Bernaisesource

I have been somewhat preoccupied the last few days preparing for a networking and business development trip to San Francisco and Silicon Valley this upcoming week. Among my meetings, I am looking forward to Charlene Li’s blogger meet-up on Tuesday March 25 at the 21st Amendment.

And in the spirit of social networking, drop me a line if you would like to connect -
dangtech2000 AT yahoo DOT com

Nevertheless, write I must and I wanted to use this entry to follow up on two recent posts - one about CBS and their Facebook strategy and the other about the future of the Associated Press.

What do the figures 1.4 billion and 122 have in common? Well the former is the number of dollars the outplacement company Challenger Gray & Christmas, Inc. (sounds like the name of a firm from a Dickens novel) estimates the NCAA “March Madness” basketball tournament could cost the nation’s employers over the 15 days of the event. (For which I jokingly ask the firm Challenger Gray and Christmas – where is your sense of Christmas?) Their reasoning can be found here.

Meanwhile the very helpful PR folks at CBS Sports reported there were 1,751,956 unique visitors to the NCAA March Madness on Demand video player for the first day of the first round of the tournament, a 122 percent increase over 2007 figures. They attribute this jump in part to their decision to drop registration requirements for the player and enabling non-CBS properties to take advantage of it.

So you decide whether social media is good for corporate America – lower productivity or (as Challenger Gray & Christmas CEO John Challenger points out) higher employee morale. Let's face it, the tournament connects people in new and more personal ways and facilitates good natured smack talk at the water cooler. Either way, it’s good business for CBS and a validation of their social networking strategy. And now this…

Concerning my AP posting, I got some feedback from Sue Cross, Senior Vice President of Global New Media and U.S. Print and Broadcast Markets.

I was looking at how technology was impacting traditional media including the AP.

It was interesting to get her perspective. It seems news consumption is not declining, only changing. It's not less news, but a proliferation of opinion.

The Internet has not replaced the AP, but has allowed it to enter new channels.

And as Sue wrote me:

AP is creating a common industry standard for coding news content for online use -- attaching metadata or tags that make searches more productive. Similar to how the AP Stylebook created a common writing style guide for the news industry, this AP "content enrichment" adds value to the industry by enabling newspapers and broadcasters to share a common metadata standard in addition to their own local tags. A tag or metadata is information that is not visible to the end reader, but can be read by computers to tell what a story, photo or video is about, and then categorize and enable searching of elements within it.

AP also is opening up its full database of English language content to U.S. newspaper members, and providing them with tools to help mine the database for news about topics, companies and people of local interest. This will exponentially increase the amount of content beyond what AP members currently get via satellite delivery, though satellite feeds of top national and state news will continue as well.

For PR professionals, it means the world of news just got more complex. Readers have more sources of news, but it makes it more difficult to sift through the available information.

It therefore makes it more challenging to gain readers’ attention. I know social media is about personalization and letting users find their own way. But at the same time, we are expected to be tour guides and direct them to where we would like them go. I liken this inherent tension to raising children. You can provide structure, direction, discipline but ultimately they have minds of their own. And the more you direct them, the less they will listen. But ignore them and you lose a tremendous opportunity to engage them and see the world in an entirely different way.

Let me get back to you.

Technorati Tags: AP; Associated Press; Sue Cross; March Madness; NCAA Basketball Tournament; CBS; CBS Sports; Challenger Gray & Christmas; AP Stylebook;

Save to del.icio.us

CBS Facebook page

March Madness began in January for Patrick Herde, vice president, product management and marketing, CBS Sports, as he prepared for the NCAA basketball tournament. If you haven’t noticed, March Madness is now here for the rest of us.

The brackets are out. Today, office productivity will drop as employees email, print and fill out their choices for the NCAA Tournament in lieu of more pressing company business. Expect even less productivity when the tournament actually begins on Thursday.

From my perspective, CBS Sports has done a terrific job in using its Facebook page to leverage the power of social media. Its Facebook bracket application is expected to engage millions of users, whether they are die-hard fans or casual observers.

By capitalizing on a newsworthy event, CBS is taking advantage of the viral nature of the brackets that will determine the winners of the office pools. CBS is using Facebook to:

• Build buzz

• Generate traffic

• Extend the brand and existing media properties

• Create an online forum for fans to interact

• Bring value to an existing community

• Leverage technology to spread the brand experience to non-CBS sites

The Facebook application includes such features as live updating scoreboards and the ability to create customized public and private bracket groups. And in the process, CBS Sports has made its sponsors happy. For the next couple of weeks, on a daily basis, its Facebook page may be the most actively visited site on all of Facebook.

CBSSports.com website

To appreciate how CBS took advantage of Facebook, it’s interesting to compare its Facebook page to its website CBSSports.com.

Note Facebook leads with community and then content. Their website, “one of the most trafficked sites on the web” leads with more content and then community. CBS understands the relationship of each property to their user base. Each appeals to a different audience. CBSSports.com targets a little older 18 - 49 year old male demographic who often have a strong interest in fantasy leagues. Their Facebook site appeals to a teenage - 34 year old demographic where users can create team pages, talk smack and engage in tournament "pokes."

Facebook also represents a new way to reach different audiences that may not normally follow college basketball.

A central component of CBS’s online experience is its 2008 NCAA March Madness on Demand service, which will give users the ability for the first time to view all 63 games of the tournament online. MMOD is a video player that provides live streaming video.

The player allows CBS to maximize the network’s NCAA bundled rights across all its platforms. It provides greater exposure and greater participation (at the price of less work in the office).

CBS Developer Platform

As CBS Sports said in its March 11 press release, it has also dropped its registration requirements for NCAA March Madness on Demand, giving immediate access to the video player to a large network of sites across the Internet. CBS Sports has created a Developer Platform, giving sites all the necessary tools and information to link directly to live streaming video from the NCAA tournament.

NCAA March Madness on Demand will be available at NCAA.com as well as links on CBSSports.com, the CBS Audience Network, sites for CBS television and radio affiliates, YouTube, other major sports websites such as ESPN.com, Yahoo! Sports and SI.com as well as Facebook.

Herde expects to “blow the doors off” expectations for Facebook application downloads. Fortunately, CBS does not require a large team to manage the Facebook page. Much of the resources are automated, and CBS can draw heavily from existing content on CBSSports.com.

As I have said before, Facebook is not right for every company and having a Facebook page is only one tool in a social media strategy. But what I like best about CBS Sports is its ability to take advantage of the NCAA tournament, filter it through its traditional and new media properties and virally build a community of millions of users who will interact with its brand.

Let me get back to you.

Technorati Tags: NCAA Basketball; NCAA Tournament; March Madness; March Madness on Demand; CBS; CBS Sports; Facebook; Brackets;

Save to del.icio.us

I have been writing a lot about new media and social networks, but a large part of our job as PR professionals is still traditional media.

Take the Associated Press. It’s as traditional media as you can get. A recent Forbes Magazine article questioned its value when newspaper readership is declining and the number of alternative news sources is growing.

With roots dating back to the nineteenth century, you may wonder what role AP plays in your media arsenal. In today’s world governed by bits and bytes, links and tags, the whole notion of a news “wire” seems a “bit” quaint.

But before we start abandoning traditional media wholesale for the glamour of new media, it may be valuable to recognize that traditional news persists in the age of the Google News Reader and the social media press release.

There has always been a symbiotic relationship between news and technology. It is easy to forget that AP is in fact the product of an Internet precursor – the telegraph. Today the Internet is once again changing the way we read, write, consume and distribute news.

Interesingtly,where the telegraph offered less room for opinion; the Internet offers more. Where the telegraph spawned the AP and standardized news reporting and distribution, the Internet has led to news readers and the proliferation of customized news.

But while the Internet has become the dominant technology, traditional media survives melding to the contours of the new media landscape.

News Readers:

For as long as I can remember, the AP has been an invaluable source of news coverage.

Being picked up by the AP could lead to national print and broadcast distribution. In the pre and early Internet days, it was one of the only ways to get widespread coverage in both large and small media outlets. (I still remember getting news clips of AP stories from small town newspapers -- weeks after the story ran -- and then they were put in folders and rarely read.) Today news readers like Google and Yahoo make the AP one of many sources that readers can directly tap.

It offers readers personalized options and a wider variety of perspectives than traditional news. Google News offers links to several articles on every story, yielding greater customization. Their articles are selected and ranked by computers that evaluate, among other things, how often and on what sites a story appears online.

That is not to say all is good with the reader. It boasts 4,500 news sources, but Google is not forthcoming on the breakdown of all the sources.

As Michael Pranikoff, director of emerging media at PR Newswire, told me, Google Reader picks up company releases on the PR Newswire, but not with consistency and not always directly. Sometimes releases are picked up through third party news sources. The good news is more sources are picked up; the bad news is Google has become a gatekeeper for news.

Nevertheless as the Leading Edge writes:

“[H]aving your release at the number one spot on Google and Yahoo! News is the same as a front-page article in print. And what makes it even better than front-page coverage is the ability to track how many people see it and what they were searching for at the time.”

This may not seem promising for the AP, but in fact the AP continues to survive and has found new life in new media.

As the Leading Edge writes:

“If you get a story picked up by the wire service it will get good search ranking in Google news.”

Through their licensing agreement, Google News gets valuable content and the AP gets a new distribution channel. So now, we can benefit from AP coverage, but don’t need to rely on newspapers to run the story.

Linked Journalism:

Scott Karp’s concept of Linked Journalism is another example of how the Internet is transforming but not eliminating traditional media.

Scott writes:

A cornerstone of journalism has always been reporting what key sources say, put in context and given perspective, alongside reported facts…It’s time to reinvent that process on the web — make it dynamic — using the fundamental mechanism for connecting information and people: the LINK. Just as the reported quote is an essential element of journalism, on the web the “reported link” must become an essential element of journalism.

Through hyperlinking, reporters can insert their point of view in the actual text of the story and the links they decide to include.

The result: linked journalism amplifies coverage. It’s good when you want news to spread. It’s bad when you want a news story buried. Journalists can now keep a story alive though links.

For PR purposes, it also helps to aggregate coverage. Our task is to encourage reporters to link to our press releases and stories about our companies or clients. We should in turn follow their lead and start including links to press coverage alongside releases on corporate press pages. That is not the case today. That way when people search a release, they will also see the accompanying coverage in one place.

It’s the journalistic equivalent of the social media press release (see: Todd Defren and Brian Solis) which often includes links to relevant coverage to date.

This is not to say that traditional media is getting a free pass. A recent Zogby study found that the Web is the primary source of news and information for almost half of all respondents. Two thirds of respondents felt traditional journalism was out of touch with what Americans wanted from their news.

Clearly, traditional news faces many complex challenges. My point here is that technology can extend its life span, but ultimately its content must provide value and meaning to its readership. How traditional media pulls that off will determine who is in and who is out.

Let me get back to you.

Technorati Tags: AP; Associated Press; PR Newswire; Linked Journalism; Zogby; Social Media Press Release; Telegraph; Google News Reader; Scott Karp; Michael Pranikoff;

Save to del.icio.us

Recently, the free drumbeat has gotten louder which only puts more pressure on us to earn our keep.

It all started when I downloaded (for free) Chris Anderson’s Wired Magazine cover story: "Free! Why $0.00 is the Future of Business." To Anderson, “the rise of 'freeconomics' is being driven by the underlying technologies that power the Web…Which is to say, the trend lines that determine the cost of doing business online all point the same way: to zero.”

And then last week I attended (not free) the 2008 Georgia Technology Summit sponsored by the Technology Association of Georgia. One of the keynote speakers was Don Tapscott who discussed his book Wikinomics (also not free). In his book, Tapscott discusses the “profound changes in the nature of technology, demographics, and the global economy” that are giving “rise to powerful new models of community, collaboration, self organization.”

Not withstanding the prospect of $4 per gallon for gas this spring, these guys are making a compelling point about the growing power of free.

Where Anderson begins his article with King Gillette who famously gave away razors and charged for razor blades (billions of them), Tapscott starts his book with Rob McEwen, CEO of Goldcorp. McEwen had the interesting idea of giving away all of his Company’s highly guarded mining data to any and all takers in its search for elusive deposits of gold on its 55,000-acre property. The result: a multi-billion dollar mother load.

For both Anderson and Tapscott, technology and the Web are helping turn traditional economics on its head. In an economy where abundance is valued over scarcity, sharing and collaborating are replacing charging and mandating. These new rules of the game are redefining how we do our jobs, charge customers and make money.

Making Free Work for PR Professionals

So what does free mean for PR professionals? In getting our message out, a hell of a lot. First the good news.

We have at our disposal new tools to deliver services that once swelled our budgets. Where we once had only satellite uplinks, we now have YouTube, and where we once had only focus groups we now have online social networks. Using RSS feeds can spare us the time and money to distribute press releases and placing tags in press releases helps customers find us more easily through search.

The net result: Not only are new technologies dropping the cost of distribution; these new tools are helping customers spread the word for us. Customers now volunteer to do our heavy lifting for little or often no compensation. Through word of mouth campaigns, viral marketing, forums and social networks, they are serving an important PR function. Consider the following.

Marketing

Buzz and viral marketing campaigns are powerful tools to help spread the word about your product.

Buzz: Yes there are costs to hire buzz marketing specialists to solicit volunteers. But these volunteers don’t want your money. That would make it a job. They are willing to talk – for free – to friends, family and strangers about your product because they believe in it and because you make them feel special and appreciated by giving them special access and the power to be your agents. They don’t work for you. You have collaborated with them.

Viral: Create an entertaining video and people will spread the link to friends. Create a useful widget and see a community of users grow.

Advertising -- User Generated Content

In the past, ads cost huge sums to be made and distributed. They still do. A great deal of money is spent on talent, creative types and production crews. Today, we can also enlist customers and users to make ads and content for us – for free. We post their content on YouTube. They post content on their MySpace and Facebook pages. They get the kudos and the fame; we get the publicity. And in the case of those famous Mentos/Diet Coke ads, for example, we don’t even have to solicit a user’s help.

Product Development and Market Research

In launching a product, we want feedback to help eliminate bugs and identify unforeseen glitches. It is now common practice to distribute beta versions and provide updates to customers in order for them to give you feedback. Want suggestions for new products? Build a forum or blog for customers to provide their insights and offer their ideas for new products and applications like Dell's Ideastorm. Build buzz on your blog and they will discuss your products and services on their blogs. Through inclusion, you generate loyalty and create sales.

Call Center Deflection

Tired of the high cost of 800 numbers into call centers? Build a forum where customers can seek help. Interestingly, you may discover that actual customers may volunteer their time and expertise to help others. They can provide solutions you may never have even considered. Be responsive to their needs, and you will reduce customer complaints, foster good will, facilitate engagement, and create loyal users who will spread the word about your company's commitment. Bask in the reputation enhancement.

No Such Thing as a Free Lunch

Now the not so good news. Let me be clear. Behind every viral campaign and Facebook page are real costs associated with creative thinking, strategizing, selling to clients and implementing technologies. Now more time is spent tracking and reaching out to a wider constituency. And there is a loss of control to the distribution process. You can’t dictate what your customers will say or do. But then again you can't dictate what reporters said or did either.

What you give up in control, you gain in engagement. But gaining participation requires that we make good products, deliver on our service commitments, communicate openly and honestly and as Seth Godin writes, pay attention. In this case, the payment is your time, dedication and sincerity. This is not about taking about advantage; it's about being authentic.

And getting back to that phrase “earned media.” It is that much more relevant in the social media age where earning our customer’s loyalty requires much more than a clever jingle, a one-time discount or a positive news story. It’s not about how much money you spend or don’t spend. It’s the relationships you maintain with your customers.

Free media will never replace paid – only enhance it.

Ironically, to bring the point home, I turn to a tag line in a famous ad from the world of old paid media. The ad made famous by venerable actor John Houseman told viewers that “Smith Barney makes money the old fashioned way; they earn it.”

In the context of new media, this paid, old media ad couldn’t be any more true.

Let me get back to you.

Technorati Tags: Chris Anderson; Don Tapscott; Wikinomics; Wired Magazine; Free! Why $0.00 is the Future of Business; Free Media; Earned Media; TAG; Technology Association of Georgia; 2008 Georgia Technology Summit;

Save to del.icio.us