Unjournalism

This session was awesome. In a packed-ass room at the Venetian, Chris Heuer of the Social Media Club moderated a panel that discussed the idea of the social media news release. Participants (official ones, not those who jumped in from the audience, for better or for worse) were Brian Solis, Laura Sturaitis from BusinessWire, George Vazquez from PR Newswire, Tom Foremski of “Die Press release! Die! Die! Die!” fame, and the man himself, Todd Defren, the creator/inventor (and human dart board, at times) of the social media release template.

People keep saying Tom Foremski said “the press release is dead.” I know that a lot of people have said that, but did Tom? Whenever anyone in this room mentions that, Tom shakes his head — leading me to greet Tom after the session as “the man with the honor of having more words put in his mouth than any other at the conference” (rolls of the tongue, doesn’t it?). Read enough PR blogs and you’ll start to think Tom is trying to kill the whole PR business. But he’ll tell you that, really, he just wants to get the info he needs to write his story and get to sleep.

Mr. Heuer did a noble and respectable job of making sure this didn’t turn into a “lynch the wire services” hate-fest, but one guy tried to make it one (I won’t say who, but anyone who was there knows who it was). I have a lot of respect for the folks at the wire services. They’ve got a lot of work to do to keep up with the leading edge of a business that’s, in large part, making it up as it goes. Sure, their role is changing dramatically, but they’re not the devil, nor are they going to die any time soon. It’s too bad the two representatives of the newswire biz spent so much time backpeddling and defending themselves. I would’ve liked to have learned more about what they’re doing for social media news releases and what lies ahead rather than about how they justify their existence.

Now, that said, I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Foremski, who very politely laid into the wires, challenging them to explain how the SEC’s reg FD requires public companies to use wire services (technically, it doesn’t, but the wires really hang their hats on the idea that it does). As soon as the SEC acknowledges another method to achieve this mystical instant and simultaneous notification, the wires are going to have some splainin’ to do.

Fortunately, the panel is under no illusion about one key idea: No format — tailored for social media or otherwise — will fix poor content. The social media release template might be a good way to distribute info, but if your info sucks, tough shite. As the wise Mr. Defren said, we still need “to do good PR.”

That’s a fundamental truth, but here’s what I see as the real bottom line for anyone interested in new news release formats: Don’t sweat the details of some fancy social media release template, smart as it might be. Want a “fancy, new” news release? Write clearly and strip out the bullshit, for starters. (Amen to Mr. Solis for saying that, literally. Isn’t it sad how just that — a lack of fluff and BS — can still make you stand out?) If you think bullet points will work, like the social media release template calls for, great. If not, just write succinctly and clearly. It doesn’t really matter, as long as it’s good.

And to paraphrase Mr. Foremski (at risk of perhaps putting more words in his mouth — sorry, Tom), recognize this basic idea: You’re distributing your news on the Web, so for god’s sake, put links in your release. I can’t believe how rare a thing this is.

Do you have something worth showing off – I mean literally, visually? Great. Include photos or videos. These are things the social media release template guides us toward, but don’t get caught up in fitting a template. That’s how we got ourselves in this situation in the first place.

Do you want people to learn more about the topic you’re writing about? Include links to other content that’s related to the topic. Who cares if it came from your company? Let go, for god’s sake. Be a resource, not a megaphone. Resources are useful and valued. Megaphones are just fucking loud.

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