Do we need a social press release?
Jeremiah Owyang, a web strategist with Podtech, has gotten a debate going on the idea of the “social media press release” or SMPR (you know when something becomes an acronym that all hope is lost), which is an idea that some PR types have been tossing around for awhile. I think the idea, which my PR friend Ed Lee has written about before is essentially to update the traditional press release with social-media links and content.
Edelman has tried to push this particular train forward by putting out something it calls Storycrafter, software that is supposed to help companies put together social-media releases. But not everyone is sold on the idea — and frankly, neither am I. Stowe Boyd makes some excellent points in his post here, about how the SMPR is still more about talking at people instead of engaging with them in some way, and to pimp out the press release with tags and Digg links doesn’t really solve that problem.
Jeremiah has some similar questions, saying: “Why are we formalizing the word of mouth network into these clean nice buckets? Isn’t the point of conversations to have them flow nice and easily? Is this a way for Marketers to infiltrate “Social Media” communities with a few clicks and graphics? Where’s the relationship building? Where’s the humanity?” Steve Rubel responds that the SMPR is a sort of intermediate step, to get clients to dip their toes into social media.
I know when Ed asked me what I thought of the SMPR that High Road put together for Weblo, I said I thought it was a good step, and I still think that. A baby step, perhaps, but still a step. Not everyone is going to jump feet-first (or head-first) into blogging. But I would also agree with Stowe and Jeremiah — and Brian Oberkich here and Jeremy Toeman and Dominic Jones — that it does not go nearly far enough. And it looks like my friend Tony Hung agrees with me.
More on the subject from Brian Solis, Scott Karp at Publishing 2.0 (complete with Breakfast Club reference) and from Chris Heuer at SocialMediaRelease.org, who says Stowe took things that were said at the Third Thursday get-together out of context and is deliberately trying to stir up controversy — which, knowing Stowe a little, I find hard to believe.
Update:
Shel Holtz, who was part of the Third Tuesday panel, has a long and thoughtful post, and Stowe has responded to Chris and others as well. In the end, I would agree with my friend Mark Evans that there is a place for press releases — social or not, as well as for blogs and pretty much every other kind of social media. A place for everything, and everything in its place. And Dominic Jones has a persuasive argument for why any kind of press release, social or not, isn’t anywhere near as good as a blog.
Related posts:
(On Jan 20th, 2007 at 3:56 pm)
Hey Matthew, Jeremiah Owyang recently wrote about how social media can help with effective story telling. The post is here.
I also posted on on this subject here.
Excerpt: The idea behind the SMR aka hrelease aka Social Media Release aka New Media Release is a bit off in Stowe’s post and among other critical PR bloggers and practitioners. It’s not about capitalizing on trends in order to take an archaic, dying press release formula and present it to newsmakers in a fancy new package labeled as “social media” just because it has trackbacks, Technorati tags, RSS feeds, links, etc.
The IDEA is to strip out all of the bullshit and hype from traditional mechanical, and useless press releases and rebuild it as a focused compilation of relevant facts, links, media and a subscription feed to help readers write, tell, and share a story their way (without having to sort through a sea of crap to find out what’s real, what’s canned, and what’s important.)
(On Jan 20th, 2007 at 6:16 pm)
Thanks, Brian. And if everyone agreed with your description of what a social media release was supposed to be and do, then I don’t think there would be any problem — although I think even a social media release should be just part of what a company does to get is message out, along with blogs, etc.
(On Jan 20th, 2007 at 10:08 pm)
Would it be possible to get all the little glue-sniffing communist SMPR advocate bastards together so corporate American can beat them with baseball bats? Please?
Here, THINK! Writing the company’s story, reporting the organizations facts, articulating a position, are NOT things any mature responsible sensible and employed corporate exec would EVER vet with the unruly populace mass. Anything less than that is absolutely ludicrous. That’s business reality. And to those knuckleheads that say but but… fact is the benefits of all this social nonsense is the stuff of fad and myth.
STOP… it’s embarrassing!
- Amanda Chapel
(On Jan 20th, 2007 at 10:20 pm)
Whoa — someone needs a time-out. Communists, maybe, but “glue-sniffing” is a little over the top, don’t you think?
No one’s talking about letting a company’s precious message or alleged “facts” fall into the hands of the “unruly populace mass,” whatever that is (I think you probably meant to say “populist” mass, but I can’t be sure).
As for the benefits of “all this social nonsense” being the stuff of fad and myth, it’s called building a relationship with your customers. Of course, it’s a lot easier to just rely on the media to do that for you, and then blame them when it doesn’t work out the way you planned, right?
(On Jan 20th, 2007 at 10:57 pm)
Yeah, I’ll second that notion, Mat.
I’m not exactly sure where the unvarnished hatred comes from, to be honest. You can dislike the idea, position, or opinion, but yikes, does it need to be double boiled in animus and served dripping with rancor?
t
(On Jan 20th, 2007 at 12:31 am)
Yes, i did write there are some opportunities for the SMPR (whoops an acronym) can help out the PR industry. but for the rest of us, I’ve yet to understand the benefits.
(On Jan 20th, 2007 at 9:32 am)
Baby steps, Jeremiah
(On Jan 20th, 2007 at 1:33 pm)
The fact that anything attempts to improve the communications between people should be embraced (as long as its genuine)….That is, in of itself, an immeasurable benefit.
And per that strange comment above, let that bats be swung at those who stand in the way
(On Jan 20th, 2007 at 5:09 pm)
I agree, Brian — whatever we want to call it, and however it happens, improving the static press release process so that there’s more communication happening is undoubtedly a good thing.
(On Jan 20th, 2007 at 5:39 pm)
Brian,
Sorry but the “let that bats be swung at those who stand in the way” sounds good and the kids sure like it but it’s silly. What stands in your way is property and LAW.
Here: As a stockholder, I own the company. I don’t want management to cede anything let alone control. Fact is, management can’t. By corporate design, we spend a good portion of our time using the system to protect our property. As to the SMPR… WE ARE NOT ABOUT TO LET A MOB OF STRANGERS WITH SPRAY PAINT CANS INTO CORPORATE HQ. It is just a f-ed up notion. The fact that it persists says more about those that promote it. (See Web 2.0: A Community in Denial http://tinyurl.com/2t6uzr .)
Sadly, the have nots do not and cannot get this. They never had anything to protect!
Amanda
(On Jan 20th, 2007 at 5:44 pm)
Amanda, I still think you need to dial down the rhetoric a bit — no one is talking about “ceding control” or letting people with spray-paint cans into corporate HQ, whatever that means.
Is there the possibility that a more social approach could result in unfortunate commentary? Sure there is. So deal with it. Your customers and clients likely think those things already– you just pretend they don’t because you don’t hear it.
As for protecting your property, I’m not even sure what that means. What property? How is it endangered because you put a few links or tags in a press release, or open up a blog to comments?