The Intersection of Online and Offline

This past weekend, I wrote a review in Media Bullseye about PR Week’s Media Survey. It was interesting to read and fun to write.

The text of the article is here, but my main point is that where “old media” is bumping up against “new media” is in a few primary areas:

• Immediacy - hello, 24/7 news cycle;
• Speed - sometimes causes errors;
• Skillz - PR professionals and j-school graduates will have to develop new skills(z) like video and podcasting; and
• Can’t we all just get along? Don’t start singing kum-ba-ya just yet. The print journalists and bloggers I have met mix like Diet Coke and Mentos.

Fun to read, fun to write.

Mark

PS - Since it is always good for a laugh and I managed to work it in to the posting, here’s the Diet Coke and Mentos clip:

OK.

Full disclosure.

I am in the tank the for Eaglon Publishing, a la Custom Scoop and Media Bullseye, for whom I occasionally contribute articles. Well fulfilling the vision of the visionaries like Chip Griffin, Steve Bracy, Phil Charles, Sarah Wurrey, and Jen Zingsheim, the print edition is now out. Cool.

It’s a great read, and there are a lot of really smart people who contribute as well; thought leaders like: Chris Brogan, Nathan Burke, Mike Driehorst, Dave Fleet, Susan Getgood, Doug Haslam, Shel Holtz, Lee Hopkins, Kami Huyse, Sandy Kalik, Steve Kayser, Albert Maruggi, Adele McAlear, Ian Muir, Ike Pigott, Chris Thilk, Laura P. Thomas, Rick Turoczy, Lauren Vargas, John Wall, Dan York.

Congratulations, guys. Can’t wait to literally get my hands on one.

Mark

POne of the main challenges that public relations and communications professionals face is that when something new comes out that we “get” as a legitimate way to spread the word, we often face at best, blank stares, and at worst, derision.

Hence, Twitter.

The first time I heard of Twitter, I too thought that it was someone describing my stereo speakers that play treble. Not so. Sure, a lot of people use it to talk about what their cat had for dinner, but it is undoubtedly a tool with legitimate business applications.

Marketing Vox says it better than I can:

Enterprise blogging has been lauded for its ability to “humanize” a company and make distant executives feel available to ground-floor customers. Twitter can serve the same purpose much more quickly.

Twitter spearheads the “microblogging” trend, where people air thoughts and share information in real-time while observing a 140-character limit. Here are tips for getting the most out of it:

Subscribe generously. Twitter is among the only social media brands where the subscriber:subscribed ratio is reversed. Most users follow a higher number of people than the number following them.

Don’t just be casual; be personal. Enterprise blogging works best when a blogger is frank about what’s happening in his company. But it is generally understood that the blogger will not discuss his personal life.

There’s a lot more to learn about Twitter (and I am still learning), including Dan York’s blog post about how Twitter needs to deal with its outages.

But for those of you who are pushing a new media rock up an old media hill, remember that making the case for business applications is critical.

Mark

P.S. You can follow my Twitter page here.