Jun 29
Social Media and PR - Links & Learnings
Newsvetter - Shel Holtz
Learning: Well targeted and relevant content is all bloggers want to see from PR firms. Services are emerging to assist in “curtailing PR spam”
Read it here
http://blog.holtz.com/index.php/weblog/newsvetter_another_attempt_to_curtail_pr_spam/
A sample Social Media Toolkit - MarketingProfs
Learning: I use most of these tools and must emphasise, although it is good to get proficient with a set of services for various business requirements (your “toolkit”) it is also important to keep an eye out for new services to emerge. I came across Digital whiteboard service Dabbleboard today and so far looks very useful and usable.
Read it here
http://www.marketingprofs.com/8/sample-social-media-toolkit-brogan.asp
Why Newspapers must embrace RSS - Seeking Alpha Media Stocks Analysis
Learning: Focuses on a research paper from Forrester call “The fragmentation of yesterday’s newspaper”. General findings include that online news sites should be aggregators as well as publishers and not restrict themselves to publishing their own content.
Felix Salmon of Seeking Alpha is not highly impressed with the way the report treats RSS. There are claims that online publishers avoid RSS as it is difficult to monetise keeping eyeballs off their site and away from advertising.
Salmon says in this article that you should see the bloggers as sources of further traffic to your site, not be concerned about the fact if they are accessing your content off RSS they will not see your ads.
Read it here
http://seekingalpha.com/article/82391-why-newspapers-must-embrace-rss?source=feed
Jun 18
Sustainable Media - A first look
Within this blog I focus predominantly on a passion of mine - online media and channels. Specifically, the development of investor relations, communications and PR as new online tools and approaches emerge and become a integral part of strategy.
Another area I am very interested in is sustainability, awareness of carbon footprint, in both personal and corporate settings. With this in mind I have been taking a look at a few things related to sustainability and the area my Blog focuses on, Media - both print form and online.
Firstly I have looked at media companies as a whole - which looks mainly at print. In terms of online I have looked at the environmental impact of internet use which is something I think we all should keep in mind. I see News Corp. announced it would be going climate neutral by 2010), so it is front of mind for at least the big players in the industry. Google, the biggest online player is also, chasing carbon neutrality, “asserting” that it intended to be carbon neutral in 2007.
If you are short for time I would recommend reading the Reflections of a Newsosaur piece, “an inconvenient truth for publishers” - it is very good.
I think this is an area of increasing and urgent importance that all of us as media and communications professionals, offline/online or both should be across. I think it is important to make an effort to stay up to date with developments, metrics of how the sector as a whole is performing, who the green leaders are and how we can become green leaders in our personal and professional lives.
- 1. MEDIA CARBON FOOTPRINT
Some stats:
-Publisher selling 250,000 newspapers on each of the 365 days of the year adds nearly 28,000 tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. This is equivalent to the carbon dioxide spewed from 3,700 Ford Explorers being driven 10,000 miles apiece per year.
“With all the satellite trucks that get $15 miles per gallon, the gas generators powering the lights, and the helicopters covering that car chase. That is a great deal of carbon monoxide, why can’t the media really be green?”
- Links:
Martin Stabe - What is the medias carbon footprint?
Learnings:
-Newspaper industry is gulping forests for newsprint which is then distributed by fuel belching trains & planes. This doesn’t include reporters flying around on assignment.
-Each consumers education (incl books & newspapers) accounts for 0.49 tonnes of carbon per year.
-Trinity Mirror is working with carbon trust to produce a carbon audit of their supply chain. Read the full PDF Carbon Trust Report of “Carbon Footprints in the supply chain” from Trinity Mirror here
-For online media, a growing awareness of the environmental impact of internet use - both PC’s and industrial size warehouses where web servers are stored.
Environmental Leader - Media companies face unique CSR challenges
Learnings:
-Vice President of Corporate Responsibility at Warner Bros. “We don’t necessarily see people tune into a show because of the CSR values of the company - it’s about enjoyment.”
-Crozier feels that “the call is not so much for business practices to be socially responsible, although we have been a leader in sustainability for a decade, but for our programming to reflect it.”
Reflections of a Newsosaur- Inconvenient truth for publishers
Learnings:
-Every aspect of the print business does uncontestable violence to the environment.
-Newspapers and magazines not only consume tremendous amounts of energy but at the same time require the harvest of millions of trees that otherwise would be gobbling up CO2 via photosynthesis.
-Even more energy is consumed when old newspapers and magazines are responsibly collected and hauled off for recycling, where the process (apart from felling more trees) essentially begins anew.
-While thriving companies like Google have the profits to invest in green projects or buy their way to carbon neutrality, the deteriorating economics of publishing argue against the likelihood of similar voluntary investments by newspapers and most magazines. Govt mandates will add to commercial stress.
Greening of the HuffPost
Learnings:
-Great site: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/green/
- 2. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF IT
Some stats:
-Russell Seitz, estimates that the internet may have 75 to 100 million servers consuming 350 to 550 watts each. This works out at 40GW of energy consumption. Read more “Weighing the We” by Russel Seitz here
According to the Carbon Disclosure Project :
-Intel emitted directly and indirectly 4.073 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. Chip foundry operations are hugely energy-intensive.
- IBM disclosed it indirectly emitted 2.451 million metric tonnes of carbon.
-HP declared a total for 2005 of 1.550 tonnes.
-Dell declared it had produced about 350,000 tonnes of carbon in fiscal year 2006
- Cisco was about the same level with 356,178 tonnes of carbon emissions in 2005.
-Yahoo, Google and Susmicrosystems did not reply because either they did not know their footprint or did not want it to be known.
Watch a video with Paul Dickinson, Director of the Carbon Disclosure Project
- Links:
Google’s IT Footprint: Techworld
Learnings:
- The size of Google’s carbon footprint will depend upon the number of its datacentres and the numbers of servers and storage arrays within them. Datacentres: According to Search Engine Genie Google has 72 datacentres. According to Threadwatch.org it has 41.No-one but Google knows exactly how many datacentres it has. The total would seem to be somewhere between 40 and 60 and growing fast.
Servers: can reasonably suppose that the total has passed half a million and that they are spread across 40 to 60 datacentres, meaning an average of over 8,000 servers per datacentre.
-Googles footprint - according to PR rep “is calculated globally and includes our direct fuel use, electricity, business travel, estimates for employee commuting and server manufacturing at our facilities around the world.”
-Google is running some of these by hydroelectric , solar and nuclear power.
-Putting a lot of $$$ in to energy offsetting but may be the IT world’s largest indirect contributor to global warming.
The information factories: Wired
Top green IT users and vendors
Learnings:
-Green computing promises an enormous win for IT: a chance to save money — and the environment. Not many players truly standing out.
Newsosaur quoted ” happy to report that it produces less than a quarter of a ton of CO2 each year by limiting energy consumption to a single laptop that is turned off a night, a DSL router shared with the family, a single-bulb desk lamp and the power required to run a simple mobile phone.”
- Lucindigo.com has about the same carbon footprint estimate as Newsosaur above and is currently investigating options for carbon offsets -
No commentsMay 28
PR Strategy and New Media
Brian Solis is a thought leader and influential practitioner in the PR and social media field. I have read his work across a range of channels, most recently with some very strong and insightful TechCrunch articles.
These articles are must read resources for communications professionals that are motivated to stay agile and develop constantly within their role which is now essential. As Brian discusses in the articles below the media landscape has changed and diversified, there are new players with in some cases much larger, niche audiences.
As a result of these ongoing changes “PR is in a long overdue renaissance”. New approaches and strategies are needed. But then again the strategy may need to change next week as a new channel, competitor, or influential voice in the blogosphere emerges.
I have summarised two of Brian’s recent TechCrunch articles below in bullets, as I am sure I will refer back to them, with links for those that want to read more or send on to colleagues. One is relevant to the PR community more generally, as focused on that tool that is the press release, and the second is a little more targeted to those interested in PR specifically for start ups.
- Part I - The Evolution of the Press Release
-Some bloggers equate these to spam.
-Well written releases are far from dead. Are relied on for relevant for relevant information.
-Distribution services complement. Use traditional and new tools to reach people through search engines and news aggregation e.g. Techmeme.
Types of Press Release
Traditional Press Releases
-Avoid jargon. Too many adjectives. Hype. No “canned” quotes please. Worry less about structure and format and more about the news, story and supporting facts and media elements.
-400 - 500 words.
SEO Press Releases
-Wire services have extra value in search engine marketing (SEM).
-Integrate key words (in front of release - especially in headline, subheadline and esp boilerplate), phrases and embedded links. This makes it easier for them to rank on search engines. Choose 3 words and repeat but don’t overuse.
-Keyword Density: Optimised at 2-8% of total number of words on the page..
-Targets for SEO releases are more customers than journalists.
- “Search engines seem to pay attention to the natural bolded words as well as the repeated words toward the top of the press release”
-Keywords as anchor text to link back to strategic landing pages on your site, then make pages optimised as well.
- Use Keyword tools. Brian’s fave is SEO tool
-Read more about Keywords on Lucindigo here
-Use industry and product names in place of “generic descriptors”
-Other factors contribute keyword buys, keywords on website, affiliate strategies and other tools and campaigns. Stick @ 400 words.
Social Media Releases
-New PR approach, Social Media release. I have looked at Social Media releases on Lucindigo here
-SMR’s complement traditional and SEO by combining news facts and social assets in one tool. This is about multimedia content and connecting info across social networks.
-In an SMR you may see offered: headline, paragraph, news facts, genuine quotes, market data (links), socialised content, social tools for bookmarking, supporting documents, tags for indexing and findability, RSS subscriptions, contacts e.g. LinkedIn/Facebook, trackbacks, ability to take parts of it to use as a new story (embed codes).
-An SMR should “contain everything to share, discover and retell a story in a way that is complementary to your original intent and context.”
-Should not cross the wire. Hosted on company blog channel to complement traditional, SEO, company blog posts and other comms.
-Brian creates a full SMR under a prvate, non-indexed URL to share with key contacts in advance of an announcement. Provides all bloggers need to know, no additional research needed.
-”Once the news is public, the SMR goes live with links to the traditional and SEO releases, company blog posts and in turn each also link back to the SMR. Also, wherever the social content is hosted, i.e. YouTube, Flickr, Scribd, Utterz, etc., should link to the SMR in order to create a seamless conversation bridge.”
All about SMR’ on Brian’s PR 2.0 Blog here
Link - Tech Crunch by Brian Solis
- Part II - PR Secrets for Start ups
PR 1.0
Hype, Spin, Buzzwords & spam. Still companies taking this approach.
-Social media facilitates a conversation and humanises the process of communications. It is not online or social marketing. Think conversations WITH not marketing AT.
PR 2.0
Through media gatekeepers is not the only way to reach audiences.
-Listening, engaging with influencers and stakeholders on their level.
The Secrets
“You can not trust the future of your brand with someone who knows how to write a press release, place it on wire and email it to people”
1. You have to “develop the story” for the blogger. Invest time here.
2. Get the right PR people. Takes a lot of time so while DIY PR sounds good, it is not realistic for CEO’s. PR people need to understand the market, technology, benefits and challenges specifically related to your business. if they cannot tick all these boxes then they will not be able to sell it to the media community. Questions Brian suggests you ask the PR company
-Do you have the bandwidth to help us achieve our objectives?
-Who will be on the account and can I meet the rest of the team?
3. CEO can introduce themselves to the bloggers. Read work. Comment on it. Attend a networking event to build “social capital”. This secret was called what pretty much sums it up “participation is marketing”.
4. Identify your multiple audiences at every step of your companys growth stage. Which influencer, blog, channel reaches audience at each step.
5. DON’T launch Monday. Too congested. Embargoes? If yes give journo/blogger time to prepare. Less is more, give it to the person you want to work with it and lower chance embargo broken.
6. Research the preferences that Bloggers /Journalists have for contact. I like this quote, “Do the legwork and outreach that contributes to the reputation you wish to earn and maintain”.
7. It is very important to establish PR metrics first. May be conversations online, referring traffic, registrations or downloads. Conversion will always be forefront.
8. Keep it brief and clear. ELEVATOR PITCH - memorable. relevant.
9. Founders may need to pass the torch for spokesperson. But maybe not if you get media & presentation training. You’ll need to stick the the “tight elevator pitch”.
10. A company blog is critical to keep communication channels open with community. Don’t UNDER or OVER estimate it. Don’t break news on your own blog! Makes it less valuable.
11. PR should reach to traditional media, new media and the magic middle (20-1000 people linking to them). Important for reaching the long tail.
12. Use other social networks as well as Blogs. E.g. Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Deli.i.cious, Friendfeed…. Can get strong referring numbers here and build relationships within these networks.
Link - Tech Crunch by Brian Solis
- Part III - TechCrunch Extra - Old Media still needs to get over its control issues
May 22
Traditional Media to Online Media to Social Media: Monitoring and Analysis
Many corporates have accessed media monitoring tools for years taking press clippings from hard copy publications which has more recently extended to online mainstream media monitoring, to blogs and podcasts and now further to all social media channels. A description of the latest view of the impact these channels can have on companies from a company providing a solution is (from Radian6):
“The impact of social media on public relations and advertising is fundamentally changing the profession. Brand ownership is no longer solely the domain of the institution. A brand is now defined as the sum of all conversations taking place amongst users and it’s happening regardless of whether you are part of these conversations or not.”
Read an intro to Social Media Analysis here
Nathan Gilliatt of The Net Savvy Executive described (in order of increasing technology below) the types of solutions adopted by corporates for media monitoring.
- Analyst reports and briefings delivered by any method
- Single-user online dashboard
- Automated alerts and reports delivered by email
- Web-based dashboard used by a workgroup
- Web-based social media analysis platform with workgroup and collaboration features
- Installed social media analysis software on enterprise server
- Social media analysis system with links to CRM, intelligence or collaboration systems
- Custom social media monitoring and analysis platform linked to other enterprise systems
Recently I’ve seen a new range of products and services emerging catered to “social media analysis.” These companies monitor and index social media websites—including blogs, message boards, product review sites and then offer analysis on what the content they find. They can develop reports on the impact on your company’s brand and a recommendation for any communication required. This monitoring goes beyond blogs, podcasts and viral sites to all social media.
Net Savvy Executive’s view on baseline requirements for measuring social media.
1. Measure more than ‘traditional’ media, measure nearly all online vehicles that people are using.
2. Provide real time alerts about a particular product, company, person, competitor or industry.
3. Provide snapshot time reports that can benchmark changes across time.
4. These companies should also have hooks into other data sources, allow information to be pushed in and pushed out to create new times of dynamic reports.
5. Be flexible, cost effective.
6. Make it easy for companies to listen to the voice of the people.
Jeremiah Owyang of the web strategist says, “measuring is more than listening.”
Tools such as Technorati, Talkdigger, Google blog search, opinmind and Sphere will “listen” for you, the next step is measuring, analysing and the next taking action. Read a full list of companies measuring social media on Jeremiah’s blog (link above). They include:
- Umbria
- Buzzlogic
- Cymfony Acquired by Taylor Nelson Sofres, in Feb 07
- Biz360
- Radian 6
- Nielsen BuzzMetrics
- KD Paine & Partners (Analysing Consumer Generated Media since 1995, Katie Paine is a thought and action leader in PR measurement. I recommend checking out KDPaine’s PR Measurement Blog)
In Summary: I am not yet sold on the fact there is a need to pay for this type of analysis. Media (Traditional, New, Social) Monitoring tools are good when businesses need to track a mass of complex content, topics and stay abreast of opinions (e.g. an electronic clippings service that is timely and has indexing functionality), but I do not see value in outsourcing analysis of this content to a 3rd party.
I believe this “social media analysis” (or any media analysis) should be done internally and then findings from this spread across the business, with a communications plan developed where necessary. This plan that will constantly evolve, this is the nature of the online medium as new technology and tools emerge, but actions need to be allocated in real-time as issues emerge and need to be managed or responded to. A time lag is there if this content is not in-house which is not at all ideal in these channels.
Outsourcing this analysis to a 3rd party would be sure to destroy credibility with any online communities. If companies want to develop and retain a reputation in social media channels they need to understand them and actively participate in them, not get someone else to do it.
MORE LINKS
Here is a list from PodTech, Measuring Social Media: No cost tracking tools that work
http://www.podtech.net/home/4356/measuring-social-media-no-cost-tracking-tools-that-work
Links to Social Media News to prove that Social Media isn’t just teenagers on Bebo
Social Media for Social good - Charities
http://blogs.mediapost.com/spin/?p=1303
Officials use social media to send health notices - Healthcare
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080520/Virtual_health_080520/20080520?hub=Health
Citigroup scores high in social media marketing - Finance
http://www.banknet360.com/blogs/Item.do?pkId=10594&serviceId=1&biId=
Media Pros: Don’t fear the digital realm - Media
http://www.internetnews.com/webcontent/article.php/3748086/Media+Pros+Dont+Fear+the+Digital+Realm.htm
Some other links on Social Media
5 rules of Social Media Optimisation (with loads added from other contributors)
http://rohitbhargava.typepad.com/weblog/2006/08/5_rules_of_soci.html
5 ways to contribute to social media
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/5_ways_to_contribute_to_social.php
Some other links on Social Media Measurement
Measuring Social Media efforts - Chris Brogan Blog
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/measuring-social-media-efforts/
Choosing Social Media metrics
http://kdpaine.blogs.com/themeasurementstandard/2007/06/how_to_measure_.html
The Three O’s of Social Media Measurement
http://www.mguerilla.com/media_guerrilla/2007/12/the-three-os-of.html
May 18
New Media and PR
I have come across some great articles this week outlining how the channels, tools and activities of the PR industry remain in a major state of shift. No time to set a process or get comfortable really. I think this will continue to be the case. As the channels that are used by the public to communicate, seek and provide information change so must the channels those used by PR people.
Below I will provide these links along with a quick learning from each. They are broken down into sections based on specific areas or tools that have emerged and now need to be within the skill set and awareness of PR professionals. I will write an update on this topic every few months to catch up and see what is sticking around, what is new and what is on the horizon.
- New Media and PR
Why?
Learning: New media channels (blogs, social networks, RSS, podcasts) are becoming more important to some consumers than traditional media channels.
Read @ Readwriteweb
Examples of where New Media and PR meet?
Learning: PR people should read blog posts and decide if their pitch is actually relevant before sending it. Should prove relevance in pitch. PR people should check outreach with tools like Cision for relevance as well as guidelines provided by the blogger. PR ppl will participate in the online communities of clients, no cold calls. When emailing messages shoud be customised, not “FYI, press release” etc. Being ignored is not an invitation for harrassment.
Read @ PR Squared
- SEO for PR
Learning Do keyword research and USE keywords.Write press releases for bloggers, provide a website link for more info if it is there for those that want to seek it out. Use a search engine friendly wire (Business wire, market wire, PRWeb, Prime NewsWire suggested in the US). Count clips and blog posts.
Read @ Social Media Today
- Twitter (Microblogging) for PR (Follow me on Twitter @Lucindigo)
Learning: Some companies only accept pitches from off Twitter.
Read @ Marcom Professional
Learning: MediaSurvey published a list of PR people who are on Twitter. Twitter offers
1) Personal Branding
2) Knowledge
3) Relationships
Learning: Twitter hasn’t yet caught on with mainstream web users. Twitter adds a new dimension, described as “a highly efficient way to share, discover, and market ideas.” Bloggers/Journalists send out twitters when they post a new item. Twitter needs more stable infrastructure, but danger in messing with the simplicity of this service.
Read@ News.com
Learning: The potential upside of this trend is enormous. Anyone who runs corporate events should be scared of what transpired.
Read @ Social Media Today
- Micro PR
Learning: Public Relations –> Personalised Relations. Micromedia is refining and improving how we communicate with each other. PR people have to condense pitch to 140 characters! #TwitPitch - Some only accepting pitches via this medium. These days, you’ll hear it first on Twitter. Twitter is a channel for casual conversation and network for breaking news. “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.”
Learning: PR people should “Get out of my inbox and engage in a conversation”
Read @ Marcom Professional
- Social Networks & Media and PR
Learning: What Metcalfe’s Law is:
“the value of a network is proportional to the square of the number of users of the system (n²). First formulated by Robert Metcalfe in regard to Ethernet, Metcalfe’s law explains many of the network effects of communication technologies and networks such as the Internet, social networking, and the World Wide Web. It is related to the fact that the number of unique connections in a network of a number of nodes (n) can be expressed mathematically as n(n-1)/2.”
Read @ Broadstuff
Learning:
1. Use Technographics: See if your customers are using these tools.
2. Decide if it is right for your company.
3. When talking to executives about a shift to new media/social mktg focus on the value, not the technology.
4. Be prepared for the questions CIO’s and CFO’s will ask. See a full list of “COO and CFO Q’s” at the second link below.
Read @ Web Strategist- How to talk to executives about social media
Read @ Web Strategist - COO and CFO questions
- Blogger Relations for PR
Learning: When pitching…
1. Relationships Matter, make comms personalised
2. Give Me the Information, but don’t drag on - make it succinct.
3. Is it on Topic, for readership base and their interests.
4. Who else has been provided this info? Is it breaking?
5. Give specifics on all things, who, what, when.
Read @ ReadWriteWeb
Learning: A case study of how people launching a new book pitched to Bloggers. Key - Creativity.
Read @ Social Media Ready
- Writing for the Web and PR
Learning: Don’t veer into “undue verbosity.” On the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit; 20% is more likely. Landing Page copy in particular should be in tight, readable form.
Read @ Web Pro News
May 10
Using RSS for Business - Part II
RSS feeds are a toll for delivering frequently updated content to readers, without them having to search for it. Use of an RSS feed offers great opportunities to publishers who are looking for alternative systems to generate readership and/or revenue from their content, whether that content is written, audio or video.
This graph shows how RSS can impact web traffic.
1. Create Content
For regular, frequent publishing you need to create an RSS feed. The RSS file is just a text file that links to your file and describes the content of the file. This file you create must be a plain text file, created in notepad or text editor. Formatting will break the RSS file.
A feed comprises a channel, which has a title, link, description, and (optional) language, followed by a series of items, each of which have a title, link, and description. RSS feeds are created in XML. Feeds can be created using tags that are enclosed in brackets <> very similar to HTML.
You can create RSS feeds without ANY programming or technical knowledge at all and convert any web page to RSS format with the tools below:
RSSPECT
FeedYes
Feed43
Feedfire
Feedity
I am currently trialling FeedForAll software (for the Mac, but they also have PC) which is incredibly straightforward. I read through how to make an RSS feed manually and believe that with development of software such as FeedforAll it is unnecessary for the vast majority to do so. Although here are some links if you want to have a read. I always think that it is useful to understand how things work if you are working with them. Even if due to great technology there is no need for you to put this understanding fully into practice. With FeedforAll, you can get an RSS creator that offers a variety of useful features such as support for optional tags and capabilities. Seems a much better result than some of the free services I tried.
Making an RSS Feed - SearchEnginewatch
Here is a great post on “how to make RSS your worker bee”, by Marshal Kirkpatrick of ReadWriteWeb. Article called, How to build an RSS and blog news site for your project
2. “Create an RSS Feed”
To enter your item into the RSS file, you’ll need three bits of information. The title and description should be written to describe the content and the link should reference the webpage that contains that actual content.
1) Title
2) Description
3) Link
You can use FeedForAll or any of the services I listed about to create this file.
3. Validate RSS
You can use RSS validation programs, such as Feed Validator mentioned below, but they require the file to be available at a URL.
* FEED Validator for RSS and Atom
* RSS Validator
3. “Upload file to server”
Next you need to add your text (and publish) or upload your MP3 file to your website, as the file must sit on a server.
4. “Provide RSS & subscription detail to users”
This involves adding option for subscription to a number of podcast directories for wider distribution and profile.
A tutorial
Tutorial URL: http://rssgov.com/rssworkshop.html
May 8
Using RSS for Business - Part I
To watch the news and stay up to date with what is going on in my professional and personal interest areas, I use Google Reader, where I can pick and choose what I want to track. My range of sites that I follow spans new media, journalism, psychology, fitness, economics, perezhilton.com and obviously a whole load more. This enables you to track a much greater number of sites and sources that is possible through an iGoogle page and is a great tool to use as well as these types of personalised page services.
RSS Readers
I have at present 308 sites and sources subscribed to in my Google Reader that I monitor through RSS feeds. View my shared items page here
What is RSS?
The driving purpose of RSS is to regularly update your own interests by receiving dynamic web feeds directly to your screen. It means that you do not have to bookmark a list (in my case of 308 sites) and visit them independently to get an update on any new content or developments. RSS is short for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary and has revolutionised the way we search for content.
Apparently the adoption of RSS technology is not yet mainstream despite the efficiencies it can deliver for work and home. If you want to learn more about why and how of RSS read this ReadWrite Web post, “An Ode to RSS, on RSS Awareness Day”
This video within the Readwrite Web post from Commoncraft, RSS in plain English, explains it quite well. Watch the video here
In a business setting, this Article below in IR Web Report asked, “What is fundamental on an IR website?”
- Point 1 - Identifying future fundamentals is a big part of our jobs as advisors. We help companies that are planning upgrades for their IR websites identify practices and technologies that are likely to have staying power and which should be incorporated into their sites. RSS feeds, for example, are still an emerging technology on IR websites and haven’t really taken off with investors. But it’s just a matter of time before they become fundamental components of any IR website and no company should upgrade without feed-enabling their sites.
- Point 2 - But just because so few companies implement these practices does not mean they are leading-edge or nice-to-have.
Extra Tools to complement your own RSS Reader
While the Google Reader shows what I am interested in, tools such as Pop url’s (http://popurls.com/) and Readburner (http://readburner.com/) can complement your own Reader and show what is currently being read by the masses, which is a good way to catch up on some really cool things you may have not come across.
So in summary, try RSS - you will be much more up to date and save a whole load of time on searching sites for content updates. RSS brings the content to you, in real-time as it is published.
If your in business and a content creator, provide RSS Feeds on your site, this is a fundamental. This way you can make it easy for your customers, shareholders or any other stakeholders that are interested in staying up to date with company developments and news.
This post is on WHY to use RSS for business. My next post, Using RSS for Business - Part II, will be on technically HOW to create an RSS Feed from your site.
BTW, You can sign up for Google Reader here
No commentsApr 29
New Media and PR - Need to knows
Have read quite a few really insightful pieces on this topic this week so thought I would share the links below.
- A case study chat with Playstation’s New Media Team at the New Comm Forum sharing 15 lessons learned on implementing a Blog here
- Social Media Group discussing Chris Anderson, Editor of Wired Magazine, on a rant against PR people sending him press releases:
“I’ve had it… Lazy flacks send press releases to the Editor in Chief of Wired because they can’t be bothered to find out who on my staff, if anyone, might actually be interested in what they’re pitching. So fair warning: I only want two kinds of email: those from people I know, and those from people who have taken the time to find out what I’m interested in and composed a note meant to appeal to that. Everything else gets banned on first abuse.”
He published email addresses of the latest offenders…
The article goes on to a solution, which is rather than pushing press releases to editors, let them pull content from you - enabled by offering Social Media releases. They are using RSS, so know when there are updates, and at this point pull content from you that they think will be of interest to readers. Full article here.
- Also came across this article on the PR Squared Blog, which asked, “Am I seriously suggesting that a PR person MUST become an active Twitter user if they want to have a meaningful career? “ They highlighted benefits Twitter delivers to professionals such as personal branding, knowledge and relationships. Read the full post here
- Brian Solis of Silicon Valley, a new Facebook friend of mine and an incredibly passionate and talented individual within the new media and PR.2.0 (that is the name of his blog at www.briansolis.com) sphere defined PR 2.0 as:
“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.”
In this post he reviews a new book he was asked to write the foreword for from Deirdre Breakenridge. The full foreword by Brian Solis and details of the book are here.
- A really good article at poynter.org from Amy Gahran (conversational media consultant and content strategist) on how journalists are responding to changes in the industry. There are some really insightful assumptions listed here, although I am sure they are not applicable as a general rule across all journalists, such as:
“The only journalism that counts is that done by mainstream news orgs, especially in print or broadcast form. Alternative, independent, online, collaborative, community, and other approaches to news are assumed to be inferior or even dangerous.”
“Real journalists only do journalism. They don’t dirty their hands or distract themselves with business and business models, learning new tools, building community, finding new approaches to defining and covering news, etc.”
The full article on Poynter is available here
No commentsApr 25
Communications, Social Media and Business
Have had quite a intensely busy week, despite it being short for NZ’s ANZAC Day, and have very little intellectual horsepower left. So instead of writing a post today I am going to point to some interesting links from during the week I have come across.
First, Dell’s New Media Communication strategy as presented at the Society for New Communications Research’s New Comms Forum.
Dell receives thousands of messages a day via post boards, and categorise all as either:
1. Urgently requiring a reply 2. Something to watch 3. Not awaiting a reply.
Stats are cited here that previous to their blog outreach strategy “online conversational stats” were about 49% negative. They are now 21% negative. Dell are quoted here as being not the only one moving from an e-commerce site to a social/e-commerce blend.
Richard Bilhammer of Dell said that by catching issues in the blogosphere they can get a 2-3 lead time before it hits mainstream media. This is really interesting, I wonder how long that will remain the case. I agree that 2-3 weeks cannot be a standard lead time, especially as mainstream media adopt some of these new media tools themselves and use them standalone or in conjunction with other content channels. Read Full post from Maggie Fox on this topic here: http://socialmediagroup.ca/2008/04/23/dells-blogosphere-strategy-sncr-new-comm-forum/
On the topic of the SNCR New Comm Forum here is a video clip of Jim Long addressing journalism and social media. Watch the video here: http://blog.holtz.com/index.php/weblog/a_taste_of_new_communication_forum/
Something else I came across that removed my guilt that I hadn’t written a blog post since Saturday was an article from Social Media Today covering the negative effects of daily blog posts. Effects listed were that your readers will think you don’t invest much time in writing it as it means posts are lower quality. This leads to fewer subscribers, time pressures on you… etc. BUT Don’t underestimate the power of daily posts. Confused? Read the full post here: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/SMC/32032
I liked this post on the Wired How to Wiki on “How to make Money online with a $20 budget”. It covers running a niche content blog, buying and selling domain names, freelance writing and blogging. I am currently working on a piece to submit to the Wired How to Wiki so will write a post when I submit it. Read the full Wired Wiki entry here: http://howto.wired.com/wiki/How_to_Make_Money_Online_with_a_Twenty_Dollar_Budget
This just seemed kinda crazy… “By our guesstimate, Larry and Sergey are spending at least $72,288,000 per year to fill their workers’ pie-holes.” Check it out here:
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/4/googles_ginormous_food_budget_7530_per_googler
I have been listening to Wall Street conference calls recently as since completing my valuation course I have a much clearer understanding of what the numbers mean and what the story is that sits behind the numbers.
If you are interested in understanding more about understanding the valuation and financials of individual companies I think a good start is to start reading press (or social media..) releases, listening to conference calls and reading analyst research of companies whose business you not only understand but are interested in and excited by. An example? See below for Q1 Financial result press release and conference call for Google:
Press Release
http://googleinvestors.blogspot.com
Conference Call Audio
http://download-fp5.rbn.com/shareholder/shareholder/download/30361google.mp3
Apr 19
An inspiring lecture and gift - Randy Pausch
Carnegie Mellon University holds a lecture series where lecturers address the students as if it was their last lecture they would be delivering. One lecturer, Randy Pausch, did not have to imagine this scenario as he had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. Randy gave a lecture called “Really achieving your childhood dreams.” Millions of people have watched this lecture online, where he tells the audience how he has lived his childhood dreams and, what he thinks of as more important, enabling the dreams of others.
The strength of character, powerful attitude and sparkle in the eye of Randy will bring you a smile and a tear to your eye simultaneously. Since delivering this lecture Randy’s book “The Last Lecture” was released and is a bestseller, currently impossible to get a copy of.
Of these gifts given to the world by Pausch, Wired Magazine said, “No matter how long Pausch’s attitude and treatment keeps the cancer at bay, the gift he has given his kids and the world through these works and the dreams and projects they inspire will long out last the lifetime of any man (and probably his article on virtual reality in The World Book Encyclopedia too).”
You can watch the full last lecture from Randy Pausch Here
On a similar note, I heard a radio show last week where they were calling to listeners to write a letter to your 16 year old self. The letters I heard that were written by the show hosts were moving about what advice you would give yourself, learnings, what does matter and what doesn’t. What Randy’s lecture makes you think about is the right now. I know this is quite existential for a Saturday afternoon, but quite frankly you never really know what is around the corner.
Perhaps with the right now world view it would be useful to write a letter to your 85 year old self and in that letter lay out a roadmap of exactly how you can and will achieve your childhood dreams and how you are going to make sure that enabling the dreams of others is a key part of achieving yours.
Or perhaps skip the letter but keep these learnings and values at the forefront of your mind and get out enjoy, experience and enable. I found this lecture, his exuberant attitude and to see the importance and value someone with a very short time to live places on relationships with family and friends very inspiring. We can all live like this, some of us are just lucky enough to have a bit more time to practice this approach to the world and the people within ours.
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