Notes from a Conversation of Social Media and Public Relations

Dorree Gurdak, a VP in our consumer practice, spoke on a social media panel at Utica College today. As she was preparing, we sat down to discuss some question the moderator had sent in advance. I thought it would be good to share what we discussed.

Do you think the power of the traditional news media will diminish in the future because of the growth of the Internet and its social media?

Ultimately it will; but not quickly and not without a fight. What is already happening is a morphing of the traditional media into more social media-like structures. On USAToday’s Web site for example, users can rate stories that determine where those stories appear on the home page. Many traditional media outlets are providing sections for user comment and many now have blogs written by their reporters.

One of the biggest issues facing the traditional media is the shift in advertising revenue. It’s creating something of a downward spiral – less ad revenue means fewer reporters (and more reliance on non-differentiated wire service content) which means less value to readers which leads to lower circulations and even less ad revenue.

Last Fall I wrote summaries of a three part series at the MIT Communications Forum “Why Newspapers Matter” that discussed the state and future of traditional media in the face of social media. Here are links to the posts:

The Emergence of Citizens’ Media
News, Information and the Wealth of Networks
Why Newspapers Matter

Is citizen journalism (anyone can report the news) an opportunity for public relations professionals? What are the downsides of citizen journalism?

Citizen journalism can certainly be an opportunity for communications professionals. We have to be careful though to study the community and get a sense of what is and isn’t acceptable. We also need to be completely transparent about who we are and with whom we are working. Hubris can also be a problem. We can’t treat social media or citizen journalism as a place to say whatever we want. One of the strengths of social media is there are thousands of fact checkers out there, and if people monkey around with the facts they will be called out on it.

In terms of downside, there is plenty. Just as there are thousands of fact checkers, there are likewise thousands of content creators. Mostly this is a good thing, but it can lead to problems. First, it results in a sea of content that’s hard to filter and evaluate. Second, it’s difficult to determine the amount of credibility or trust we assign to different sources – the mass of fact checkers can help weed out the utter nonsense, but there is a lot of crap out there that needs to be ignored. Third, without editorial direction there is some pretty piss-poor writing, which gives citizen journalism a black eye.

How are the news media and organizations responding to the next generation’s desire for customized information?

The desire for customized information isn’t a generational thing. With Tivo, video on demand, pay-per-view, iPods, etc. everyone is becoming used to being able to get the content they want when and where they want it. That trend will only broaden and continue.

There are plenty of tools and approaches – user ratings, comments, filtering, etc. – to help make customization work. Most people are just so inundated with information they are looking for ways to get to what is most important to them quickly and easily. RSS is one tool that virtually every news organization now uses. It allows people to have the specific they want delivered automatically.

How and to what degree should public relations practitioners monitor the blogosphere?

We absolutely have to be monitoring what is being said online. There are, in some cases, thousands of conversations taking place that relate to our clients, their industries, customers, competitors, etc. These conversations have always been going on, but they were usually one-on-one conversations that happened and were over. Now, these conversations are among large groups or people, spark additional and often unanticipated discussions and are preserved for all to see online. Ignoring them or pretending they don’t matter or aren’t happening is foolish.

This is especially true since monitoring them is easy. Searches can be set up and subscribed to as RSS feeds so on a real-time bases all of the discussions (and frankly more than can be reasonably monitored) can be tracked.

Should public relations practitioners develop relationships with key industry bloggers? If so, how? Does it differ from traditional media relations?

There are a couple of distinct classes of bloggers and they need to be viewed and treated differently. First, there are traditional media editors and reporters who blog in addition to writing for their print or online outlets. Most PR people already have good relationships with the media and this is simply an extension of those relationships.

The second are large blogs that have evolved to the point where they have traditional editorial structures – GigaOM is an example, as are sites like Engadget or Gizmodo. We can work with them very much like we work with the traditional media. The biggest difference is that we need to use tone and language that’s appropriate. Unvarnished marketing language isn’t going to work in this environment.

The third group are probably the most numerous and most difficult to engage. These are people who are writing because they care about a topic for personal reasons – a hobby, a challenge, a passion. Working with these people requires reading what they have to say and genuinely connecting with them. You also have to be crystal clear about who you are and whom you’re working for. These relationships work when everyone is open, honest and engaged.

What are the information trends for organizational Web sites?

There are a few trends happening. One is increasing transparency – with some companies and executives being really frank about what’s happening within their organization. The Web is not a real good place for secrets (see hubris above). Most information – whether we like it or not – can be found; and once it’s found it can be distributed, commented on and take on a life of its own.

Another trend is the attempt to help people make sense of information. The popularity of RSS and tag clouds are examples of this. You’re also seeing organizations starting to create communities or share content on sites like Flickr, Facebook, etc. This is important because it allows a connection with people who might never visit a Web site and to become a part of the communities where people actually spend their time online.

GregPC