anyone else can run with it. But truthfully, they spend most of their time hacking through the weeds of generic or over-the-top inbound emails, press releases, Facebook messages, Skypes, SMS, Tweets, and IMs. It’s almost a small miracle that anyone can ever get their story told.

At the end of the day, you’re not the only company with a great story. Just because your story is new doesn’t make it newsworthy. But, that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to have your story told either.

Bloggers and journalists are interested in good stories and the more time you spend developing that story up front, for each person you’re trying to reach, the more you can help them help you.

#2 – Pick the Right Person/Team to Lead PR

Your investors or advisors will tell you one of two things, usually starting with “you need PR.” From there, they’ll usually recommend that you either bring on an agency or consultant, one that they’ve worked with and can highly recommend. Or, they’ll suggest that you need to do it yourself (DIY) in order to build relationships with those who are highly respected in your target markets while conserving cash.

While DIY PR initially sounds good, and affordable, you’ll quickly learn however, that it may take more time than you think to reach your influencers and customers. However, any good PR program, whether DIY, in house, or outsourced, will place you in a position to build relationships with the influencers that matter to your business.

If you do decide to hire an internal PR person or team or engage a PR agency, there are some important things to consider. Fortunately or unfortunately, we’re in the throws of the pendulum swinging back in tech marketing, especially in Silicon Valley – regardless of recession fears. Good PR is hard to find and the best are usually booked up. Those who are not as talented are definitely taking advantage of the market conditions and everyone, whether a consultant, agency, or in house PR professional, is going to be more expensive for the time being. Now’s the time to get smart about all things PR.

Anyone can write a press release and blast it to a bunch of people. Remember, sometimes you get what you pay for and other times you just get ripped off. So, it’s important that you find the right solution that you can afford, but at the same time, offer the ability to deliver on the results that are realistic to what you need now.

PR people, however, are cutting deals for reduced cash in exchange for options.

When you do meet with PR people, evaluate them based on their ability to tell you succinctly who they have represented and pay attention to how well they summarize each company and what they do. Also quiz them on whether or not they understand the market, tech, benefits and the challenge as it relates to you specifically. Having existing relationships and the ability to show previous results is not optional.

The two most important things to ask a potential PR consultant or agency are 1) do you have the bandwidth required to help us achieve these defined objectives and – if it’s an agency – 2) who’s going to work on my account and if it’s not you, can I meet the others on the team as well.

If you’re considering DIY PR, please take a moment to read a great post by Glen Kelman of Redfin.

#3 – You are the Company Brand

You are equally important to the PR process. It only helps if you, in addition to your PR efforts, to introduce yourself to bloggers or reporters offline and online to start building relationships with influencers who will help craft and guide your company across the market adoption bell curve. Read and comment on their work. Send a brief intro email before you need anything. Attend one of the many tech networking events in your area to build your social capital, meet those who can help you, and those who you, in turn, can help as well. Participation is marketing and by actively participating in both the online and real worlds, you forge relationships that will help your brand and social capital grow.

Keep in mind, how you participate online and in the real world also contributes to your online brand – especially in the realm of social media. Comments, social network profiles, blog posts, pictures you share, etc., are all discoverable in traditional search engines and new media search tools.

#4 – Identify Your Markets and the People Who Matter

Observe and document where you are in the state of the technology and market adoption and determine realistic goals and objectives that will help your business get to the next step. This is an especially important part as it will reveal who your customers are and where they go for information.

Now more than ever, it’s important to realize that there is no “one” audience for your story. This is about people. The process of influence is usually a left-to-right process that picks up momentum and mass attention along the bell curve and it fans out in the process.

This step allows us to identify which voices, blogs or media outlets reach the groups of people that matter to you right now and at every step of your growth (you’ll see that it evolves along with your company).

We’re not pitching at targets, we’re talking to people. And in the era of socialized media, we’re learning that conversational PR is far more effective than typical broadcast PR.

#5 – Create a Launch Plan

Pick a news or launch date, say Thursday at 11:30 a.m. PST, and build in a cushion to start talking to the right people under embargo before you roll out. Mondays and early mornings are usually the most congested. Releasing it later will most likely earn greater attention.

A quick note on embargoes and exclusives. Embargoes are a form of sharing news with media where they agree to not publish the news before an agreed upon date/time. Whereas exclusives require that you give your story to one person, and one person only. Choose carefully, as once someone runs with their story; chances are that other newsmakers will pass.

Embargoes and exclusives are not to be manipulated or taken advantage of. Please respect them and the people you’re working with.

Allowing journalists and bloggers adequate time to prepare is critical. They’re busy and they need time to prepare. And, once a press release or the news is made public, no one wants to pay attention anyway.

Determine those reporters and bloggers who should be part of the initial news discussions (under embargo). I’m a HUGE proponent of the “less is more” embargo strategy to try to 1) demonstrate appreciation for those we want to work with – it’s different with each type of announcement we feel is truly “newsworthy” as is the audiences it’s best suited; and 2) to reduce or eliminate the chance that someone might break the embargo by running early (usually by mistake, sometimes we learn the hard way though.)

#6 – No Two Bloggers or Journalists are Created Equal

Do your homework. Once you’ve identified those whom you’d like to work with before and after the news date, make sure that PR researches individual preferences for contact before they reach out.

This is about relationships and creating a value cycle from PR to bloggers, journalists and ultimately to the people we want to reach with our news. This hopefully isn’t the last time you’ll reach out to them, so work with them, their way, in order to earn the opportunity to collaborate again.

Relationships are cultivated and should be mutually beneficial as dictated by the extra time we take to personalize and package our story and align it with their workflow. Perception is everything. Do the legwork and the outreach that contributes to the reputation you wish to earn and maintain. Anything less takes away from it.

#7 – Determine What Success Looks Like and How to Measure It

Establishing metrics at the beginning is important for setting expectations on both sides as well as establishing the bar for performance. Coverage is important, but no one can ever predict or guarantee whether or not top tier media or A-list blogs will cover a particular story. However, establishing a quantity (based on quality) of coverage to shoot for is healthy, as long as you take into consideration an attrition factor.

PR can also be measured by conversations sparked online due to initial coverage, referring traffic as well as registrations and/or downloads. Analysis and measurement will reveal a path for prioritizing your targets now and in the future.

Be realistic in the number of visitors you establish as a metric. Also, make sure the site’s registration or download process is simple and that the messages around it are short and powerful. PR can bring traffic all day long, but if visitors aren’t reminded as to why they’re there or if the process is at all too cumbersome, the conversion ratio of visitors to users will quickly diminish.

#8- Make the News Newsworthy

I’ve been privy to an uncountable array of company pitches and it never ceases to amaze me just how few can actually summarize what they do and why it matters.

Focus on the elevator pitch and make it compelling, memorable, and relevant. Brevity and customization is key.

Make sure to summarize each news announcement with a couple of statements and bullets to quickly showcase why anyone should care. Package the story differently for each person you’re hoping to reach as each WILL have different needs. Take the time to pull relevant screen shots, create user accounts for each person if necessary, customize video demos and screen casts, and anything else someone may need to write a story instead of having to spend precious time doing your work for you.

Yes, it’s time consuming. But this is about building individual relationships and not about broadcasting spam.

For more on press releases, please read this post.

#9 – Become or Identify an Incredible Spokesperson

As I mentioned before, I’ve witnessed thousands of startup presentations and many are painful to endure. Company founders are naturally enthusiastic and passionate about their product, but unfortunately, that doesn’t necessarily make them the best spokesperson. Not everyone can be Loic Le Meur, Jason Calacanis, Steve Jobs, etc.

First impressions are everything, and publicly showcasing your company, on stage, online, in print, or via broadcast media, requires nothing less than a polished, personable, and contagious presentation.

Take the time to craft your pitch so that it’s solid, tight and compelling. As hard as it is to pass the torch, this is one of those times where you really don’t have much of a choice if you’re not absolutely, 100% the best voice of the company. All hope isn’t lost however. Media and presentation training is an inexpensive and painless process. When tied to a tight elevator (or escalator) pitch and convincing messaging platform, you may indeed emerge as the ideal spokesperson for your brand.

More on this subject, here.

#10 – Your Company Blog is More Powerful Than You May Think

I’m sure you’ve all read that having a company blog is critical to maintaining communication with your community.

First, don’t under estimate it. Second, don’t over estimate it. A blog is the voice and the soapbox for thought leadership, vision, solutions, milestones, and advice. At the very least, it contributes to the personality of your corporate brand. The best blogs become a resource and a destination, which helps improve your bottom line. For example, Google’s official blog is number 14 in Technorati’s Top 100 list of popular blogs.

In a world of building relationships with bloggers, reporters, analysts, partners and customers, your strategy simply can’t rely on only contacting everyone when you have news. Relationships require cultivation and nurturing. The
company blog can help.

Prior to and in between announcements, make sure you’re out there actively commenting on relevant blog posts. But don’t leave short, irrelevant, kiss ass, or angry comments. Contribute to the value of the conversation and make sure it links back to your blog. Also host relevant conversations on your blog and link out to your most valuable contacts wherever possible. They do pay attention.

Maybe this goes without saying, but I’m going to mention it anyway. Don’t break your news on your blog!

Like press releases crossing the wire, breaking news on your blog makes the news less valuable if others haven’t yet had an opportunity to break it for you first. It’s like the new car analogy. The value of the car drops the minute you drive it off the lot. Time your post for after the news breaks and link to everyone who helped cover the story.

#11 – Bloggers Relations Extends from the “A-List” to the Magic Middle

Online conversations are distributed and it requires PR to now identify the relevant silos that reach valuable mass and niche markets.

The best communications strategies will envelop not only authorities in new and traditional media, but also those voices in the “Magic Middle” of the attention curve. The Magic Middle, as David Sifry defined it, are the bloggers who have from 20-1000 other people linking to them. It is this group that enables PR people to reach The Long Tail and they help carry information and discussions among your customers directly in a true peer-to-peer approach. And, in many cases, these bloggers are your prospective customers. Its effects on the bottom line are constant and measurable over time.

I published a free ebook on this subject if you’d like to continue reading about blogger relations.

#12 – Follow the Conversations and Participate in Them

As much as media and blogger relations drive traffic and increase your user base, we can’t overlook the importance of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Pownce, Jaiku, DIGG, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Delicious, Diigo, FriendFeed, Ning, Mixx, Bebo, Get Satisfaction, Google and Yahoo Groups (among many, many others). When executed and managed correctly, and genuinely, the referring numbers can outperform the best articles and posts and the relationships that you create within these networks will prove incredibly valuable throughout the life of your company.

This isn’t about promotion or social network spam. This is about dialog driven by the insight you garner from listening and reading, all driven by people who are talking about you – without or without your direct participation.

This is a post in and of itself, however, just to get started, try searching for your company, product, or competitor’s name in any of the above networks or any other social network, to see how they’re being discussed in each respective network. By researching individual conversations, threads, and/or groups, you’ll find strategic points of entry across the board. This does take time, and may prove too overwhelming for you to run individually. Hiring a community manager or empowering your PR team, is a great place to start, that way they can point you to the conversations that require your attention or handle them directly.

Listening is as important as publishing, and the best listeners make the best conversationalists. Make sure to keep a Google Alert for your company, spokespersons, and products. Reading and responding is critical to managing perception, sharing expertise, and building loyalty.

For more on this topic, read this post.

#12.5 – Answer Customer Service Emails and Calls

My good friends at FreshBooks make this a mandate for every person in the company, from the top, down. Answering questions and hearing concerns and complaints from users firsthand offers a humbling perspective that keeps executives in touch with their customers and their challenges and perception. This ongoing insight feeds back into everything from marketing to sales to service and inspires more accurate, innovative, and engaging outreach.

Other companies such as H&R; Block, Zappos, Southwest, JetBlue, Dell, and WineLibrary are among the many (and growing) companies using blogs and social tools to shift the process of customer service from an inbound cost center into an outbound process for cultivating users into enthusiasts.

For more on the subject of Customer Service and Social Media, download the free ebook and also read this two part post I recently contributed for Customers Rock!. Part I & Part II.

Summary

There’s no question, you have to compete for attention and in order to do so effectively and genuinely, you may need someone who can help tell your story, the right way, through the people who reach your customers. However, this post was intended to help you be successful if you choose to lead a DIY PR campaign. It’s completely possible to do it yourself too!

It’s not an overnight process and it’s not something to “be gamed.” It’s a process of investing in, building and leveraging relationships now and in the long term. And yes, if you do things the right way, bloggers, reporters, and analysts will want to talk to you about your company and vision along the way – so it’s important that you stay involved in the process of strategic PR.

Create a PR strategy that combines traditional and new media best practices, promotes your vision and expertise, and empowers the people on your team to share relevant and compelling stories specific to the individuals and groups you want to reach.

Build your community through PR and direct participation and remember, this is all about people. In PR, you earn the relationships you deserve.

Download this post as a Word Doc or as a PDF via Docstoc.

Connect with me on Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, or Facebook.

Additional Resources:

The New Rules for Breaking News

The New Rules of Breaking News, Beware of Embargoes

PR for Startups a Free eBook

New media is forcing the rapid evolution of communications and is reinventing the science of public relations into the art of “personalized” relations. And, with micromedia further refining and improving how we communicate with each other, PR is going to learn the hard way, that the days of blasts and untargeted spam pitching will get us nowhere with today’s influencers.

Stowe Boyd placed a stake in the ground during the Web 2.0 Expo with the introduction of #TwitPitch, a very streamlined way for using Twitter to simplify the process of booking briefings with companies during the show. It forced PR to distill their message in 140 characters, which, in the process, tightened and streamlined the typical elevator pitch. As Stowe says, “I think twitpitch takes the elevator pitch to new brevity: the escalator pitch.”

It worked so well that Stowe has officially decided to only accept PR pitches via #TwitPitch.

In this turbulent climate of blogger and media relations – or lack thereof – with PR people, brevity inspires and dictates forethought and relevance. It’s what PR should be practicing whether it’s 140 characters for 200 words.

PR not only stands for Public Relations, we’re now expanding it to also represent the era of Personalized Relations. This is the practice of matching our stories with the preferences of those we wish to reach. Yes, it’s what PR should have been all along, but it’s not.

Twitter is proving to be a marvelous representation of people coming together online to share and discover new information in ways that weren’t possible, or predictable, before today. It has effectively created a new channel for casual conversation as well as a full-blown broadcast network for breaking news as it happens. For many of us, we’ve heard “it” first on Twitter.

What if Twitter also became a hub for newsmakers and influencers to seek information before the story was officially news? With the globally diverse and connected community, Twitter harnesses the true wisdom of the crowds to ask and receive specific information instantly.

Introducing MicroPR.

Stowe Boyd and I are collaborating to find and share new and helpful ways of using micromedia, starting with Twitter, to connect journalists, bloggers, analysts and PR/marketing together in an efficient, unobtrusive, targeted, and productive way.

We’re starting with Twitter in large part because Stowe is already proving that the concept works and also, because journalists, bloggers, and analysts are flocking to Twitter – actively using it more than much larger social networks such as Facebook. (see partial working list below). MicroPR will become the epicenter that connects information, sources, and stories on Twitter and eventually across other social networks.

In Stowe’s words…

MicroPR: forcing PR firms to approach us in the open, on open social flow apps like Twitter, and in the small, where they have to jettison all the claptrap of the old press release model. In the open, that can’t lie easily, or they will be caught on it. In the small, they have to junk the meaningless superlatives, the bogus quotes that no CEO ever mouthed, the run-on phrases, the disembodied third party mumbo jumbo, as if the press release were edited by God.

Using MicroPR

PR people, subscribe to the @MicroPR feed and definitely follow it on Twitter. You can also run active searches or feeds on Summize or TweetScan.

Bloggers, journalists, analysts, send a public message @MicroPR when you want to reach PR professionals. The @tweet will get an auto retweet from the MicroPR account.

In its Alpha form, MicroPR will help channel information, starting as a service for media to source stories, share their preferences for receiving information, announce change of beats, call for speakers or awards submissions, or anything that needs to hit a very focused list of savvy and connected PR professionals.

If you’re asking why you would need to use the service if you already have followers on Twitter, MicroPR will connect you to a broader, more effective network of resources for stories today and in the future.

Examples of usage:

- Reporters looking for help with on story development can send a tweet, “@micropr Need startup recommendations for story on new micromedia tools. Reply via public tweet to @reportername” (112 characters).

- Journalists and bloggers can declare that they do or do not want to be pitched via Twitter and other micromedia tools. They can also announce their specific preferences for contact.

- They could declare what sorts of microPR they want (or don’t want) to receive, and in what mode — @public messages or direct/private.

- A writer can share relevant beats @micropr beats = #social #micromedia #networks #media #infrastructure #hosting.

- Conference and awards organizers can call for speakers or submissions.

- Media can also block certain PR people who are doing it wrong.

- Other services could include scheduling calls and or meetings, etc.

The options, capabilities, and feature-set will expand over time (with input from the community), but in the meantime, MicroPR is an effective channel to connect people to relevant information in order to be more productive. And, it also serves as one of the necessary foundations that will help shape the future of more personalized and effective communications, teach PR professionals how to listen, respond, and pursue more targeted and relevant outreach.

NOTE: PR, please do not send @micropr messages unless you want that note to be broadcast to other PR people. If you want to refer to it on Twitter, please use the hashtag #micropr.

—-

Journalists and Bloggers on Twitter Alpha v1.0
Please note that this list is in the process of being updated and corrected and will ultimately reside on a public wiki. In the meantime, please contact me with changes and suggestions, or if you wish your name to be removed from the list. PR, be sure to follow your favorites.

Warning: Only contact reporters and bloggers using their preferred methods and channels. Do not send spam. Doing so will not only get you blacklisted, but will also get you blocked on Twitter.

Stowe says it best, “On Twitter, I will simply block people that abuse my willingness to have an open dialog about products with PR folks, or basically anyone else, for that matter.”

—

I’d also like to specifically thank Chris Peri (on Twitter) for helping us with the process of retweeting and also Todd Defren, Sam Whitmore, Chris Lynn, Brad Mays, and many, many others for contributing to the directory of media actively using Twitter today.

Additional Resources on PR 2.0:

- In Blogger and Media Relations, You Earn the Relationships You Deserve
- The Evolution of Press Releases
- Making Mistakes and Amends in Blogger and Media Relations
- PR 2.0: Putting the Public Back in Public Relations
- Free ebook: The Art and Science of Blogger Relations
- Dear Chris Anderson, an Open Letter to Make Things Right

Connect with me on Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, or Facebook.

Have you ever met someone so energetic, positive and incredibly smart – someone who exudes passion and someone who “gets it” in an inspirational way?

I’m lucky to know one such person, Deirdre Breakenridge, and she has just published a new, must-read book, PR 2.0: New Media, New Tools, New Audiences. I’m honored to have my ideas, philosophies, experiences, and vision shared throughout the book. I’m even more humbled to have been asked to contribute the foreword.

PR 2.0, as I defined it many years ago, is the realization that the Web changed everything, inserting people equally into the process of traditional influence. Suddenly we were presented with the opportunity to not only reach our audiences through gatekeepers, but also use the online channels where they publish and share information to communicate directly and genuinely.

The book includes other thought leaders who are actively shaping the New Media landscape including Jeremiah Owyang, Jane Quigley, Thom Brodeur, Todd Defren, Tom Foremski, Phil Gomes, Chris Heuer, Anne Holland, Shel Holtz, Jeremy Caplan, Jonathan Schwartz, Jimmy Wales, and many more.

Deirdre has graciously allowed me to share the foreword I wrote in its entirety with you here. Thank you again Deirdre and congratulations on publishing a fantastic and incredibly helpful book!

Foreword: The Road from PR to PR 2.0 to Public Relations
by Brian Solis

Welcome to what just may be the greatest evolution in the history of PR. Modern Public Relations was born in the early 1900s, even though history traces the practice back to the 17th century. The term public relations was said to be first documented by U.S. President Thomas Jefferson during his address to Congress in 1807.

It wasn’t until World War I that we started to see the industry crystallize and spark the evolution of PR as an official profession.

Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays are credited with creating and defining the art and science of modern-day PR in the early 1900s. That’s almost 100 years ago; and yet, in what I believe to be PR’s greatest renaissance, many of their early philosophies and contributions can be sourced to further evolve PR today.

Ivy Lee developed the first working press release; you can love him or hate him for it. But, what we can’t overlook is that he believed PR was a “two-way street” where communications professionals were responsible for helping companies listen as well as communicate their messages to the people who were important to them.

Edward Bernays, who is often referred to as the father of PR, was most certainly its first theorist. A very interesting bit of history is that Bernays is a nephew of Sigmund Freud. Freud’s theories about the irrational, unconscious motives that shape human behavior are the inspiration for
how Bernays approached public relations.

What’s absolutely astounding to me is that he viewed public relations as an applied social science influenced by psychology, sociology, and other disciplines to scientifically manage and manipulate the thinking and behavior of an irrational and “herdlike” public.

According to Bernays, “Public Relations is a management function which tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures and interest of an organization followed by executing a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance.”

Why is this astounding to me?

Basically, Bernays is the inspiration for the PR 1.0 publicity and spin machine and the architect of how a majority of companies still approach PR today—even though this is all changing right before our eyes. Many of his thoughts, which fueled his books, Crystallizing Public Opinion, Propaganda, and The Engineering of Consent, were on the cusp of predicting what PR currently is facing in the dawn of Social Media. And, Social Media is reintroducing sociology, anthropology, psychology, and other sciences back into marketing.

If we combined the theories and philosophies of Bernays and Lee with the spirit of the new “social web” aka Social Media, we might have a new outlook on this social science that resembles the new driving principles behind PR 2.0.

But what happened to PR?

It no longer triumphs as a darling among the various marketing disciplines, and in many cases, is regarded as a necessary evil these days. Somewhere along the way, we, as an industry, lost our vision. We got caught up in hype, spin, hyperbole, and buzzwords, and forgot that PR was about Public Relations.

Unfortunately, these days PR is more aligned with theatrics than value.

Enter Social Media and the democratization of the Web.

These are indeed exciting times as Social Media is truly the catalyst for reflection and an opportunity to do PR and amplify value and increase effectiveness in the process.

What is Social Media?

Social Media is anything that uses the Internet to facilitate conversations between people. I say people, because it humanizes the process of communications when you think about conversations instead of companies marketing at audiences.

Social Media refers back to the “two-way” approach of PR that Ivy Lee discussed in his day. It’s about listening and, in turn, engaging people on their level. It forces PR to stop broadcasting and start connecting.

Monologue has given way to dialog.

Now, enter PR 2.0.

Just so you understand, it’s not a trendy term meant to capitalize on the current trend of “everything 2.0.” Honestly, it’s already ten years in the making, but Social Media is truly advancing the adoption of a new, more significant role for PR.

Here’s how I defined it in the 90s (it’s dated, but it is still relevant today):

PR 2.0 was born through the analysis of how the Web and multimedia was redefining PR and marketing communications, while also building the toolkit to reinvent how companies communicate with influencers and directly with people.

It is a chance to not only work with traditional journalists, but also engage directly with a new set of accidental influencers, and, it is also our ability to talk with customers directly (through online forums, groups, communities, BBS, etc.)

No BS. No hype. It’s an understanding of markets, the needs of people, and how to reach them at the street level—without insulting everyone along the way. PR will become a hybrid of communications, evangelism, and Web marketing.

PR 2.0 was actually inspired by Web 1.0 and the new channel for the distribution of information it represented. It changed everything. It forced traditional media to evolve. It created an entirely new set of influencers with a completely different mechanism for collecting and sharing information while also reforming the daily routines of how people searched for news.

PR 2.0 is a philosophy and practice to improve the quality of work, change the game, and participate with people in a more informed and intelligent way. It’s not about the new Web tools at all. They are merely tools used to facilitate conversations…but everything, especially intent,
knowledge, and enthusiasm, are unique to YOU.

You are the key to new PR.

To be direct, the truth is that PR 2.0 is really what PR should have been all along. Now with the democratization of media, people are becoming the new influencers, complementing the existence of experts and traditional journalists, but still regarded as a source and resource for customers equally.

Understanding new PR to reinvent it is the goal of this book. Deirdre Breakenridge has poured her life’s experiences and passion into these pages to inspire and empower you with the ability to change, and ultimately, participate in new media. In doing so, you will learn today’s communication methods that will help you engage in meaningful conversations and build
stronger trusting relationships—both personally and professionally—with customers, influencers, experts, and traditional media alike.

PR 2.0 is about putting the “public” back in Public Relations.

Other relevant stories on PR 2.0:
- PR 2.0 = The Evolution of PR, Nothing Less, Nothing More
- The Value of Online Conversations
- Distributed Conversations and Fragmented Attention
- The Art of Listening and Engagement
- The Social Media Manifesto
- Will the Real Social Media Expert Please Stand Up

Buy Deirdre’s book on Amazon.com

Connect with me on Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, or Facebook.

We all make mistakes. It’s amazing how much saying sorry helps. But even saying sorry doesn’t fix those affected 100%.

We’re all learning together, at least those of us who don’t pretend we’re already experts.

Making mistakes in Social Media Marketing is a lot like sticking daggers into a wooden fence. Just because you apologize and pull them out, they still leave the visible scars for others to see, feel, or point to. Sometimes apologies help people feel better, but they don’t fix perception, which is everything in Social Media. Thinking before engaging is critical to establishing and maintaining meaningful relationships. This is after all, about people.

While intent is important, through daily experience, I’m finding that perception is outweighing intent. Just because you have the right ideas and principles in mind, how you participate and react says everything. It all begins with intent and the ability to learn and genuinely offer value along the way.

Otherwise, why are you here?

Related:

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Conversation has Left the Blogosphere

The Value of Online Conversations

The Art of Listening and Engagement

Cultural Voyeurism and Social Media

Connect with me on Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, or Facebook.

There are many of us running back and forth from the edge to the center who would love to drop “2.0″ from new evolution of PR. Hey, it’s even the name of this blog, and has been for years, but there’s a reason I haven’t changed the name yet.

The subject itself is a catalyst for healthy, informative, and motivating conversations.

I was reminded of this as good friend Kami Huyse shouted on Twitter recently, “I hate PR 2.0 I HATE PR 2.0. I can’t say it any louder, you get my drift. Come on folks, we aren’t software developers here.”

The irony is that when I first started using the term in the mid-to-late 90s during the Web 1.0 era, it was indeed inspired by software development. To reach a state of “2.0” after releasing the first iteration of software is a momentous step – a proof point that we’re on the right track, but that by listening to customers and also innovating, you could constantly release a better product.

And she’s not the only one talking about the so-called PR 2.0 contingent.

Noted PR fortuneteller, Amanda Chapel, captured it so eloquently, “History won’t be kind to PR 2.0, i.e. a moment in time when infatuation with tools replaced understanding of communications.”

It’s clear that there are those who want to help and those who want to cash in. I’m in the help category; so let’s do something about it.

Regardless of terminology let’s just say that there are those who believe…

PR 2.0 = Good Public Relations, i.e. effective communications.*

Yep, that’s a footnote.

*In a perfect world, it is what PR should be and should’ve been all along, but it isn’t.

Somewhere along the way, PR lost it’s way and created a new “sub” standard for what should have been one of the most respected positions within business marketing. Words such as shill, spin, sales, BS, bluff, exaggeration, arrogant, sensationalist, and oblivious, have become synonymous with this once golden profession. While the majority of the PR industry truly believed they were doing the right thing, the truth is that it took the Internet to expose our weaknesses and most importantly, it provided the infrastructure for us to learn from our mistakes publicly.

The reinvention of public relations was sparked ten years ago and its just now gaining momentum.

1) PR as an industry is in dire need of evolution in order to not only stay relevant, but also prove that in the social economy, it can be one of the most effective forms of marketing that cultivates customers, ambassadors, and enthusiasts.

2) Social Media is not New PR. It is a classification of “socialized” media and it is inspiring new PR, but they are not one in the same.

3) Darwinism will weed out those who don’t get it as well as those who pretend to get it (even if they don’t realize they don’t get it).

There’s a tremendous amount of confusion within the globally distributed halls of PR, and instead of debating and focusing our energies on 1.0 vs. 2.0, we should be working together to help people make the migration to new methodologies, strategies, and showcase the tools to participate.

The divide between those who do get it and the people that don’t is oceanic. Equally, there are veterans and opportunistic marketers who “believe” they get it, but actually don’t and are actively pushing this substandard, naïve, or manipulative form of person-to-person marketing…and they too must also learn.

Narrowing that chasm is a personal objective for me.

Here’s how I defined it years ago:

PR 2.0 was born through the analysis of how the Web and multimedia were redefining PR and marketing communications, while also creating a new toolkit to reinvent how companies communicate with influencers and directly with people.

It is a chance to not only work with traditional journalists and analysts, but also reach out to a new set of influencers, customers and peers.

No BS, no hype, just an understanding of markets, the needs of people, and how to reach them at the street level – without insulting everyone along the way. PR is evolving into a hybrid of communications, evangelism, and web marketing strung together by the teachings and benefits of sociology and psychology.

Obviously, the Web matured over the years. You could have simply subbed “multimedia” with “new media” several years ago and most recently, “Social Media.” Yet they’re all still relevant.

The classification was simply a reference for reflection, inspiration, and education.

Let me be clearer.

PR 2.0 is the understanding and practice that communications is a two-way process and incorporates the tools, principles, strategies, and philosophies for reaching, engaging, guiding, influencing, and helping people directly in addition to the traditional cycle of PR influence.

Social Media, the interactivity of the Web, and the rise of democratized content indeed represents a much-needed reinvigoration for a tired and complacent industry.

The only reason I run spend my free time writing about this is to spotlight the ongoing evolution of marketing to bring things from the edge to the center so we can all learn and grow together. It’s also one of the reasons I joined Chris Heuer and a group of other pioneers to co-found The Social Media Club. If you get it, share it.

In this regard, the principles and
philosophies of PR 2.0 (originally) are truly different and noteworthy when compared to what we practice in traditional Public Relations and what we’re taught in school – although there are some fantastic people out there working to change this, Jay Rosen, Dr. Kaye Sweetser, and Robert French, just to name a few. There’s a balance between old, proven, and what’s new that we must equally embrace in order to be successful and effective.

What’s undeniable is that the Web has created and forced new channels for the distribution of information “at,” “to” and “between” people. It changed everything. It’s forcing traditional media to evolve. It’s creating an entirely new set of influencers with a completely different mechanism for collecting and sharing information, and is also reforming the daily routines of how people discover and contribute content.

The debate surrounding the “name” for this renaissance is insignificant and is a distraction from the more important parade of new and renewed ideas, strategies, and practices that help companies tell their story more effectively, genuinely, and convincingly. People will align with the moniker they believe in as long as it all nets to the same thing at the end of the day.

This isn’t about the critics or those who believe they’re above the rest of us, or even the enthusiasts who are overly passionate about the tools they use for sharing content in Social Media Marketing, this is about those who are learning, and more importantly, who want to learn about how PR can change for the better.

It’s not the tools. It’s the communicator.

It’s not the story; it’s the personalization and the targeted benefits and value proposition that compel someone to not only listen, but respond.

Let’s help those millions of Public Relations professionals and students who are just now, or soon will be, introduced to the new world of communications many of us have already been navigating for years.

They’re embracing the new school of PR as a personal responsibility and commitment to make things better.

Credit: Hugh MacLeod

New PR is only new until it’s not, and quite honestly, everything simply folds back into Public Relations.

Until we can get the rest of the world on the same page however, New PR deserves its own attention in order to help those looking to learn and understand where they need to be.

PR 2.0, New PR, Online PR, Social Media Marketing, Conversational Marketing, Influencer Relations, Relationship Marketing, Community Marketing, whatever we call it, there’s no denying it is representative of a shift in communications. It’s migrating from a broadcast mechanism to a hybrid assembly of traditional PR combined with web-savvy, social-awareness, intelligence, and a real understanding of markets.

These more enlightened communicators get it and can effectively ignite relationships with people directly (conversations) and through peer-to-peer influence. One-to-many PR does not dissipate either; it becomes more targeted and informative.

For over ten years, we have had the ability and the privilege to virtually communicate directly with people, complementing our traditional channels of influencer relations.

The difference though, is that we’re required to participate in a more informed and intelligent way. It’s quite simply the minimum ante to jump in. Unfortunately, however, many communications professionals are merely using the same old tools and strategies to reach a very sophisticated group of consumers.

It’s not just about “finally” getting on Twitter, blogging, podcasting, creating profiles on social networks, putting videos on YouTube or uploading artwork on Flickr. These tools will come and go. It’s about what you do with them to create mutually benefitial relationships within each online community.

Be the person you want to inspire.

It all comes down to social sciences and the understanding, that New PR and Social Media Marketing is guided by sociology. The study and observation of online cultures, their interactivity, and the humanization of what it is we’re hoping to carry into these important communities will by default, improve the foundation for forging successful and mutually beneficial relationships. That’s where it all starts. Spin, hyperbole, messages, pitches, blasts, and voicemails have no place in the new world of communications.

Think intelligently.

Whether we’re talking about traditional PR or new PR, it was and is still rooted in relationships.

Online and offline PR require strategies that were supposed to be part of PR all along (know what you’re talking about and to whom your talking, who/what you represent and why it matters to the people you’re trying to reach).

In my opinion, there is no such thing as PR 2.0 as a practice. It is simply a game-changing mantra. But, if 2.0 is a mantra for evolution and change, then yes, it implies that there was, and still is, a traditional way of looking at things.

Whether you subscribe to the label is moot. If you believe in the reinvention of a more socially conscious, informed, and relationship-driven form of public relations, then that’s all that matters. Call it whatever you want, just as long as you contribute value to the evolution instead of stealing from it.

So, what are we going to do about it?

Update:

Dennis Howlett, a respected enterprise and IT related finance thought leader and author, responded on Twitter, “@briansolis: if it’s evolving then why does it continue to fail? ”
(see what you’re up against?)

My response, “@dahowlett it fails because people feel that there’s nothing to learn. Good news, there’s an undercurrent and I’m trying to e
xpose it.”

Howlett, ”
@briansolis No point in exposing it if the practitioners don’t get off their backsides and do something about it. I hope you’re successful. ”

Recommended Reading:

Cultural Voyeurism and Social Media

The Social Media Manifesto

The Art of Listening and Engagement

Dear Chris Anderson, An Open Letter to Make Things Right

Connect with me on Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, or Facebook.

Participation is marketing.

Intention is everything.

Actions speak louder than words.

Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t about spam or doing what marketing seems to do best, “market at” people instead of creating dialog or contributing value. This is about honest and genuine engagement and how to do so through a new level of PR, Social Marketing, community management, and customer service using social tools driven by a meaningful, value-oriented two-way program. It’s the only way to earn trust, incite word of mouth, and encourage loyalty.

To help, I’ve released a new free ebook, “Customer Service, The Art of Listening and Engagement Through Social Media.”

Thank you to Becky Carroll of Customers Rock!, who contributed several chapters.

I’d also like to thank Connie Bensen for her sharing her ACDSee case study as well as Freshbooks and Frank Gruber of AOL.

You can download the ebook as a PDF or Word document here.

The ebook will be updated with contributions from some of my favorite voices on the subject. Stay tuned.

Also, make sure to read “The Company-Customer Pact” created by the folks at Satisfaction.

Connect with me on Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, or Facebook.