podcasting – another pr tool in the box?

"The PR people are drooling over the potential for going "beyond the press release" and influencing what journalists write - even those who fail to turn up to an event - because they can listen to it at a time of their choosing. Disney, General Motors, Purina, Cisco, Macromedia, Virgin Atlantic, TV Guide, Jupiter Research, are all podcasting."

Before we come to this quote, does anyone remember the quote just recently mentioned to us in one of the PR and Technology seminars? "Don't just use technology for the sake of it." The opening quote of this post is taken from a website called Blog Relations. And what is interesting is the fact that this was written in September 2005!

The point I am trying to make is the one that even though we should greet every new step the online technology brings us as progression of some kind, I totally agree with Tom Kelleher where he writes in his book Public Relations Online (2007): "...we have to be especially careful not to overstate the implications of the new technologies we embrace."

Podcasting, which at the time was touted as a revolution in communication and the way of modern PR, hasn't really caught on as people expected. As has been demonstrated (like in our class today, thank you George) it can be very helpful and it can also be an utter waste of time. All depending on who the producer is and what he wants to achieve.

So another tool in the PR tool box? Yes. But keep the breakthroughs coming by all means. Gradually the way we practise PR will be changed by technology, but it will not be revolutionized overnight by a single invention.

nordic countries lead the way in ict

According to the World Economic Forum today, the Nordic countries lead the way when it comes to Information Communication Technology, ICT. Denmark sits proudly at the top of the pile, followed by Sweden in second place, Finland (6th), Iceland (8th) and Norway (10th). Switzerland ranks third, the US 4th and Singapore 5th. The Netherlands are rated 7th while the Republic of Korea occupies the 9th spot.

A press release from WEF today said: “The successful experience of the Nordic countries, Singapore, the United States or Korea shows that a coherent government vision on the importance of ICT, coupled with an early focus on education and innovation, are key not only for spurring networked readiness, but also to lay the foundations for sustainable growth.”

Published for the seventh consecutive year with record coverage of 127 economies worldwide, the Report has become the world’s most comprehensive and authoritative international assessment of the impact of ICT. The Networked Readiness Index (NRI), featured in the Report, examines how prepared countries are to use ICT effectively on three dimensions: the general business, regulatory and infrastructure environment for ICT; the readiness of the three key stakeholder groups - individuals, businesses and governments - to use and benefit from ICT; and their actual usage of the latest information and communication technologies available.

youtube as a pr tool

To date, I have not exactly been one of those who has bought into the beliefs that the Internet is the all-embracing solution of things. Nonetheless, it is a fantastic tool with its pros and cons.

How useful is it when it comes to public relations? Very useful if done right.
One of the most popular videos currently running on Youtube is featuring Will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas fame promoting US presidential candidate Barack Obama. Cleverly done, entertaining and very likely to win him some votes.

When accessed today, some 6.7 million viewers had logged on to watch this roughly four minute long clip. And interestingly, Obama's PR machine fingerprints have not yet been linked to this product.

produsage - an idea whose time has come?

The concept of produsage highlights that within the communities which engage in the collaborative creation and extension of information and knowledge that we examine, the role of consumer and even that of end user have long disappeared, and the distinctions between producers and users of content have faded into comparative insignificance (based on the website http://www.produsage.org/ – accessed April 6th 2008 at 15.35).

One of the best examples of this term is probably Wikipedia, the online all-embracing encyclopaedia that anyone can adjust or alter. As all things in life produsage has its pros and cons. On the positive site it allows people who otherwise wouldn’t be approached, to throw their knowledge into the melting pot and perhaps bring new perspectives to the debate. Participation is as open as possible and the status of the participants is determined on a dynamic, real-time time basis by their contribution.

However, there is the downside to produsage that unscrupulous people can fiddle with things in a way that can be extremely difficult to detect. I certainly think produsage has got limits, but I also think there must be many fields where its application could be really useful.

I only have one question at the end. When a website boldly states that it is about “an idea whose time has come” doesn’t it strike you as odd that its main page (see link above) has not been updated since December 28th last year? Or is it just me again....?

why shorter web-articles?

There are three main reasons for most news websites to provide short intros to their written pieces (and to keep news short for that matter):

1) Web users are impatient.
2) For a news site to maintain its interest among the users it needs to be constantly updated.
3) Short pieces allow a greater variety of topics on show each time you access the site.

In order to manage this most websites only publish the first paragraph or even just the first sentence of a news piece. The BBC’s website, one of my favourites, is an excellent example of this. How often you access a new site for information and up-dates is either determined by the way it is managed (laid out) or if a website’s material is of specific interest to yourself.

However, the three reasons for presentation of material in brief that I mentioned at the beginning are not the only driving forces. Incidentally, research shows that people read considerably slower from a screen than from a printed source.

On top of that studies have shown that you can expect a new reader/visitor to spend less than 10 seconds making something out of your message or he’s gone. Consequently, one of the key rules to adhere to is to realize for whom you are writing. Have I? Have you?

of rss and "system overload"

How many of you have noticed the symbol/logo (on the left) on your browser without even making the slightest attempt to check it out? I am one, for sure. A bit amazing really, as through my work RSS would have/will be of great advantage.

Basically RSS (short for Really Simple Syndication) is a group of Web feed formats used to publish web-content that is frequently updated, e.g. news sites. You can subscribe to as many feeds as you like to enable you to have an overview of proceedings.

Most browsers already include a RSS reader, making it very easy to establish your own family of feeds. Once gathered, they can easily be managed. You can delete the ones you don‘t want any more and add new as you feel necessary. Really, really simple!

I guess most of us only use the technology we feel we needed at any given moment, be it the use of software like Word, Excel or Photoshop. That probably also applies to Web-browsing. But is it just because we‘re lazy or is it perhaps a sign of “System Overload” in an age where technological breakthroughs seem to be the order of the day?

journalists can be lazy and selective

At the end of her presentation in class today Sherry Wang, my classmate, wondered whether the so called "online newsroom" posed a threat to the public relations practitioner. I tend to think not.

Although technology allows today's [lazy] journalists to access information in an easier manner than before there is nothing that indicates their behaviour has suddenly changed - or will, for that matter. Believe me, I know. I have worked as a journalist for almost 15 years.

Journalists are a bit like the resting salmon once having swum upstream during the spring for spawning. There's lot of food around but the fish is overworked, tired and picky. When the right meal comes along (sometimes a man-made fake bait) the the tail muscles work overtime to ensure a "scoop."

To hook a journalist's attention you have to use the right type of bait. When it comes to such specified methods, a simple web-link simply isn't enough unless the story is of such importance or magnitude that every media feels obliged to publish it.

However, most of the time journalist's attention needs to be aroused and their appetite whetted. And when it comes to that, skillful specialized PR practitioners do the job better than anyone else. When it comes to the art of communication an internet site or a news-release - no matter how good they might be - simply can't compete. Not yet.