More on the New/Social Media Press Release

Posted January 30th, 2007 by Andre

For the last few months, we here at DIG have been reading up on something that has been called a New or Social Media Press Release (nmpr) for short.

So here’s the scoop, as some in the Blog-o-sphere have been ranting: Old Press Releases stink. They don’t work for some blogger-journalists and other new media aficionados who want interactive, media rich content.

Solution: How do you please everyone? Well, let’s not reinvent the wheel. Let’s make it out of rubber instead of wood so that it grips better, has more traction, and lasts longer.

But the wheel is just the content. Everyone agrees that there has to be some amount of it that must be present: contact information, the headline, news facts, quotes, a boilerplate. But then comes the hard part: link? RSS feed? photos, video, multimedia? Del.icio.us? Technorati? DIGG?

If the wheel is the mandatory content, then the car is the extra. So here’s the question: What kind of car do you get?

Examples:

- Ferrari: The nmpr is bright and shiny and gets you from point A to point B with all the bells and whistles (Ajax, tabs, commenting). Hot bloggers love this nmpr, but could we be overcompensating for something?

- Volvo: Take the nmpr onto the safest route. Make it bulky and full of information so no matter what quote the person reading the release finds a crashing need for, there’s an airbag in a video ready to comment. This nmpr should also have a long lasting and enduring presence, maybe a boxy layout, too. This is the nmpr your parents might buy.

- Ford: This nmpr is very fast to build. It may have some sort of assembly line tool that makes it inherently easy to use. Just change the skin and shoot it off for a new client with good results. This nmpr is “blogger tough.”

What I would shoot for (and it’s maybe it’s a little biased since my family owns 3 of them):

- Toyota: Good design, reliable and affordable. This nmpr has the long lasting appeal of a Volvo and some of the bells and whistles of the Ferrari, but they don’t all come standard. This is more of a “mix and match.” It can also learn from Ford: it should be done in a way that creating more of these nmprs is easy and intuitive.

Finding the right mix is what we are all about, and you can be sure that DIG won’t be left behind. On a side note, here’s an idea: what about an organic nmpr? Release an nmpr with all the intended content, but let people who know about the topic and industry build it out for you, let them find those videos that tell the story, the photos that are important, the quotes that they need and let them Wiki it. It could work… Right?

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It’s About TIME Someone Recognized “My” Talents

Posted December 19th, 2006 by Andre

I could tell it was coming, I just never figured it would be this soon. On Wednesday, Dec. 13th, TIME Magazine released their TIME’s Person of the Year: “You”. Suddenly, all around the world, bloggers and other social media aficionados could feel their egos getting just a little boost.

The article is definitely on the right track, the power of the social web is amazing. Although for a lot of people, harnessing that power may still seem like controlling a fusion reaction. It’s now up to established media and those paid journalists to figure out how to do it better than ever in 2007. Digital Influence Group has been doing just that, and is always striving to improve.

Everyday, at work and at home, I read through blogs, search YouTube and social networking sites, and I am always thoroughly entertained and appalled by what the Web 2.0 has to offer. So here’s to all of you, the pioneers of the 21st century frontier!

(a parody of Budweiser’s Real Men of Genius)
“Time Magazine Presents: Person of the Year”
(Person of the Yeeeeear)
Today, we salute you, Mr. and Mrs. Blogger-YouTube-Second Life-MySpace users
(Mr. and Mrs. Blogger-YouTube-Second Life-MySpace users)
What do you do with all the free time you have?
You post about life’s littlest things, and the most important events of the century
All from your Helio cell phone
(don’t call it a phoooone)
When the man tries to take you down,
All you have to do is show him how many friends you really have… on MySpace
(you’re not on my top 8 )
Oh, you fantasy football hero, you Second Life rock star
You don’t have the glory or the fame, but you sure can party like one
(touchdown!)
So crank up that high speed DSL connection, oh sultans of web media.
That funny YouTube video just isn’t going to blog itself.

But seriously folks, is it really “amateur hour” as Richard Stengel, TIME’s managing editor, talked about on his post? I don’t think so, yet. Let’s just say that there are some new big kids on the playground. There are real people out there blogging and posting to make a difference in their communities, online and offline. There are those those unpaid journalists who strive to get information out to the masses. Of course, who can forget all those who do it all in order to entertain, enlighten, and make our days a little brighter. And no matter how tiny “your” voice is, “our” voice can be loud. Hey, no one can really tell what the web will be like in one or two years, but I, for one, am excited to be a part of it.

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