One of the interesting impacts that the web 2.0 revolution has had is the shift in who decides what’s newsworthy. A couple of things have led to this change in the flow of communication, and I’ll start with blogs. The idea here is that each individual blogger gets to decide what’s worth writing about based on their own opinions and interests. This means that stories that might not have had a place in traditional media might still be of interest to a blogger and gain coverage nonetheless.
For consumer brands, the conversation has already extended into blogs, so it would definitely be wise to monitor what’s being said from a PR perspective. One example mentioned in Deirdre Breakenridge’s PR 2.0, which I reviewed in my first post, is Starbucks. If someone posts on their blog how they had to wait 20 minutes to be served one day at a particular location, you might just conclude that it’s a one-off experience and thus not worth looking into. However, if when monitoring the blogosphere you discover that a large number of people have complained recently about a long waiting time at Starbucks, it could be a reflection of a larger operations issue that the company should be made aware of.
Speaking of service at Starbucks, this is a pretty funny, loosely related video. Just for fun!
For non-consumer PR, a blog can be a great place to establish or reinforce a brand’s position. As mentioned in a previously posted Q&A, blogs can serve as the company’s authoritative voice, so what’s written on a blog by a company can potentially be quite influential. For example, if an architecture firm wanted to position itself as an industry leader in sustainable design, they could have one of their executives who is particularly experienced or qualified in that area start a blog. The whole focus of the blog would of course be sustainable design and by having the executive express his or her own viewpoints and convey their knowledge on the subject, it would contribute to the firm’s credibility in the area as well.
Another site that challenges what we define as news is Digg. Content is submitted by users – including news, videos and images – and users who read it either Digg it or Bury it. Content is ranked based on overall popularity so the collective community decides what is newsworthy and not editors.
Finally, I’d like to look at iReport. This topic was again mentioned in the previous Q&A, and many networks have done something similar but this is CNN’s version. Citizen journalists are encouraged to send in their own stories or they can choose an assigned topic from a list that CNN provides. Not only are stories featured on the website, but they have the potential to be featured on CNN’s national broadcast, which motivates people to participate.
All of these new media sites challenge the traditional channels of communication between PRs, the media and the public. The interesting thing to see will be how both industries continue to adapt and incorporate new media and change the way they interact with each other – only time will tell!
