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Global PR Blog Week 1.0

Program
Final program
Topics
PR in the Age of Participatory Journalism
Corporate Blogging
Making PR Work: Creativity & Strategy
Crisis Management
The State of the PR Profession
Orientation
Welcome
What's a Weblog?
How to Get Updates
Posting Etiquette
Archives
July 2004
June 2004


 

Day 1: Emergence of Ideas

July 12, 2004

For those of you who are stopping by for the first time, or who don't have the time to read each post, I thought I'd offer a bird's eye perspective of the day's events, and highlight some of the ideas and themes that are emerging.

Our topic of discussion for the first day was "PR in the Age of Participatory Journalism." From an interview with journalism's conscience Jay Rosen to the announcement of a new forum for expert-PR-journalist-government interaction, our authors examined how blogging, for one, and new communications tools empowered by the internet, more broadly, are affecting the PR - journalist - public continuum.

Here are some interesting, developing conversations to choose from:

1) Where does one draw the line between reflecting a person's personality and the blog's overall mission, particularly in corporations? And how might that influence media coverage?

2) If blogging is "the ultimate form of participatory journalism", how much of that participation comes from (or should come from) the PR person?

3) How does participatory journalism (and blogging) run up against the professional communicator's tendency towards control? How does the PR mindset have to change in the face of transparency?

4) Can relationships be managed? Or do they "just happen"?

Upon careful reading of the above and other posts and comments here, readers will notice that "this blogging thing" is still a technology in formation. There are conflicting opinions. Many of these will be resolved in time, but will be a source of frustration to those looking for gospel. My response to this is to join in the conversation and help us figure it out, vs. playing armchair quarterback. You'll find we are pretty open to debate here!

Author: Elizabeth Albrycht | Jul 12, 04 | Permalink | 0 comments
Category: @ Elizabeth Albrycht | Announcements | Topic 1 PR and Participatory Journalism

 

Day 1 Stats

Here are some highlights from the first day's statistics. Time zoning makes this a little fuzzy, but this will give you a general picture. You can see the information in real time here.

Visits (Since Blog Launch):

Page Views (Since Blog Launch):

It looks like many people are finding us by linking over from one of the participant's blogs. Details here.

Organization Tracking

We are getting nice pickup in Europe.

www.globaprblogweek.com: Regional Tracking for July 12, 2004

From FeedBurner:

Most Popular Pages:

[Rank, Number of Click Throughs*, Title]

* Def: the exact number of individuals and bots which have requested a specific content item in your feed

Author: Elizabeth Albrycht | Jul 12, 04 | Permalink | 0 comments
Category: Announcements

 

Lessons Learned from Day 1 of Global PR Blog Week

All,
For those of you who posted and commented today, many thanks! We have gotten off to a great start. As editors/administrators we've learned a few things today we wanted to share with you.

  1. Please keep your titles short (4 words or so). Otherwise they run off the page on the recent posts/recent comments.
  2. Please do not put your bios at the end of your post. We want to keep these posts "educational" vs. "promotional" in spirit. We've provided you the opportunity to put your bio and 4 qs as separate posts.
  3. Speaking of bios and 4 qs. Please post-date these before July 12. You can do this by saving the post as draft, then editing the box that shows the time and date.
  4. No flames. We'll delete them (asking permission from post author in borderline cases).
  5. If you use this forum for pure promotion of your own services/companies, we'll out you in the comments.
  6. Please proof your posts. We've noticed typos creeping in. We have fixed some, but better they don't happen in the first place.
  7. Remember to only put the first paragraph or two in the intro, with the rest going in the extended post area. We had to change a bunch over today.
  8. We know we said multiple posts in one day was OK, but in reality it is a little confusing. Therefore, if possible, please consolidate into one post. If not, please make sure the posts have different titles. Also, please group them together, one after the other, if you can, so people can easily follow along.
  9. At the end of each day, we'll provide a brief summary of the day's posts along with highlights from the day's stats.

Thank you so much for following these guidelines! It will make our job much easier.
The Editors

Author: Elizabeth Albrycht | Jul 12, 04 | Permalink | 0 comments
Category: Announcements

 

Let's chat!

Tomorrow — in addition to a busy schedule of postings — our event will become more interactive. All the authors will respond to your comments and questions throughout the day; some of them will be available for chat during the following "office hours" (all hours EST):

Before starting a conversation, please reach an agreement on the discussion's degree of confidentiality: is it confidential, is it blogable, would you agree to be identified by name, etc.

Author: Constantin Basturea | Jul 12, 04 | Permalink | 0 comments
Category: Announcements | Topic 2 Corporate Blogging | Topic 3 Making PR Work

 

Networks III

In anticipation of launching in Socialtext a new expert resource focused on the idea of a national ID card, we asked Ross Mayfield to describe for us the essential first steps.

His advice: Keep in mind that "projects evolve, groups are dynamic, and participants may be able to contribute patterns to work together that you cannot anticipate."

His complete response follows:

From Ross Mayfield:

"Using Socialtext, it's as simple as giving the project a name and clicking a button to create a new space for a new group. A simple framing structure such as project goals, roles and leading questions can spark the the project. Having a shared space in a tool as easy to use as email to foster private conversations is simply more efficient than email for project communication.

"You do not have to define a process for collaboration up front. Instead, let the conversation reveal the business practice and adjust the structure of the space on the fly. This is important because projects evolve, groups are dynamic and participants may be able to contribute patterns to work together that you cannot anticipate. Working with this loosely formed group with a process-oriented application would instead have you define rules and structure up-front
which can serve as barriers to cooperation. Instead, embrace change and trust participants.

"One of the better properties of Social Software is easy group forming. When groups can form at a low cost, the value of the network scales according to Reed's Law (2^N) instead of Sarnoff's Law for a Broadcast Network (N) or Metcalfe's Law (N^2). In other words, the value of the network is the ties between groups and their latent potential for action. This has profound implications for business, politics and media. A user group can arise to challenge a vendor. A group can form to create a group weblog to rival a media organization. A group can form for a previously unrepresented constituency to take collective action.

"Projects come and go. Forming a group of experts on a National ID card can serve the goal of revealing issues and potential solutions. But the social ties that are fostered in this collaboration will remain. Their latent potential could be re-activated in a different social context, perhaps to work on a solution, at any time. This hints at where I believe PR expert systems are going -- where introductions are not one-offs, but moments where the network structure collapses for a goal and to nurture a dynamic social network of professionals."

Author: Dan Forbush | Jul 12, 04 | Permalink | 0 comments
Category: @ Dan Forbush | Topic 1 PR and Participatory Journalism

 

Participation in Global PR Blog Week

We are incredibly pleased at how many people have joined this community to write about the topics we've chosen for Global PR Blog Week 1.0. Now that our event has officially started, we are no longer accepting new authors. However, you are very welcome to participate through adding a comment or posting to your own blog with a trackback here, so people who are interested can follow the conversation. We'd also be happy to add you to the authorship roles for our next event!

Thank you so much for stopping by. We hope you find the conversations that are developing here intriguing and helpful.

Author: Elizabeth Albrycht | Jul 12, 04 | Permalink | 1 comments
Category: @ Elizabeth Albrycht | Announcements

 

FCC Chairman's Blog Spins Off Message in Age of Participatory Journalism

A Reuters story appears in newspapers nationwide today, which may be of particular interest to Corporate PR Blog Week 1.0 participants. With "PR in the Age of Participatory Journalism" as the theme for day one, it should be noted that the FCC Chairman recently launched his own Blog at www.alwayson-network.com "to reach out to the high-tech community..."

But instead of hosting the blog on the FCC's website, Michael Powell used web-based software from AlwaysOn to host his Blog. Here’s what AlwaysOn says about itself on its Web site: "No other media brand has dared allow such openness and collaboration amongst its readers and event participants."

In his opening post, Powell solicited comments in the transition to digital television. But the majority of the comments posted to the blog by others, diverted from his topic and touched on everything from the FCC's recent crackdown on what are considered by some as indecent antics on television and radio to media ownership caps.

For public relations professionals looking to experiment with blogs in the age of participatory journalism, the lesson to be learned is that if you want to use a Web log as a way of stimulating a discussion online that might lure like-minded people to your domain, you may want to approve new posts or comments before they appear online.

There are numerous dynamic content management and Blogging tools out there that provide this functionality.

Of course it is a matter of debate - especially among many of the participants here at Global PR Blog Week - how open should online discussions be? As PR professionals - how much should we control our clients or our company's discussions online?

This issue will not go away and will become one that we as PR professionals must delicately navigate as we seek to encourage more corporate adoption of Blogs.

Author: Chris Bechtel | Jul 12, 04 | Permalink | 4 comments
Category: @ Chris Bechtel | Topic 1 PR and Participatory Journalism

 

The New PR: How to Use Your Blog to Get Placements With Key Media Sources

Let's face the facts - the Internet has changed the way the media gathers stories.

Today reporters and producers can uncover all kinds of information about you, your experience in the topic area, your ability to contribute to their story, and your stand on key issues simply by performing a quick and easy Internet search.

Which gives us the opportunity (arguably the obligation) to actively manage our online reputation.

Blogs are one of the best ways available to do exactly that.

Blogs have many advantages over traditional websites. They simplify the process and provide a logical location to convey additional information than that which is usually contained in a "here's what we do and why you should buy from us" website, they make it easy to weigh in on current issues, and they are a great place to demonstrate the depth and breadth of your expertise.

Indeed, one could argue that a reporter or producer will find a blog to be a much more powerful means of vetting a potential source than a traditional, blog-less site...

Making it more likely that they'll call you, rather than your competitor.

Which is one of the keys in the practice of PR!

Here are five ways to make your blog a more productive tool to generate publicity and to build your business:


5 Keys To Generating Better PR Coverage Using Business Blogs


1. Have a business-oriented blog, with prominent links from your base website

Not only must you have one, you've got to make it obvious and easy to find.


2. Create a mission statement for your blog and weigh all potential posts against their ability to deliver that mission

Focus on delivering content that is focused around business objectives.

For example, pictures from your company picnic would most likely be inappropriate if your blog's mission statement calls for it to be the place that makes you the industry's opinion leader or if it is to publicize case studies of how your company resolved industry issues.

On the other hand, those pictures may be appropriate if your blog's mission is to show that you are the friendliest company in the industry.

But then again, what reporter (or potential customer, for that matter) is interested in seeing photos of your sales manager's 10 year old just after getting hit by a water balloon - that, and pictures of your baby napping on your chest belong in another blog somewhere else.

Constantly ask yourself the question: "will this generate another story or create another sell?" If the answer's no, put it in a personal blog somewhere else.


3. Constantly demonstrate your expertise in your blog entries

Don't feel afraid to strut your stuff, to provide specific examples and to teach lessons where appropriate. Do it with wisdom, but reporters and customers are looking for experts in the topic area, not just observers.


4. Blog with a personality

Pure information may generate one-time visitors, but personality is key to creating a following, both within the media and your industry. Controversy creates coverage and reporters, editors and producers are constantly looking to balance their stories by finding experts to weigh in on both sides of an issue.

Don't be afraid to state your opinion on issues, to point out problems and to call a spade a spade.

Another key is to identify what personality you wish to adopt. Do you want to be opinionated, fun, traditional, combative, hard line, lighthearted, or wacky? There is a place for each, but rarely all within the same blog. Decide what personality you want to portray, make sure that you're comfortable with the ramifications that it will create, then stick to it. Your personality will oftentimes be the major factor that tips the balance in your favor when a top talk show is trying to decide between two potential guests with equal expertise.


5. Blog. Frequently!

All of the above is useless if you only post a few times then go on permanent hiatus. Make blogging a regular part of your marketing and PR efforts if you wish to see it generate results.


As you build your blog based on these foundational elements and actively promote your blog (see my entry on how to do this tomorrow), reporters and producers will use your blog to identify you as their most desired expert, guest or commentator. Plus, you will begin to generate improved results, increased coverage, and a media and customer following that will make business blogging a foundational element in building your business well into the future!

Author: Don Crowther | Jul 12, 04 | Permalink | 5 comments
Category: @ Don Crowther | Topic 1 PR and Participatory Journalism

 

Expert Networks: II

The full incorporation of blog and wiki technology in ProfNet undoubtedly will change our network in many ways, but the most interesting potential new feature appears to be that of the "shared space" -- or the "collaborative space," as Ross Mayfield would call it. Ross is the founder and president of Socialtext, a leading developer of collaborative software and especially state-of-the-art wikis -- Web environments that support the management of projects by making simple the posting, tracking and editing of content by multiple participants.

A technology like Socialtext intrigues us at ProfNet because it offers a new and powerful way to aggregate expert content. It enables us to easily envision the day, for example, when we use a collaborative environment to develop ProfNet Round-ups -- enabling reporters, PR officers and experts to meet in Web "rooms" where they can interact more powerfully than by email, phone or video alone.

Exactly what will this interaction look like? How will PR officers, experts and reporters actually use this new capability? We don't know exactly and so -- with an eye toward visualizing how this new capability might work in practice -- we are undertaking with Socialtext a project directed first toward identifying experts on an issue of overriding national importance and then, via Socialtext, making them easily available for interactions with reporters and government officials.

As our "demo" topic, we'll focus on the current debate in the U.S. over the deployment of a national ID card -- a topic that, as The New York Times recently editorialized (May 31), "has always rankled Americans across the political spectrum."

"It conjures images of totalitarianism -- Big Brother or even the German SS soldier asking to see a citizen's papers. But in most European countries, people carry national ID's as a matter of course. And pressure is mounting in America for some kind of security card."

The Times went on to call upon Congress or President Bush to create a study commission.

"If ever there was a good subject for a study commission, this is it. Congress or President Bush should get the best minds, the experts on security, civil liberties and technology, to start wrestling with the most nettlesome issues in this debate."

Among the questions the Times identified as being most in need of answers:

> How will government agencies ensure that documents submitted to obtain an ID card -- like birth certificates or driver's licenses -- were not forged?

> How will access to the central database be limited and protected against misuse, particularly by law enforcement?

"If we're going to move to a national identification card, we can't afford to do it badly," the Times concluded. "Now is the time to figure out how to create a card that helps identify people but doesn't rob them of a huge swath of their civil liberties in the process."

We don't know the answers to the tough questions posed by the Times, but we do collectively know -- as a network of 11,000 PR people representing some 4000 organizations (including some 650 colleges and universities) -- the key experts government officials and news organizations should be consulting. Over the next month or so, we'll invite ProfNet members to join us in spotlighting these experts and making them easily available to any reporters and government officials.

We've already announced a round-up on this topic, and will be forwarding to reporters toward the end of this week an initial list of sources that our query has generated.

After that, we'll take the additional step of inviting both experts and their news contacts to expand on their thinking in a Socialtext workspace (to which contributions can be simply made by email, with no requirement for registration.)

When we've assembled a critical mass of experts and their news contacts, we'll invite government officials and reporters to join us in this new "National ID Card" space and give us their thoughts.

Any suggestions or thoughts on this? Please post your comment here or send me a note at dan.forbush@profnet.com.

Thanks.

Author: Dan Forbush | Jul 12, 04 | Permalink | 0 comments
Category: @ Dan Forbush | Topic 1 PR and Participatory Journalism

 

Defining Participatory Journalism

Dictionary.com defines participatory as:

Marked by, requiring, or involving participation, especially affording the opportunity for individual participation: a participatory democracy.

And journalism ( ) as:
1. The collecting, writing, editing, and presenting of news or news articles in newspapers and magazines and in radio and television broadcasts.
2. Material written for publication in a newspaper or magazine or for broadcast.
3. The style of writing characteristic of material in newspapers and magazines, consisting of direct presentation of facts or occurrences with little attempt at analysis or interpretation.
4. Newspapers and magazines.
5. An academic course training students in journalism.
6. Written material of current interest or wide popular appeal.

So together, participatory journalism means: collecting, writing, editing and presenting news or news articles through the participation of individuals.

Blogging has become the ultimate form of participatory journalism. Why are so many people interested in blogging? Well as Time magazine wrote in their article Meet Joe Blog "Because they're fast, funny and totally biased."

As PR professionals we have two choices when it comes to blogging, either we can ignore it and hope our company never ends up in a blog or we can monitor blogs related to our business or our clients.

So what roles are PR agencies playing in the "blogosphere"? Check out my web site www.mnpr.blogspot.com for a few view points from Minnesota PR professionals.

Author: Ryan May | Jul 12, 04 | Permalink | 4 comments
Category: @ Ryan May | Topic 1 PR and Participatory Journalism

 

The Great Global Conversation Begins

Day 1: The Great Global Conversation Begins: PR backed blogging initiatives must start driving the global brand conversations of our 24/7 online economy

PR is about branding. And mass blogging finally puts the PR industry conversing directly and interactively with a global medium [the Internet]. In this way, blogging for PR is now about global conversations. The global intellectual dialog of blogs, similar to the network of European Coffee shops in the 18th century which buzzed with discussion and debate (the current worldwide network of Starbucks coffee-houses comes to mind) is only beginning. The blogosphere is increasingly global, language barriers are coming down due to Google’s Translator, it’s practically free to set a blog up and the blogosphere includes some of the smartest and most informed people on the planet.

Inevitably when a group of smart people gathers together, their conversations influence the media and broader constituencies such as commerce and politics. This is just as true today as it was in the 18th century. Blogs, exemplifying participatory journalism, are a place where intellectuals and commentators are gathering in the 21st century to debate issues and discuss stories circulated in the mainstream media, in exactly the same way they did in Amsterdam, London and Paris in the 18th century. But this time around, their conversations are influencing mainstream media instantly and facilitating a talkback mentality to corporate brands. Therein lies the threat for corporate brands. Brands are drivers of economies, producing goods and services and providing jobs. And like it or not blogs are allowing people to transcend linguistic, geographic, and political boundaries in order to conduct a public discussion by giving authors and audiences the means for communicating in an immersive and interconnected manner to talk about them. Blogs are thus the perfect means of conducting the discussions and debates currently affecting a world built on corporate brands. The question is: can corporate brands benefit from this openness through tapping the credibility that comes through dialogue and honest conversation, vs. the old black-boxed credibility of the “expert”? Are companies really prepared for their customers to talk back? And if they aren’t prepared, what will happen to their brands? Will brands lose control and die? Or will they address these new threats? The threats and conversations that lie therein to brands have been defined and need answering. Those threats must be answered for by PR.

Author: Robb Hecht | Jul 12, 04 | Permalink | 4 comments
Category: @ Robb Hecht

 

Blogs, Wikis & Expert Networks: I

Let me open by thanking all of those who deserve to be thanked, especially Constantin Basturea and Trevor Cook. All I know is that they are the guys who launched this vast collective enterprise and that I have been getting a ton of email from them lately.

Far from being any kind of expert on what many in the business seem to be calling the new “thin” media, I describe blogs and wikis to those who know even less than I do about them as narrow tube-like information channels.

Blogs and wikis enable people in small and large groups to freely converse about whatever happens to interest them. In this regard, blogs and wikis are direct extension of the Web “communities” concept that was the rage several years ago. (Now it's "social networking.")

The revolution that is swiftly engulfing us looks to me a lot like the email revolution of the early 1990s. The arrival of email listservs made the first Internet communities possible. Now -- with blogs and wikis -- we have listservs on steroids.

Consider:

· We have new browsers that enable us to filter incoming content with much greater subtlety and exactitude

· We have the ability to efficiently share comments with other community members

· We have collaborative workspaces where we can not only share information, but edit it and shape it in concert with others.

When you add all of these new functionalities to a network of 11,000 PR people and 70,000 reporters, you don't have to be Einstein to see that you have to start rethinking your business.

Which brings us to the fundamental purpose of this blog: To enlist ProfNet members, journalists and experts in the process of reinvention.

Here are two questions to start things off:

What will this network look like a year from now?

What should this network look like a year from now?

Please jump in at any time. I'll begin with the idea of shared spaces.

Author: Dan Forbush | Jul 12, 04 | Permalink | 0 comments
Category: @ Dan Forbush | Topic 1 PR and Participatory Journalism

 

Jay Rosen: PR Needs to Stand for Real Transparency

Jay Rosen's photoJay Rosen is chair of the New York University Department of Journalism and author of the Pressthink weblog. A press critic and writer whose primary focus is the media's role in a democracy, Rosen teaches courses in media criticism, cultural journalism, press ethics and the journalistic tradition, among other subjects. He was recently credentialed to cover the Democratic National Convention.

Since 1990, Professor Rosen has been a leading figure in the reform movement known as "public journalism," which calls on the press to take a more active role in strengthening citizenship, improving political debate and reviving public life.

I was thrilled when Professor Rosen graciously agreed to participate in an email interview for Global PR Blog Week on PR in the Age of Participatory Journalism since it is one of the major topics I blog about.

In the interview, Rosen shares several valuable insights for public relations professionals.

STEVE RUBEL: How would you define participatory journalism?

JAY ROSEN: Right now, by what people like Debbie Galant are doing-- hyperlocal journalism, weblog-style. ("NOW SERVING MONTCLAIR, GLEN RIDGE AND BLOOMFIELD.") But really there are hundreds more developments to illustrate. Ask someone like Len Witt of the Public Journalism Network (meeting in Toronto soon about participatory journalism): he's one guy tracking the story as citizens begin to participate in journalism. Or follow JD Lasica, who's not only on the story, but a driver of it with conference talks, articles, books, and a daily weblog-- ideas for use, as this approach is sometimes called. And what Jeff Jarvis is up to in advising a team of students at Northwestern, who created this, and at his Buzzmachine.

Is it more than just blogging? Yes... it's the spirit of participation, which moves people into doing things for themselves, into taking action of some kind, where before they were attentive but inert, or out of it completely, uninvolved. We have seen this force erupt many times in the modern world, this passion to participate.

There is every reason to suppose that it would come 'round in journalism. I mean, why not? Every journalist who's any good will tell you that being a reporter is fun. Plus, a lot of people are fascinated by the news, and what's wrong with it. There are smart people in every corner of this country, many without any professional standing or stake whatsoever--just citizens, right?--who are seriously frustrated by the failures and flaws they see in the American press.

When those people find that the tools for doing journalism, or some activity interpretative of it, are within reach, it's an ignition-- there's a spark. Is it all weblogs? No, participatory zeal is common everywhere, especially in domains of information.

Take participatory medicine. You don't have to work very hard to see that it's upon us now. People don't just depend on their doctor's prescription and "take" the drugs advised. They find out themselves, and the Internet lets them share and pool knowledge.

And so doctors, we know, are in a different position. A knowledge monopoly has collapsed, which is all part of the life cycle of media forms and their spin-off formations. You're a profession, a guild. You once had social possession of some knowledge zone. It was your zone. This became your source of authority. Then it became distributed. Can you adapt? Can your authority?

How many times has that happened in human history? Thousands. It would be shocking if it didn't happen in journalism. One can argue that it's starting again now. People are flipping things around, because they now have the tools to "do" more and more with media. Some are tools only the pros had before.

RUBEL: What excites you about participatory journalism?

ROSEN:It's democratic. I mean extremely so. There's always been a lot of talent in this country. Now it can be told.

RUBEL: What concerns you?

ROSEN: Everything that could go wrong. Everything that's wrong with the Internet. The problems and potential disasters in participatory media are the problems of having freedom.

RUBEL: Why is blogging not really journalism in your view?

ROSEN: Actually, that is not my view. It was something I wrote down, a phrase I employed in passing, or winding around to my view, which is that blogging doesn't have to be journalism to be good. Sometimes it is journalism, of a kind, which often depends on the daily output of the professional and commercial press, in the way that a second wave depends on the first. Sometimes it's just good information about a place-- and that's journalism.

Let's say, and we know it's possible, that a story can be "kept alive" because bloggers keep it from disappearing in the news tide. The Trent Lott Lesson. That's like a second action, a "holding" of the story up for inspection. It happens just after the first news wave and follow up stories are done. Many of the political blogs have this character: a second army pours over the dispatches and conclusions of the first, interpreting it.

But this is not the really new thing. The new thing is how, in the online space, bloggers knit the news together with their views and views arriving from elsewhere, and then manage to embed into the Web this second imprint, upon the items that originally struck us as news.

And so you have the first wave (also called a news cycle) and a second that embeds it further into the Web, with interpretations adding to a web of other notes and reactions. How is this possible? Because the bloggers know how to link, and quote, and entice you to look elsewhere, zap around. They're way ahead of the journalists on that. If people in the press would just understand that one fact they would grasp what weblogs are about, and why they're being talked about at all today as "journalism."

RUBEL: What about those who are empowered to blog by established media outlets, are they more like journalists than the rest of us?

ROSEN: Good question. I think these people--any journalist empowered to blog, as you well put it, by a mainstream news outlet--will be the ones in the best position to change journalism from inside the traditional firms. Will they? I have no idea. But if you are interested in the press, it pays to watch this one unfold.

I try never to make predictions. But I do place bets. If there's gonna be a carrier class for changed notions of what it means to be a professional journalist, within the body of the mainstream press, it will probably be local writers and reporters on metropolitan newspapers (or public radio stations or maybe weeklies) who learn to blog really well for their communities, which means digging into their communities, embedding themselves in the information flow-- and in public conversation.

Here I would compare a weblog to a community switching station. When professional journalists get the hang of that, they will become quite good at it. This form of publishing was made for people with journalistic skills. A growing number of people are realizing that.

When I say it "probably will" be them I only mean: I'd bet on them. "Those who are empowered to blog by established media outlets," in your phrase. (And if I were a young journalist on the way up, I would hunt down this assignment: to blog in a newsy way, day-to-day.) These people--young, old or in the prime of their careers--are inevitably going to bring radical ideas and questions to the table within newsrooms.

We'll have to watch what happens when bosses and peers meet up with this. How will they react? Of course it's already happened. Witness the live issue: Can reporters have their own blogs? Freedom of speech for journalists is a freedom of press issue for publishers and journalists.

If you separate for a moment the weblog authors, as they have emerged so far, from the weblog form and its online sphere, then it's clear that the blog software and the liveness of the Web connection it promotes are possible boons to any solid news franchise, and in particular to individual journalists-- reporters with a beat, columnists with an urge to prove themselves.

They can use the tool now called weblog to fine tune their informational "fit" with a live public of users that talks back--indeed, that writes back--and is thus able to locate stories, or find their significance. To have to deal with a writing readership is of inestimable value to a young journalist. And as Dan Gillmor always says: My audience knows more than me. A weblog teaches you that.

So much depends on the terms of empowerment for journalists who blog, and of course on the wit and talent of the professionals involved, plus the crash and thud of events. But I like what Dan Froomkin of the Washington Post said in OJR recently: the Internet demands voice. Liked it so much I've quoted it three times. And I admire what the Spokesman Review is up to. They're trying stuff, which they feel free to abandon. Often the best approach.

RUBEL: Do the majority of established journalists fear participatory media/blogging or do they embrace it?

ROSEN: The majority do not understand this new formation out there, so no, I would not say your typical journalist fears anything special, except more information pollution from unreliable, attention-seeking amateurs who blog. Nor has there been a general "embrace."

Rather, something else is going on, far more significant. Some journalists (numbers are not known) are reading blogs. Not all have the time, but many realize they can be worth the time once you develop a feel for what I call the "second wave" effect.

A little orchestra of interpreters instantly comes along and does something to journalism, plays back its significance, but first editing out all the noise. It's like a reply. Smart journalists are tuning into that because its an intelligent use of their work-- and a departure point, a place where criticism flashes. Sometimes what they are reading surpasses their work.

Ask these journalists about blogs and you get a totally different answer . It embraces a user's more intimate knowledge, and that's what counts.

This will all be talked through in Dan Gilmor's book, We, the Media. He is the one mainstream newspaper columnist who is totally in tune with both worlds. (Hype alert: I have blurbed his book and I am quoted in it.) Part of the reason Gillmor wrote We, the Media is to teach his profession to be more open. We'll see if it works. (See his note: Dear PR People.)

RUBEL: How are j-schools changing to equip students who are entering the journalism to handle these changes?

ROSEN: J-schools change even more slowly than the profession. However, students will change what J-schools are doing if the programs can attract the right bunch, and set them to work doing interesting journalistic things.

Cablenewser is a weblog written by Brian Stelter, an 18-year-old sophomore at Towson State University in Maryland. Right now, he might be the most effective journalist of his generation. Keith Olbermann might e-mail Cablenewser with views on things so he can talk to his own industry, a mini-public that "meets" at the weblog. (See "Olbermann Calls FOX The "Worst Winners TV's Ever Seen" Only on CableNewser...)

I'd hope J-schools would find that interesting. I do. But I'm confident that students will push this form forward, not only in weblogs but in web zines and specialized reports, or college newspapers on the Web. The question for my fellow deans, chairs and directors (worldwide) is: will the forward ones be journalism students?

We may be on the verge of an entrepreneurial "moment" in journalism, in which case the challenge to J-schools would be: can we nourish experimentation, entrepreneurship, team work in building something from scratch, or one-person operations in, say, the I.F. Stone (but also the Brian Stelter) tradition. That's not an approach journalism schools are accustomed to taking.

RUBEL: Does disintermediation threaten PR? How should the profession react to the changes in how consumers get news?

ROSEN: I think public relations should first understand that to the extent that its art is a form of "spin"--whether it's reasonable spin, accepted spin, good spin, bad spin, terrible spin--it is selling a service for which there is less and less value, and less mind is paid to it. Spin was possible in the era of few-to-many media, and a small number of gatekeepers who could be spun.

There are fewer who listen (or have to listen) and more who hear only dull propaganda, witless repetition, one of the many forms of mindlessness to which citizens are subjected. Spin is also comedy to Americans, and John Stewart speaks with authority on it. PR does not because it believes, on the whole, in some right to spin-- all exceptions cheerfully granted. Plus, there's what Doc Searls says to all the "pound the message home" pros, in any field: there is no demand for messages. Factor that in if you want a bright future in any media field.

Today many knowledge monopolies are breaking up, and this corresponds with what the British media scholar Anthony Smith once identified as a shift "in the locus of sovereignty over text," a shift toward the public. We could say "toward consumers," but what Smith meant is that more power has fallen into the hands of the people who were mere receivers before. They are more sovereign-- as consumers, yes. But also as producers of their own media. Pickers and choosers.

My advice to PR people is to help citizens become more so-- more sovereign over information goods. Spin is not a good. Neither is a brick wall, or a blatantly one-sided story that cleverly coheres because it leaves out every single inconvenient fact. Public relations, if it wants to do good, should stand for real transparency in organizations, and genuine interactivity with publics. Want an issue in corporate PR? Freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, freedom of interaction for company bloggers: how do we make it a practical reality?

RUBEL: Recently you told Bill Gates: "cure your blog of public relations, every hint and drop, or don't do it at all." What advice can you offer to PR pros who might be involved in helping their companies blog?

ROSEN: Well, blogs for an internal audience are one thing. I have no advice there. For the larger universe, I guess my advice would be: think of your bloggers as your organization's ombudsmen, except in multitude and over micro matters as well as macro. With what guarantee of independence? is an issue with newspaper ombudsmen. It would rise up here. PR might have ways of making freedom of speech possible, and its pros may learn how to highlight the benefits in this form of openness.

RUBEL: What other words of advice (if any) can you offer public relations pros who are coping with the changing media landscape?

Hmmm. One thing comes to mind, a kind of warning. PR could be to weblogs what spam is to email: death of a social advance, the ruination of a perfectly good public instrument. It's worthwhile for professionals to imagine how it might happen. And I know there are some who sense what a disaster that would be. I hope we hear from them during Global PR Blog Week.

RUBEL: Recently you wrote about Karen Ryan, a PR person who got into hot water for "posing" as a news reporter in a VNR. This incident indicates that PR people are under increasing ethical scrutiny. What do PR pros need to keep in mind as far as ethics is concerned as they navigate the new personal journalism waters?

ROSEN: Well, I always found the boy who cried wolf is a good place to begin. Karen Ryan called "reporter here!" when there was no reporter. The ethical problem with that is obvious. Keeping the logic (and moral) of that fable in mind is wise.

Author: Steve Rubel | Jul 12, 04 | Permalink | 8 comments
Category: @ Steve Rubel | Topic 1 PR and Participatory Journalism

 

Glancing back to move forward

At the start of Global PR Blog Week 1.0 and at the point when there's a critical mass developing around public relations blogging, I'm keen to step back and thank two pioneers who got here first and who have, it seems to me, done most to foster this growing network.

First, let's establish some key dates. 1993 is absolute zero in terms of adoption of the web, and in reality 1995 is the start point for most commercial web ventures. The year 2000 was when the dot com bubble burst and hype, optimism and venture capital millions vanished. Yet web traffic has continued to rise year on year, and several commercial (and many non-commercial) ventures have flourished since then. 2003 was when blogging went mainstream, with Blogger being snapped up by Google and Typepad launched by Movable Type.

Jim Horton thinks public relations Thoughts

Our first pioneer PR blogger is Jim Horton. His Online Public Relations site began in 1997 not as a weblog, but as a resource for his links and articles. Here's the home page from November 1998 as stored on the Internet Archive (links and images don't work).

He realised early on that a static site would need some fresh content, so he started publishing daily Thoughts based on his work as a public relations consultant. He has latterly transferred the Thoughts section of the site to a weblogging platform, but his style remains the same.

Jim's thoughts are this: reflections. He stands above the fray of frantic links, cross-postings and multimedia gimmicks that typify many blogs. He was writing daily thoughts long before the rest of us began - and he'll probably be going long after we've become bored with the medium.

He had identified a need for a general resource on public relations on the web and set out to provide this. He modestly claims that he benefits from 'finding others who are interested in the field. I have learned far more from running the site than others have taken from it'.

He is motivated to continue providing this service because 'I think it is still useful. It is a resource my agency uses continually'.

Indeed, Jim is trotted out as the internet communications expert whenever one is required. 'That is quite often', he says.

He claims about a thousand hits a day to the site and some 400 inbound links (resulting in a Google PageRank of 5/10), but Jim takes more pride from his papers being quoted around the world and used in university studies.

Jim's perspective gives him a strong position to commentate on the changes brought to PR by the internet. So here's the definitive statement - and a sanity check for all of us:

'The basics of PR remain the same, while the medium and presentation change. The internet is one more communications tool in the kitbag that every PR practitioner should use. It happens to be a powerful tool, but it is just a tool. It is not a lifestyle or mystical shift in human consciousness or any other folderol that the internet groupies were blathering not so long ago. Because it is a tool, PR practitioners must learn it and use it well.'

Tom Murphy expresses PR Opinions

My second pioneer, Tom Murphy, is modest about being placed on the same pedestal as Jim Horton. His PR Opinions site first appeared as recently as March 2002, though Murphy was not new to posting PR-related content. His first PR focused site had appeared in 1995, though 'it quickly died from neglect'.

The motivation was similar to Jim Horton's. 'I was looking for a way of aggregating a whole set of links to online PR-related content', he tells me. While researching different ways to do this, he came across Blogger. So, PR Opinions was based from the outset on a weblogging platform.

Murphy subsequently moved the site to another blogging system, Radio Userland, but his approach has remained the same. PR Opinions has always seemed to me to be the best-connected PR weblog and that's how Murphy likes it: 'The major benefit has been the growing network of fellow practitioners who are very open and willing to share their thoughts, insights and experiences, both through their blogs and offline.'

'The biggest motivator for me is feedback. Whether a reader is angry or happy with a post, nothing beats an email from someone regarding something you've written. The only metric that matters to me is that readers find the content of PR Opinions useful or thought-provoking. Getting feedback, positive or negative, is fantastic and makes all the effort worthwhile.'

'A lot of bloggers are investing huge amounts of time in networking and promoting their blogs around the web. I simply don't have time to do that. I have a steady readership that is growing nicely; I get great feedback and discussion from readers. I enjoy the growing relationships with other PR bloggers and that's enough for me.'

Murphy is also keen not to claim too much for blogs. 'I fundamentally believe that this is all about evolution and not revolution. The age-old techniques of PR are still as relevant today as before. Good written and oral communication skills, great relationships with the media and an understanding of how PR can contribute to the bottom line are still essential. New technologies such as blogs and RSS are simply new tools to help PR people reach their audience more effectively.'

'Communication is one of the most important factors facing organizations today. I believe that PR practitioners are best qualified to manage that communication, but to do so we need to embrace these new channels of communication. We need to understand them, use them and manage them.

'We simply can't afford to stand idly by as other marketing professionals start to carve up communications. Instead, we need to apply our traditional skills to the new media and face up to the challenges and the opportunities.'

I'm grateful for practitioner-thinkers such as Jim Horton and Tom Murphy for helping us all to rise to this challenge through their daily contributions to public relations online.

Author: Richard Bailey | Jul 12, 04 | Permalink | 4 comments
Category: @ Richard Bailey

 

Re-thinking PR

Each new technology re-shapes our world. The great historian Braudel said that France was created by the railroad, as was the USA. Telephones destroyed distance even more. Radio created the idea of the ‘audience at home’. TV created, or accelerated the creation, of mass markets – changing journalism, politics and marketing forever.

What will blogs do? We have some inclinations but I think it is still far too early to tell with any real clarity and certainty. But we do know that the world of PR will be turned upside down over the next few years as we re-invent ourselves in response to this awe-inspiring new phenomenon.

In the past year or two, blogging has already achieved a remarkable prominence. Everyday, a google alert brings me articles about blogging in the mainstream media. Many of these are still introductory and almost apologetic. Some are attacks on blogging by ‘concerned’ journalists. Concerned mostly about the sheer numbers of blogs and the millions of unedited posts that appear on them each day.

This flow of information and opinion is unprecedented in human history. The potential for misinformation is disturbing for some people (especially politicians, corporations and others in the public spotlight) but the liberating effects are far more significant.

For a long time, our democratic societies have been constrained by the fact that we have relatively few media outlets and that very few people ever have any opportunity to participate in the debates that go on in those media forums.

Public Relations, as we understand it today, has grown up in this environment – it is largely a by-product of it - and is literally a mirror image of the mainstream media problem; which we might call the ‘restricted access’ problem.

We largely practice PR with the purpose of helping our clients get through those restrictions (with reputations unscathed), and to derive maximum impact from promoting their messages to the mainstream media’s ‘captured’ audiences (leveraging off the media’s authority to secure invaluable third-party endorsement).

Many of us in PR have grown tired of this insiders game and blogging will help us, and our clients wean, ourselves off this incestuous dependence on the mainstream media.

Blogging is different from other mediums because it collapses the distinction between producer and consumer. Bloggers and blog readers are essentially the same people. Instead of largely passive audiences, complex webs of online communities and conversations are being created.

Intervening, and influencing, these communities and conversations, will require different skills, techniques, protocols and strategies. Up until now, ‘feedback’ has been the poor cousin of PR, which has been mostly concerned with the disciplined download of cleverly-crafted, and tightly-controlled, messages.

Bloggers love the new medium for all the reasons that make it a scary prospect for traditional PR and old-style journalists. Blogging emphasises ‘authentic voice’ and genuine interaction – it can be fast, rough and unpredictable, a bit like the real world as it is lived by real people. This is very different to what currently passes for communication in the worlds of business and politics.

The ease, power and popularity of blogging is already challenging the media’s centrality, and consequently its importance. Even in these early days, we are seeing a growth in direct communication with stakeholders by organisations and the use of blogs to raise the level of media accountability to unprecedented levels.

The decline in the media’s centrality and authority is a double-edged sword for PR practitioners. It gives us the capacity to go around the narrow media gateway and develop richer more robust relationships with our stakeholders.

The decline in the media’s centrality also means that PR will become less synonymous with media relations. PR has too often meant getting stuff in the newspapers (and on Radio and TV), often to supplement and enhance advertising.

For instance, many people are getting more of their information filtered through blogs. This means that they read the blogger’s take on the article before they click-through to the article. Our messages now have to ‘get through’ the journalist and then through the bloggers who link to it.

Blogging also provides complex instantaneous feedback networks of extraordinary power. PR practitioners will have to be plugged into these networks and be able to participate in them on terms set by bloggers. Not easy, given that most of us tend towards the ‘control-freak’ end of the spectrum.

Word-of-mouth has always been the best marketing tool, by a long way. Viral marketing, in recent years, has built on word-of-mouth. But blogging takes it into a whole new dimension.

Recently, before I bought an iPod, I found myself not only asking my next door neighbour about his experience with the product, I also checked around the blogosphere to check the reality was living up to the hype. I’ll be doing this with a lot of purchases in the future, I think.

But how do we – as PR practitioners - influence bloggers? The answer I think will be as old as PR itself. It’s about relationships, stupid. Our clients will have to build reputations for honesty and openness and show a willingness to mix it in the marketplace of ideas on a far more equal footing than ever before.

That could really put PR at the heart of the organisation, as an essential part of what every organisation does. Now that is exciting.

Author: Trevor Cook | Jul 12, 04 | Permalink | 7 comments
Category: @ Trevor Cook | Topic 1 PR and Participatory Journalism

 

 

About
The Global PR Blog Week 1.0 is an online event that will engage PR, marketing and business bloggers from around the globe in a discussion about blogging and communications. The event is scheduled for July 12 - 16, 2004.
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Day 1: Emergence of Ideas
Day 1 Stats
Lessons Learned from Day 1 of Global PR Blog Week
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Recent Comments
Lois Carter Fay on Participation in Global PR Blog Week
Vadim Derkach on FCC Chairman's Blog Spins Off Message in Age of Participatory Journalism
Ross Mayfield on The New PR: How to Use Your Blog to Get Placements With Key Media Sources
Ryan May on Defining Participatory Journalism
Trevor Cook on The Great Global Conversation Begins
Trevor Cook on Jay Rosen: PR Needs to Stand for Real Transparency
Elizabeth Albrycht on Glancing back to move forward
Rich Teplitsky on Re-thinking PR