The Sky is Falling 2.0

Photo Credit: Gary Shaw

I lamented over whether or not to write this post, but felt that it was absolutely necessary in order to stop any potential widespread panic after Dave Winer's post that semi predicts the end of Bubble 2.0.

According to Winer, "In the late 90s, we knew the end would come, and we knew what the end would look like -- a stock market crash of the dotcom sector. So, if Web 2.0 is a bubble, and if like all bubbles it bursts, how will we know when it happens? Today we got the first rumblings of the shock that will signal the end of the bubble. Google stock will crash. That's how we'll know. “

But wait, I just wrote about it surpassing $500 last week. Well today, it’s down to $491, but it closed up from yesterday’s close at $484.75.



First, let me state that I absolutely respect Winer and I’m an avid reader of Scripting News. But, are we supposed to panic now and cry that the sky is falling just because one financial publication claims that Google is overrated? What about the hundreds of analysts that predict GOOG will hit anywhere from $536 - $600 within the next twelve months, are they all wrong?

Scoble even chimed in on this subject, but to the contrary, “Google’s growth isn’t close to being done yet. Particularly internationally.”

Winer has been saying for almost a year that Web 2.0 is nothing more than an aftermarket for Google. Liz Gannes of GigaOM has even reported that many of today’s Web 2.0 companies are merely extensions to already existing products. I too have reported that advertising and Google Adsense couldn’t possibly support every new startup out there and that companies were going to have to start thinking less about being 2.0 for 2.0’s sake and more about how it will build and sustain longevity and relevance.

But, that doesn’t mean that Google will crash. In fact, many startups are pushing things forward and users are embracing tech and social media more than ever before.

And from an investment perspective, both Google and Yahoo are adding functionality and value for pennies on the dollar by gobbling up all of these innovative startups. We’re only just beginning here.

We have nothing to fear about a bubble crash, at least not yet. Winer’s post is simply crying wolf. Technically, all economic data points to a financial spike, not even a bubble yet, and with 3.0 on the horizon, I think we’re set for quite sometime.

For a funny sidenote, see these two posts I wrote for help hungry startups attract the attention of Google and Yahoo during O’Reilly’s Web 2.0 conference.




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Tags: google yahoo bubble2.0 bubble 2.0 web2.0 web+2.0 web+3.0 web3.0 dave+winer scriptingnews startups wallstreet crash burst liz+gannes Robert+scoble scobleizer

Are We Ready for Web 3.0?

www.3.0

Living in Silicon Valley has been an intoxicating and suffocating experience all wrapped up into a lavish party with gourmet food and cocktails poured through a block of chiseled ice. Everyday I live, breath, sleep everything two dot oh, and what started as a way of making the web more dynamic and interactive, is now one big pool of punch where programmers, marketers, and startup founders are the new rock stars and everyone wants to jump in to take a dip and take a sip.

At first it was playful as well as ominous, but now there’s serious development in Web 3.0 applications. Those in the know will say, yes it’s about time, we need to move on. After all, Web 2.0 is passé right? Truly, many are ready to shed the 2.0 hype and move on to something more meaningful and relevant.

But when the New York Times decided to make it official on a mass scale, it left a lot of people scratching their heads. Especially since 3.0 wasn’t really explained more than the next big thing and 2.0 still really means nothing to the masses other than the notion that it might be dotcom part two.


Courtesy of STIRR's Sean Ness

So what is Web 3.0? For quite sometime, it’s been referred to as the Semantic web.

Currently the focus of a W3C working group, the Semantic Web vision was conceived by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web. Calling it the next step in Web evolution, Berners-Lee defines the Semantic Web as “a web of data that can be processed directly and indirectly by machines.” - source

According to Markoff, “the Holy Grail for developers of the semantic Web is to build a system that can give a reasonable and complete response to a simple question like: “I’m looking for a warm place to vacation and I have a budget of $3,000. Oh, and I have an 11-year-old child.” Under today’s system, such a query can lead to hours of sifting — through lists of flights, hotel, car rentals — and the options are often at odds with one another. Under Web 3.0, the same search would ideally call up a complete vacation package that was planned as meticulously as if it had been assembled by a human travel agent.”

The Semantic Web is a web of data. The Semantic Web is about two things. It is about common formats for interchange of data, where on the original Web we only had interchange of documents. Also it is about language for recording how the data relates to real world objects. That allows a person, or a machine, to start off in one database, and then move through an unending set of databases which are connected not by wires but by being about the same thing. - source

At the end of the day, Web 3.0 is a little artificial intelligence and a whole lot more of programming intelligence. It’s about stringing the data across sites in order to provide a more informative, seamless, interconnected, and productive experience.

In anticipation of the global dominance of 3.0, Nick Carr has already locked-in Web 3.0 Conference, Web 3.0 Summit, Web 3.0 Camp, Web 3.0 Uncamp, and Web 3.0 Olde Tyme Hoedown. I’m thinking about crunch3.0, 3 point oh my god, c 3 point oh, and 3.1 anything and everything.

I will keep my eyes open for new intelligent applications and report on those I find interesting - especially as they relate to business, marketing, and communications.

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Tags: web3.0 web+3.0 john+markoff nytimes nick+carr roughtype semantic web semantic+web web2.0 web+2.0 2.0 3.0

Let's STIRR Things Up A Bit - Web 2.0 Event Soars to New Heights, Part II

Part I of the STIRR 1.8 series featured the written wrapup report. Part II is our video report, complete with interviews. Alison McNeill was on hand to capture the excitement.

Footage includes:

Frucall

Kongregate

Krugle

Liftopia

Mycroft now Inchorus

Swapthing

Techdirt

Video One - Rafe Needleman, Kongregate, Krugle



Video Two - Liftopia, InChorus, Swapthing, TechDirt (note: turn your volume up)



Congrats to Sanford Barr, Sean Ness, and Dan Arkind on the best STIRR yet.

* The video project has been a learning experience to say the least. I'm confident that our next production will have everything ironed out, including lights, sound, etc.

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Tags: swapthing stirr brian+solis futureworks futureworkspr frucall kongregate krugle liftopia charles+river crv vc venture+capital bub.blicio.us mycroft inchorus tech dirt mike+masnick

Let's STIRR Things Up A Bit - Web 2.0 Event Soars to New Heights, Part I

STIRR has set the bar pretty high, and it has earned its place as the reigning champ for monthly tech/Web 2.0 business events. Note, that I will stop using words such as "mixer" and "networking event" because they cast a horrible misconception on what STIRR is really all about.

The secret of STIRR's success is that its founders, Sanford Barr, Sean Ness, and Dan Arkind carefully screen their invite only (and wait list application) lists in order to fill the room with people that really are start-up founders, VCs, CEOs, serial entrepreneurs, bloggers, reporters, and influencers.

STIRR 1.8 was no different. In fact, I'd say that it raised the stakes again. This time, the event was held at illusions night club in Palo Alto (formerly The Edge). But there wasn't an over bearning DJ or regular club goers poisoning the mix, this was STIRR's night - and it was almost bub.blicio.us.

There was incredible food, a packed room of tech movers and shakers, and not to mention a huge stage complete with lighting. Presenters had their shot at rockstardom to kick off their 60 seconds of fame in true style.

Our own Alison McNeill was on location capturing videos (post #2 following shortly)

On to the "Original 60 Second Spot (tm)"

Host, Rafe Needleman of CNET and the new CNET Webware, kicked things off with a bang - again. He does a good job, and definitely keeps these guys on track. He also asks the questions that add relevance and perspective to the 60-second presentation.


Photo Credit, Jameson Hsu, MochiMedia

On to the presenters...


Frucall, Nasser Manesh, Co-Founder & CTO

This is a very cool service especially during this holiday shopping season. I've been using it all the time and saving a lot.All you have to do is to call Frucall (1-888-363-7822) and key in the barcode of the product you're interested in. Frucall tells you what the best online prices for that item is. You can do all kinds of other things with Frucall like purchasing the item, bookmarking, voice notes, etc.



Kongregate, Jim Greer, Co-founder & CEO

Kongregate is a casual-games start-up dedicated to creating an infectious community site for players and developers. They’re currently in an “alpha” testing phase and looking for enthusiastic players and developers of Flash games. They want to create the leading online hub for players and game developers to meet up, play games, and operate together as a community.

They're basically hoping to land recognition and compensation for aspiring game developers and make it fun and easy for people to come play. Kongregate shares microtransaction and advertising revenue with contributing developers, who retain the full rights to their games.



Krugle, Steve Larsen, Co-Founder & CEO

Krugle is a (another) search engine but this time, its specifically for developers. Krugle provides programmers a single place to quickly find the source code they need, the information they need to evaluate it, and the tools they need to share it. It quickly finds and reviews source codes, finds code-related technical information and lets you save, annotate and share your search results with others (all in one application).



Liftopia, Evan Reece, Co-Founder

Liftopia aspires to become the #1 online seller of lift tickets. Their goal is to provide you with top value lift tickets, every day of the week. Through their resort partnerships they can give serious deals, many of which can’t be found anywhere else. They’re also constantly working to bring more resorts in to Liftopia and add more selection. Good. Everything costs too much as it is. I also enjoy "Sliding on the Cheap," but this might be a better resource. We'll see.




STIRR Sponser, Charles River Ventures shook things up with the announcement of their new QuickStart program - which had the room buzzing, and, in all honesty, this is something I'm asked for my opinion on to this day.

CRV has created an innovative program to eliminate these issues and help entrepreneurs get up and running quickly - the CRV QuickStart Seed Funding Program. CRV QuickStart provides select entrepreneurs with a loan to fund the work needed to build out your idea, enabling you to explore its potential in its earliest stage before you raise a round of formal equity financing. By offering up to $250,000 in the form of a loan (also referred to as a “convertible note”), we’re providing the capital to fuel ideas without that painful seed-stage dilution.

If CRV loans your company $100,000 with a six percent interest rate, and six months later the company closed a Series A round, at that point the loan balance (with interest) would convert at a 25% discount (value = loan dollar amount plus interest / .75) into $137,333.33 worth of Series A stock. Given that seed funding amounts are typically very small compared to the amounts one might expect to raise in a Series A round, as the example illustrates, the aggregate discount amount, in this case $37K, is a tiny fraction of what tends to be a multimillion dollar Series A financing.

I find it very interesting and would like to revisit it a bit more later.

---

Other folks I had a chance to meet anc catch up with include:

Reno Marioni, CEO, pointr
Julie Sloane, Editor at large, Fortune Small Business magazine
Paul Pattison, Founder, CEO, Picture Cloud
Tara Anderson, Marketing/PR, Valleyschwag
Jennifer Gee, cofounder, Homeslyce
Kurt Collins, Manager, Business Development, PhotoBucket
Bruno Haid, Head of Strategy, System One
James Hong, cofounder, HOTorNOT
Dave McClure, Master of..., 500 Hats
Christopher Carfi (blog), CEO, Cerado, Inc.
James Yu (blog), Founder, BuzzShout
VicPodcaster, HotfromSiliconValley
Megan McCarthy, Valleywag
John Furrier, PodTech
Daya Baran, Chief Gruuve, GRUUVE and President of WebGuild
Sunny Madra, Founder, Posticky
Gregory Narain (blog), CEO/Founder, Social Roots
Jessica Hardwick (blog), CEO, SwapThing
Alexander Mouldovan, CEO, Crowd Factory
Alex Limberis, CEO, LifeBits
Min Jung Kim (blog), Marketing Manager, Photobucket
Jeffrey McManus (blog), Chief Seeker of Approval, Approver.com
Karim Tahawi, CEO & Founder, My Currency Co
Mital Poddar (blog), VP Marketing, SwapThing
Kenneth Shaw, cofounder, HomeSlyce
Benjamin Hill, Co-Founder, Mycroft (Now Inchorus)
Mike Masnick and Dennis Yang of Techdirt

I know I met many more people and I apologize if I didn't include you on the list. I need to make sure I get business cards from everyone!

Again, it was an incredible and highly productive evening. Now, I'm looking forward to STIRR's Winter Wonderland Holiday Event next month.

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Tags: lifebits homeslyce swapthing my+currency approver.com photobucket socialroots webguild gruuve crowdfactory crowd+factory stirr valleywag hotfromsiliconvalley vic+podcaster brian+solis futureworks futureworkspr pointr podtech john+furrier valleyshwag frucall kongregate krugle liftopia charles+river crv vc venture+capital odesk dave+mcclure megan+mccarthy bub.blicio.us picturecloud systemone hotornot mochi+media mycroft inchorus tech dirt mike+masnick posticky buzzshout fortune

Google Tops $500 Per Share

Search leader, and start-up gobbler, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) surpassed the $500 mark for the first time today.

This is a significant milestone which only took a little over two years to achieve - making its initial public offering of $85 per share seem like a bargain today. And, if you think about it, it really has been a meteoric rise for the pair of Stanford University graduate students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, to go from a garage to a market value of about $154 billion.

Wall Street has huge expectations for the company and analysts predict that Google will earn $13.70 per share and hit $600 per share in 2007.

Sounds like Thanksgiving will be year-round for this company. More importantly, this is an undeniable sign that the Internet/tech economy is on the rise, making the tech market very bub.blicio.us once again - not to mention the invigoration that this spurs among all entrepreneurs to innovate and succeed.

Tags: larry+page sergey+brin google bubble bubble2.0 web2.0 web+2.0 wall+street bubblicious bub.blicio.us stocks

Ladies and Gentlemen, Allow Me to Introduce bub.blicio.us

Welcome to the Bubble

Sung to Guns and Roses “Welcome to the Jungle”

Welcome to the bubble
We've got fun and games
We got everything you want,
and we know the names
We are the people that can find whoever you may need
If you got the ruby honey,
We got your VCs
In the bubble, Welcome to the bubble
watch it bring you to your na na na na na na na na knees, knees

We wanna watch you succeed

---

Aside from economic factors that point to the current tech economy as merely a spike instead of a bubble, we choose to focus on the emergence of a new social economy, which is driving tech and creating enthusiasm in the valley once again.

Welcome to bub.blicio.us!

The bubble is back baby with 2.0 times the grandeur and fun – with a little dash of humility thrown in for good measure.

After attending an overwhelming series of parties, events, and conferences, a group of dedicated professionals and talented writers decided to band together to cover the rapidly inflating bubble of events, startups, and ultimately (and hopefully) the Silicon Valley economy.

bub.blicio.us is here to help capture the excitement behind everything two point oh – especially the party and event scenes in Silicon Valley and San Francisco. No panels, no keynotes, no tradeshows, just a lens into the social scene that’s energizing and shaping Bubble 2.0 and the new Valley economy behind it.

Who are the people behind the scenes…?

Stowe Boyd, BlueWhale Labs and /Message

Greg Narain BlueWhale Labs and SocialRoots

Joanne Wan, entrepreneur, first hire at STIRR

Julie Blaustein, Photo Bucket

Moi

We’ll also have the pleasure of running contributions from special guests along the way.

Keep bub.blicio.us on your party list and send info on your events. We might just send someone out there to cover the soiree.

Contact at dontpop@gmail.com and keep an eye out for “bubblicious” on upcoming.org

Tags: bub.blicio.us bubblicious web2.0 web+2.0 web20 bubble bubble2.0 bubble+2.0 2.0 silicon+valley siliconvalley sf san+francisco joanne+wan stowe+boyd greg+narain brian+solis megan+mccarthy stirr photobucket photo+bucket socialroots pr2point0 events upcoming Julie+blaustein tech /message futureworkspr futureworks

WebGuild Hosts SEO for Web 2.0 at Google HQ

Daya Baran, president of WebGuild, let me know about an event that they are hosting on November 29 at Google.

Event focus:
* How web 2.0 companies can increase their traffic and ranking using search engines.
* Why all content can't be tucked away behind a membership login?
* How to open up internal data to the search engines without compromising user privacy?
* Structural barriers limiting indexability and maximizing the spiderability of web sites.

Event description:
Web 2.0 is making the entire internet a giant community by connecting communities of users together. User-generated content can quickly grow a web site to vast dimensions in little time. Web 2.0 companies depend heavily on communities and viral marketing to drive traffic to their sites.

However, Web 2.0 sites need to rely on search engines to attract visitors as well. But getting a Web 2.0 site to rank "well" is not as easy as it seems because there generally is less editorial control and various structural issues that can cause a lack of indexability. These issues can represent insurmountable hurdles for online visibility but they can be overcome.

Speakers:


Adam Lasnik, SEO Strategist, Google


David Hahn, Director of Advertising, LinkedIn


Markus Hoevener, Chief Visionary, Bloofusion


Joelle Kaufman, Vice President Experience, Engage.com

Moderator: Research Analyst, JupiterKagan

About Silicon Valley WebGuild:
The Silicon Valley WebGuild (SVWG) is dedicated to the advancement of web technologies to information technology professionals, by providing a collaborative environment. Our monthly meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month at Google Inc., 900 Alta Ave, Mountain View, CA 94043.

Online registration for members $7 and non-members $15.

On-site registration for members $10 and non-members $20.

Register here.

Tags: google linkedin bloofusion engage.com webguild gruuve adam+lasnik david+hahn markus+hoevener joelle+kaufman web2.0 web+2.0 2.0 daya+baran seo search search+engine indexability spiderability jupiterkagan

SF Events - Laughing Squid: Decade 2 Tonight

Scott Beale, primary tentacle at Laughing Squid, will fuse tech, culture and community tonight at the highly anticipated Laughing Squid: Decade 2 at Mighty in SF. There will be three main areas, the big room inside, a smaller side room (chill lounge area) and the outside area.

This is a must-attend event.

Master of Ceremonies:
mikl-em

Performances by:
- Mr. Lucky & The Cocktail Party featuring Ralph Carney

- Twilight Vixen Revue with special guest Anita Cocktail

- $25,000 Pyramid Scheme Game Show by RICK! and David Calkins

- Freakotronic


DJ’s
- DJ Big Daddy

- DJ tOaD & DJ timmmii

- DJ Justin Credible


Slide Show:
- Inside Mighty there will be a slide show projection featuring 1300 of Laughing Squid primary tentacle Scott Beale’s photos from the last few years.


Art Cars:
- Oh My God! by Harrod Blank

- VainVan & MondrianMobile by Emily & Ken Duffy

- Flivver by Joy Johnston

- Drala Dragon Wagon by Bruman Bjerke

- Eartha Karr by Blake More

- Grooovalicious Purple Princess of Peace by Avril Hughes

- Legojeep by Kevin Mathieu


Also Outside:
- Lights by Coil

- Neverwas Runabout

- Fire Cannon by Jon Sarriugarte

- Mars Rover, R2D2, Chapok, The Andoroid’s Bartender by David Calkins (RoboGames) and Simone Davalos (Suicide Bots)

- Photoboof by Wrybread

- BuddaHCookieS by Gaspo

- The Popcorn Guys

- Cyclecide is bringing and assortment of bikes to ride

- The Doggie Diner Dog Heads of The Holy Trinity of the Dogminican Order

Safety services donated by Mutual Aid Response Services (MARS)

The event tag is: laughingsquid11

Tags: scottbeale scott+beale laughingsquid laughingsquid11 mighty sf sanfrancisco events photos Potrero Hill Laughing Squid Brian McCarty robots Harrod Blank Ralph Carney Doggie Diner posters fire David Calkins Simone Davalos mikl-em Mighty slide show Big Daddy Freakotronic Twilight Vixen Revue Anita Cocktail Mr. Lucky The Party DJ tOaD timmmii Justin Credible BuddaHCookieS Gaspo Photoboof popcorn kettle corn Neverwas Runabout Mars Rover Laughing+Squid

Countdown to PodCamp West

Have plans this weekend? Now you do.

PodCamp West is a must-attend (oh and free) event this weekend that will cover all things related to podcasting and video blogging. Whether you're a beginner, curious or an advanced practitioner, PodCamp West is designed to help everyone, at every level, share and learn.

It's a two-day event, starting at 12 and running until 6.

Oh, but wait, I almost forgot, there are also two parties hosted by Vic Podcaster and the PodCamp West team.

There's a pre-party on Friday night at The Mint starting at 6:30. Free beer and appetizers for registered attendees.

1942 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94102, (415) 626-4726

On Saturday night, the crew is also hosting a party at Cafe Du Nord, which runs from 6 - 8.

Click here to register (and start learning and sharing) - it's free!

Tags: podcamp podcampwest podcamp+west podcast podcasting ipod video+cast vlog vlogger blog blogger podcaster hotfromsiliconvalley vic+podcaster vlogging

Web Two Oh Chronicles - November Silicon Valley NewTech Meetup

The November Silicon Valley NewTech Meetup was held at the AOL campus in Mountain View this month with over 100 entrepreneurs, VCs, bloggers, programmers and executives in attendance.

Kudos to Vincent Lauria for growing into a monthly must-attend meetup.

This time around, we tried something a bit different - video instead of pictures! Alison McNeill was out there interviewing the presenters to help viewers get a better sense and perspective of each featured company.



Fanpop - Founder Dave Lu

Fanpop represents a new generation of portals, what they call "social portals" created for the people by the people. It's a one-stop destination for fans of anything and everything and the place to find fellow devoted fans



Radio Handi - Founder Brian McConnell

Radio Handi is a suite of group communication and mobile broadcasting services, now accessible in over 30 countries worldwide.



ZapTix - Founder Christian Perry

ZapTix empowers performance groups, organizations, companies, conventions, and individuals to sell tickets and organize events online (and also stick it to Ticketmaster.)



YouSendIt - Florian Brody

YouSendIt lets businesses, professionals and consumers move big files, up to 100MB, quickly, easily, and securely.



tags: Radiohandi, zaptix, yousendit, fanpop, sf newtech meetup vincent+lauria rado+handi pr2.0 siliconvalley2.0 2.0 web2.0 web+2.0 siliconvalley silicon+valley meetro

Social Media and PR 911 - Stop the presses!

It's not social media if the rest of the PR industry isn't socializing...

I was a last-minute invite to the Bulldog Reporter Advanced PR Technology in Practice event in San Francisco on Friday to discuss Social Media and successful examples in today’s PR landscape.

I joined Sally Falkow, a fellow Social Media Club member, and Eric Schwartzman, on the “Brave New World of Social Media” panel.

Topics included:

- How Will Consumer Generated Media (CGM) Change PR Forever
- How PR Can Tap into New Social Media Networks



In the middle of my presentation, I realized that the panel might have been a little ahead of its time. While many in the audience blog, many didn’t. And, just because many PR pros blog, it doesn’t mean that they fully understand Social Media.

All of us in the Social Media realm are flying so fast and so high that we are definitely soaring over everyone’s heads – not just at the conference, but everywhere. In all honesty, this was a very insightful week, and the conference was just the icing on the cake for this realization.

This week, I wrote a series of “How to Write Social Media Press Releases” (Article #1 and #2) which culminated in the transmission of an actual Social Media Release which announced the articles and a “how to write SMPRs” template. This was my way of trying to help the masses tap into the world of SMPR. I worked with the execs over at MarketWire, and we were able to get it out over the wire. But after this week, I have reached the conclusion that these articles also need perspective and the explanation of social media and the elements that make them social – and also why.

Christie Goodman captured it best in her post, “Questions About Using the Social Media Release Format.” It was definitely an eye opener. In an impressive move, industry leaders simultaneously jumped in to help out. Kudos to Todd Defren for jumping in to also provide some helpful explanations, in his post “Basic Answers to Some Basic Questions re: Social Media News Releases.”

Mark Goodyear also had a great post that attempted to help explain things a little better in his comprehensive article, “Social Media for Dummies (and Parents).”

What I’ve learned this week…that we, as a community, need to help each other advance, while also helping everyone else “get it.”

I’ve proposed to Bulldog Reporter, and will also reach out to other organizations including PRSA,, LACP, PRWeek, among others, to work with the Social Media Club to host a series of day-long, maybe even two-day, conferences dedicated to explaining social media, one panel at a time. We can even have representatives from popular social networking and media sites on hand to answer questions, help set up accounts on-the-spot, and maybe even sponsor the events.

Here’s what I see…with everything relating back to how it benefits advertising, PR and marketing:

Session I – What is Social Media and Social Networking
Session II – What is Social Bookmarking
Session III – What is Social Photo and Video Sharing
Session IV – What are Social Content Websites and How Do They Work
Session V – What is a WIKI
Session VI – Explaining tags
Session VII – Distribution Channels, Wire Services and RSS
Session VIII – Blogs, Podcasts, Vlogs
Session IX – Social Media in Action
Session X – Blogger Relations
Session XI – Search and metrics

Of course there are a ton of other topics worth reviewing and considering. If this interests you, let’s talk. Maybe we can actually get this conference rolling.

For the complete slide deck from my presentation, jump to flickr.

For an interview that we did with Robert Scoble on Social Media, click here.

And by all means, run out and buy The Cluetrain Manifesto. It was published in 2000 and it predicted this shift and it explains, from a business perspective, the power and benefits of social media.

Also, many thanks to Greg Narain who helped me while we attended the Web2point2 conference in SF. Also, Giovanni Rodriguez, also helped me simply by publishing this brilliant post.

Please for this story at NewPR!


Tags: pr bulldogreporter bulldog+reporter publicrelations public+relations advancedpr advanced+pr pr2.0 pr+2.0 socialmedia social+media socialmediaclub greg+narain gregnarain hubbub giovanni+rodriguez prsa prweek lacp media social delicious facebook myspace cluetrain manifesto cluetrain+manifesto robert+scoble scobleizer scoble technorati todd+defren onlinepr smpr smr hrelease marketwire pressfeed sally+falkow ipressroom ericschwartzman cluetrain

SF Beta Video Interviews

As part of the continuing saga of video interviews with the latest players in tech, Alison McNeil, Jeff Smith and the rest of the PR2.0 crew headed up to SF Beta to hear poetry?

Yes, it’s true. No demos this time…just Haiku.

Presenters included:
Meetro (Vinnie Lauria / VP)
CivicEvolution (Brian Sullivan / Founder)
Rooftop Comedy (Will Rogers / Co-Founder)
ShopCastTV (Eric Swan / Founder)
The Forbin Group (Cindy Phung / Worker Bee)
BuzzShout (James Yu / Co-Founder)
Diigo (Maggie Tsai / Co-Founder)


Now on to the videos…

Video 1 – Geek Entertainment TV and Irina Slutsky, Diigo and Mary Tsai




Video 2 – CivicEvolution and Brian Sullivan, Meetro and Vinnie Lauria



Video 3 – Forbrin Group and Cindy Phung, Rooftop Comedy and Will Rogers, Sticky, Inc. and Sol Lipman, Tailrank and Kevin Burton



For the blog post of this event, click here to read.

For more pictures, please jump to the flickr stream.

See you at the next event. Click here to RSVP.

Add to del.icio.us

Tags: sfbeta civicevolution meetro vincent+lauria brian+sullivan getv irina+slutsky irinaslutsky vloggies vlogosphere diigo mary+tsai forbin forbin+group rooftop+comedy will+rogers sol+lipman sticky tailrank Kevin+burton buzzshout shopcasttv chris+perry Christian+perry pr2.0 siliconvalley2.0 2.0 zaptix

Advanced PR Technology in Practice

Today I’m speaking at the Bulldog Reporter Advanced PR Technology in Practice event in San Francisco. It is an intensive update on how to exploit the state of the art for increased visibility, greater ROI and crisis management.

From the event description: You'll bring yourself absolutely up to date on where PR technology stands today, on how to put it to use safely and cost-effectively, and on what new advances you can expect to see over the coming year. Best of all, you'll learn it all from the nation's most experienced practitioners of these techniques. They'll candidly share their war stories, successes, and mistakes—so you can move forward more confidently. In just eight intensive hours, you'll discover the most powerful techniques for increasing your visibility, improving your ROI, and managing the online conversation.

I’m participating in the “Brave New World of Social Media” panel which will cover:
- How Will Consumer Generated Media (CGM) Change PR Forever
- How PR Can Tap into New Social Media Networks
- Wiki Update for Corporate Communicators

I’ll post more on this later, along with my presentation. Many thanks to many of those who directly and indirectly helped me prepare…

Tags: pr bulldogreporter bulldog+reporter publicrelations public+relations advancedpr advanced+pr pr2.0 pr+2.0 socialmedia social+media socialmediaclub greg+narain gregnarain hubbub giovanni+rodriguez

MJAA Professional Mixer: The Road from Employee to Founder

Alison McNeill



Joanne Wan, Mixer Chair of the Monte Jade Science and Technology Association, informed us of an event we think you should know about.

Next Tuesday, Nov 14, she will be moderating a great panel (e.g. Trinity Ventures, FanPop, and Mobile80) focused on the topic of transitioning from employee to founder of your own company. The evening will also include a networking mixer filled with aspiring and current entrepreneurs.

Event Description
Stories of young Silicon Valley millionaires are popping up and startup frenzy is back again. Google’s recent acquisition of YouTube for $1.65B and BusinessWeek’s cover story on the “new brat pack of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs” have captured the imagination of young entrepreneurs itching to leave their corporate jobs. However, what does it really mean to transition from employee to founder of a company? What experiences and skills can help make that transition more successful? And how do you know when it’s time to start your own company?

Speakers
Dave Lu, Founder of Fanpop
Charles Ying, Founder of Mobile80
Tom Cole, Partner at Trinity Ventures

There will be other founders and members of the ecosystem who support founders available during the networking portion of the night who can share their experiences.

Moderator
Joanne Wan, MJAA Mixer Chair and Founding Team at STIRR, the Emerging Technology Network

Who Should Attend
- Aspiring entrepreneurs
- Individuals interested in entrepreneurship
- Recent and established founders
- The community that support startups (e.g. Venture Capitalists, Service Providers, etc.)

Registration
Please register before the event at here

Contact
Joanne Wan 415.370.3356

Date:
November 14, 2006 (Tuesday)

Time:
6:30 pm to 9:30 PM

Location:
Orrick, 1000 Marsh Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025 (Yahoo Maps , Google Maps )

Tags: joannewan joanne+wan fanpop trinity+ventures mobile80 mjaa mixer entrepreneur monte+jade

From Social Media to Corporate Media - Video Series #3

Video Series #3 - Jeremiah Owyang, Chris Heuer, and Chris Carfi.

What started as a special test program for PodTech, has now spawned a life of its own. I'm running this particular series here, in advance of PodTech, because PR2.0 is a forum for exploring the fusion of Social Media and PR as well as the bubbling activity behind the Social Media Release. The series features some very important interviews with those truly behind the evolution of Social Media.

Alison McNeil (who is a frequent contributor here) and I caught up with several influencers at the "Social Media to Corporate Media" conference in Palo Alto to talk about how social media tools can benefit corporate media (advertising, marketing and PR) and improve overall customer, press, and influencer relations along the way.

Video Three - Jeremiah Owyang (now with PodTech), Chris Huer, and Chris Carfi.


Video One - Introduction

Video Two - Robert Scoble

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Tags: chris+carfi chriscarfi chris+heuer chrisheuer robert+scoble robertscoble podtech futureworks fwpr briansolis brian+solis socialmedia social+media sm2cm media siliconvalley+2.0 siliconvalley2.0 pr publicrelations public+relations advertising marketing Podtech

Web 2.2 Starts Tomorrow - Agenda and Topics Published

Chris Heuer sent a note that the Web 2.2 agenda is coming together based on several high quality proposals that were made for the talk topics. But, they also need your input (see below).

If you have suggestions, all is not lost, as there will be open space sessions that will run concurrently (except for the Thursday morning BrainJams which they encourage everyone to participate in, and possibly the 'Surprise!' sessions.)

The Web 2.2 team is seeking feedback on the sessions - in particular by filling out a short survey that they posted to the Blog last night.

They're looking for two things on each session;

1) Your level of interest in the topic so that they can determine if a given session should remain in the main room or move to the Open Space area – and, if another one proposed for the open space has enough interest, we may need to swap them out.

2) They also want to gather as many of your questions or suggested resources for each session beforehand as possible, so that they may be given to the discussion leaders to use.

Alright...what are you waiting for? Jump over there now and give them your two point two cents!

Tags: web +2.0 web2.0 unconference web2.2 brainjams socialmediaclub saas socialnetwork siliconvalley socialmedia

How to Write a Social Media Press Release - Part II

"How to Write" a Social Media Press Release Template Now Available

In Honor of the 100th Birthday of the Press Release, New Worksheet Explains Social Media and the Process of Writing SMPRs

See example, history, and additional information here.

I. Headline:
Insert a short, compelling headline that features keywords, not buzzwords, to attract attention and legitimate interest by those who cover your space as well as potential customers.

II. Sub Headline:
The Subhead should further explain why someone should continue reading, providing a bit more clarity to the news

III. News Summary:
List a few compelling features of what, why, and who cares…do not use buzzwords or hyperbole (and try to keep the entire release below 400 words). You can use bullets or sentences or a combination of both.

IV. Quotes:
Not every press release needs a quote, especially if the quote doesn’t lend anything to the value of the information. If a quote is necessary, there are a couple of ways to implement into the SMPR.

Corporate Quote:
Please do not start with, "We are excited…" or "We are thrilled…" Keep the quote on target explaining why this is a significant milestone.

Expert or customer quote (if necessary):
Keep it related to the news and how the product/service benefits customers in real world applications.

V. Market Facts and Relevant Links:
Use del.icio.us or other social media-driven site to collect relevant facts about the company, product, competition, and state of the market and present it all through one link.

One Link Example:
http://del.icio.us/FutureWorksSMPR

Or you can provide the relevant links in its own category of the SMPR.

Multiple Links Example:
How To Write an SMPR – http://future-works.com/about/103106_htg.html

Todd Defren’s SMPR template – http://www.pr-squared.com/2006/05/the_social_media_press_release.html

Examples of social media press releases –
http://www.spiralfrog.com/socialmedia.aspx?control=spiralfrog-kochrecords20sep06.ascx

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/8/prweb428622.htm

http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=162010

Evolution of social media press releases – http://www.briansolis.com/2006/10/evolution-of-social-media-press.html

SocialMediaClub – http://www.socialmediaclub.com

Social Media Releases - http://www.socialmediarelease.org

VI. Company Info:
Add a few sentences about the company, but leave out "XXX is a leader…" and other filler, posturing language. Don’t make it too long, you can always link to a corporate backgrounder or additional information.

VII. Image/s Link:


Include a link to images, and the best way to do so is to use a social media photo sharing services such as flickr or zooomr. The best part about social media is the ability to not only share your photos with bloggers and reporters, but with the right tags, the pictures can make their way onto the desktops of anyone searching for similar products/services for consumption and sharing.

For example, if you go the link below, you will see a set of images that I created for the purpose of sharing artwork with PR/marketing writers interested in the launch of the Social Media Club. I’ve also tagged each photo with several different tags, including "socialmediaclub" and "social media" so that others can find these images when they’re searching for photos related to the subjects.

Example:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/briansolis/sets/72157594290369491/

VIII. RSS Link:

RSS is a simple XML-based system that allows users to subscribe to their favorite websites and blogposts. Using RSS, webmasters can put their content into a standardized format, which can be viewed and organized through RSS-aware software or automatically conveyed as new content on another website. Now, this capability can be used for bloggers, reporters and customers to subscribe to future news directly.

Example:
http://www.future-works.com/cutenews/rss.php?category=2

or

http://www.briansolis.com/atom.xml

IX. Technorati Tags:

Technorati tracks the number of links and the perceived relevance of blogs, as well as the real-time nature of blogging.

What’s important for you to know about Technorati allows users to search by "tags" or keywords to help you identify who’s talking about your areas of interest. With Social Media Press Releases, readers will now also have access to your news – if tagged and published correctly.

For example, this "how to" will carry many keywords, tags, and links, with "PR" and "SMPR" among them. Behind the words, the following tag will be hyperlinked, http://technorati.com/tag/PR and http://technorati.com/tag/smpr and updated at Technorati. So for example, if someone searches "PR" as a tag or as a keyword, this article will hopefully appear in the list.

For more information on tags, please visit:
http://www.technorati.com/help/tags.html

Example:

For the tag "futureworks", it would look like this
FutureWorks - http://technorati.com/tag/futureworks

Remember to use best practices and publish only relevant and necessary tags – do not promote tag spam.

X. Bookmarks:
It’s important to give readers a way to save the link, using their favorite tools. The whole concept here is that you provide a means to enable social bookmarking which allows other people to find and share favorite things on the web.

It’s also a good idea to provide suggested tags (or tag beacons) to help track pickup and encourage sharing all under a common umbrella

Example:
Tag Beacons: socialmedia press+releases public+relations PR brian+solis todd+defren chris+heuer socialmediaclub SMR socialmediarelease

Save to Del.icio.us

XI. News Sharing, Digg, NewsVine
These sites tap into the potential reach of user powered content. Every article on digg and Netscape is submitted and voted on by their communities. By placing a link to these sites in the release, users can help share, discover, bookmark, and promote your news.

Example:

Digg

NewsVine

XII. Contact Info:
Add contact info here. Please include relevant info, email, cell, and any IM client you may use.

Also, insert link to vcard, see example below:
http://0301.netclime.net/1_5/M/6/2/Brian%20Solis.vcf

# # #

A Note About Distribution:
Several wire services reach traditional media, but integrate social media optimization (SMO) and search engine optimization (SEO) elements as well to appeal to bloggers (because the releases can provide the information in a format that they can appreciate).

These services include:

Marketwire (traditional, SEO - working on SMO) - Marketwire distributed the example release.

PRWeb (traditional, SMO, SEO)

PRNewswire (traditional, SEO, multimedia)

Businesswire (traditional) and the new, pseudo SMO BusinessWire (alliance with PRWeb)

Weblogwire (traditional - but only tech bloggers subscribe to this service)

PRXbuilder - (SMO specific, aligned with PRNewswire)

Tags: Briansolis brian+solis todd+defren chris+heuer socialmedia social+media futureworks futureworkspr smpr publicrelations pr public+relations press+release press+releases pressreleases pr2.0 pr20 pr+2.0 newpr seo smo media

Interview with Robert Scoble - From Social Media to Corporate Media

Video Series #2 - Robert Scoble

What started as a special test program for PodTech, has now spawned a life of its own. I'm running this particular series here, in advance of PodTech, because PR2.0 is a forum for exploring the fusion of Social Media and PR as well as the bubbling activity behind the Social Media Release.

Alison McNeil (who is a frequent contributor to this blog) and I caught up with Scoble at the recent "Social Media to Corporate Media" conference in Palo Alto to talk about how social media tools can benefit corporate media (advertising, marketing and PR) and improve overall customer, press, and influencer relations along the way.

Video Two - Robert Scoble


The series includes some very important interviews with those truly behind the evolution of Social Media, including Jeremiah Owyang, Chris Heuer, and Chris Carfi.

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From Social Media to Corporate Media - Video Series #1

Well, it's a long time coming but we finally got everything edited and published for you to enjoy.

What started as a special program for PodTech (official program to be announced soon), has now spawned a life of its own. I'm running this particular series here, in advance of PodTech, because of the fusion of Social Media and PR and the bubbling activity behind the Social Media Release.

There are some very important interviews with those truly behind the evolution of Social Media and its influence on marketing, PR and advertising, including Robert Scoble, Jeremiah Owyang, Chris Heuer, and Chris Carfi.

I'll run this over the next couple of days, so enjoy!

Video One - Setting the Stage
Brian Solis and Chris Heuer



Feel free to forward passed my intro directly to Chris' welcome speech.


Tags: chris+carfi chriscarfi chris+heuer chrisheuer robert+scoble robertscoble podtech futureworks fwpr briansolis brian+solis socialmedia social+media sm2cm media siliconvalley+2.0 siliconvalley2.0

This week: The Art of Start and Launch: Silicon Valley

My friend Zoli Erdos let me know about two important events coming up this week. On November 8, 2006, make plans to attend The Art of Start and Launch Silicon Valley produced by SVASE and Garage.com.

The Art of the Start is a conference dedicated to helping entrepreneurs succeed. It runs from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Start-up authority and popular business author Guy Kawasaki and experts from Garage, along with Silicon Valley leaders and mavericks, venture capitalists, and successful start-up CEOs will explore the art of starting up.Conference attendees will learn:How things have changed on the investment scene.What it takes to get funded today.How to run and build your business by crafting an ecosystem. How to get a reasonable valuation.So check out the conference agenda and ask yourself what you could learn at this exciting conference...a lot!

But wait…there’s more.

Make sure you also check out Launch: Silicon Valley!

Starting one hour after The Art of Start, Launch: Silicon Valley will kick things off at 4:30 in the same location.

The first ever "Launch: Silicon Valley" event is designed to uncover and showcase the most exciting startups in high technology.

Launch: Silicon Valley will feature new companies that are ready for launch, but are not already well-known. These are companies who have a product or service available (as of November 8), but have not been out for more than several months.

30 startups with innovative solutions to real world problems have been selected to exhibit, serving markets including Medical Devices, Security, Clean Energy, Enterprise Search, Gaming, CAD, Digital Media, BioTech, Consumer, and Web 2.0.

Launch: Silicon Valley is not a pitchfest or a beauty pageant. Companies will not be pitching for funding; they will be looking for buzz, customers, mindshare, and possibly talent and partners.
“The drought of the past few years is over and venture capital is flowing again. But starting a high tech business is no less challenging and demanding than it’s ever been, even in an environment of venture capital overhang,” according to Garage.com.

Location:Microsoft Building 1, 1065 La Avenida St, Mountain View, CA 94043



Tags: zoli svase garage garage.com zolir+erdos startup artofstart launch+siliconvalley silicon+valley web+2.0 web2.0 guy+kawasaki guykawasaki microsoft launch vc venturecapital venture+capital

Web Two Oh Chronicles - November SF NewTech Meetup

Organized by Joel Sacks, CNET and Marketing Strategist at BuzzShout, and Myles Weissleder, SF NewTech Meetup celebrated yet another new milestone of over 600 members.

The November SF NewTech seemed to come up pretty quickly this time. And, it rained again (October’s event greeted us with rain as well) – let’s hope this isn’t a pattern!

As usual Myles kicked things off to what had to be the largest turnout yet. The event attracted the usual faces, with some new additions as well, including CEOs, founders, VCs, programmers, bloggers, and a reporter (Rafe Needleman of course.) Quick tangent here, I think it’s very cool that Rafe takes the time to stay tapped into the community.

The only thing that I would like to see improved for the next meetup is the removal of all PowerPoint decks. Demos are cool and. I'm there to see new tech. Slides are boring and very 1.0.



First up...iStumbler.com


Alf Watt, iStumbler.com



Myles described it in advance, “Alf is one of my oldest friends in San Francisco. He has been working on his revolutionary wireless discovery tool for Mac for a long time and he's excited to share it with us. It's called iStumbler and it's pretty damn cool.

iStumbler is a wireless discovery tool for Mac OS X, providing plugins for finding AirPort networks, Bluetooth devices and Bonjour services with your Mac.

----

Bart Myers, GUBA, the grand daddy of online video



Sort of a cross between Bittorrent and YouTube, GUBA is an online entertainment destination where users can browse, download, share and buy user-generated content, as well as hundreds of movies and TV shows. Their site advertises movies for $0.99 and TV shows for $0.49.

Using, GUBA, GUB’ers (just made that up) can download content to their PC, iPod, PSP, and other portable devices. Users can watch videos in Flash, QuickTime, Windows Media formats, and can stream videos in their home network using Windows Media Center and Apple's Front Row technology.

Founded in 1998, GUBA is privately held company and headquartered in San Francisco.
When asked, Why GUBA, Myers replied, “We’re cooler. It’s not just a place to get a movie, it’s a place to find entrainment and watch it, when you want to, how you want to.”

---


Veronica Belmont, Molly Wood, CNET TV



CNET TV is striving to become a popular destination wit its unique design and personalization features, which includes a virtual remote control, a “draggable” interface so users can move things around, full-screen playback, playlists, and customizable channels and backgrounds. With more than 30 original videos produced each week and a library of thousands of videos,

CNET TV gives people a single destination to easily find the latest videos on their favorite technology products and topics. Video features include the Buzz Report, Car Tech, Insider Secrets, Prize Fight and First Look from the Lab that help consumers figure out what gadgets to buy and how to get the most out them.

It also makes a selection of the site’s popular video content available for distribution on television.

----


Mital Poddar, Swapthing.com



Based in Cupertino, SwapThing enables the swapping (trade and barter) of any combination of items and services between consumers and small businesses, as well as direct purchases. SwapThing is swap-based, as opposed to auction-based, allowing completely private, one-on-one negotiations. SwapThing offers free registration and listing for items, with a low transaction fee of $1.00 for each exchange of goods.

The company also introduced SwapServices, which allows small businesses, service providers, and independent professionals to advertise their business, swap services, and save money.Mital also mentioned that the company’s Swapcircles equals its secret sauce.

a SwapCircle is a community of individuals who identify with a particular activity, locality or other commonality. SwapCircles provide a new way to swap goods and services amongst trusted swappers with similar hobbies or interests. SwapCircles are customizable with a group's logo and mission, as well as displaying the items listed by the members under one umbrella, and also provide a private forum for members to talk, swap, and share ideas and stories.Currently, there are over 50,000 swappers using SwapThing, and over 3,000,000 items and services listed.
When asked about the biggest swap she knew about, Poddar replied, “A Maserati for two jet skis!”

----



Joost shreve, Everytrail.com



A last minute addition to the line-up, Everytrail.com was created by a small group of passionate travel and outdoor enthusiasts, out of dissatisfaction with current solutions to share trips with friends and likeminded people.

EveryTrail is an online platform that enables hikers and adventurers to visualize their travel and outdoor activities and even share them with likeminded people all over the world. Users can easily upload GPS data recorded while out on the trail and even add photos and notes, to create a visual record of their outdoor activity.

I see this for having huge opportunities not just for hikes, but also boating (throughout the delta for example. What a way to chart a course, without having to buy an expensive chartplotter. Of course, mountain bikers, skiers, snowboarders, kayakers, etc. can benefit from this technology as well.

The service just needs the ability to provide a printed map service, which according to Joost, are on the way.

---


Vic Podcaster, Joanne Wan, and Ben Wan


James Yu of BuzzShout


Scott Beale of Laughing Squid and Vic Podcaster of HotfromSiliconValley


In the shot, Stowe Boyd, Rafe Needleman, Niall Kennedy

For additional pictures, jump over to flickr.

This month’s event was sponsored byFutureWorks PR for emerging companies (Andrew Lane Wines)

Jacobs & Ferraro, LLP Tech-focused legal firm (beer and snacks.)

The Forbin Group Infrastructure design solutions for business (pizza) Joel Sacks and CNET for the space!

Tags: everytrail sf newtech meetup scott+beale scottbeale niallkennedy niall+kennedy vic+podcaster vicpodcaster hotfromsiliconvalley cnet rafeneedleman rafe+needleman stoweboyd stowe+boyd ben+wan benwan joannewan joanne+wan swapthing istumbler futureworks cnettv cnet+tv guba buzzshout joel+sacks james+yu veronica+belmont

The Evolution of Social Media Press Releases - NMR Cast #10

Chris Heuer, Shel Holtz, and I recorded the latest edition of the New Media Release NMRCast for Shel's award-winning For Immediate Release (FIR) podcast.

The New Media Release Podcast, episode 10 can be downloaded here, heard directly from the FIR page, or subscribed to via the NMRCast feed. Also, the Apple iTunes subscription is now available here or by searching for NMRCast at the Apple iTunes store under “podcasts.”

Content Summary:
Chris Heuer, Brian Solis, Shel Holtz. talk about Social Media Release requirements, SMR and traditional press releases, SMR metrics, and the latest on the Working Group progress.

In This Edition:
The new Social Media Release site, home of the social media release requirements
Google Groups mailing list for New Media Release discussion (please join!)

Download the file here (MP3, 29.1 MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as Juice, DopplerRadio, iTunes or Yahoo! Podcasts, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

Please vote for this story at NewPR!

Tags: social+media, pr, onlinepr, newpr, pr2.0, socialmediaclub, chris+heuer, chrisheuer, briansolis, brian+solis, futureworks, publicrelations, public+relations, todd+defren, chris heuer, technorati, socialmedia, smpr, seo, smo, shelholtz, forimmediaterelease, fir, socialmediarelease

How to Write a Social Media Press Release, Why, and What It All Means

As a function of the Social Media Club, Chris Heuer and I were recently discussing Social Media Press Releases with a reporter at a PR trade magazine when we realized just how many people have yet to even learn about the fundamentals of social media. For example, as we were defining the building blocks of an SMR (social media release), Chris stopped and asked the interviewer if she knew what a “tag” was. That was a great question, it turns out, because the answer was no.

That’s when we realized, as we reach out to traditional PR channels, we are definitely flying over the heads of the masses – at least for now. Social Media is not only for the elite or early adopter; it's for everyone that cares about doing a good job and engaging with target markets. With that, it’s important that we take a couple of steps back in order to help everyone understand the benefits of Social Media and most importantly, learn how to implement Social Media Optimized (SMO) campaigns to more effectively converse with customers and encourage them to share information amongst each other.

I reached out to my friend Lee Oden over at TopRank Online Marketing and he had this to say about the subject, "Due to the increasingly social and sharing nature of the web and the increasing importance of press releases as direct to consumer communication tools, it is important for marketers and public relations professionals to adjust their message format and delivery to correspond with the needs of today's web savvy audience. Another motivator for using social media with news releases is that editorial resources at many publications are running thinner than ever and expected to do more with less."

Exactly.

Technologies such as RSS, tags, SMO, social bookmarking, etc., are ineffective if you don’t have a grasp on what they are, how they work and how you can benefit from them.

The point of this discussion is two-fold, one to help grasp the premise of social media in order to then take it to the next level with an SMPR, and two, how to write more effectively.

It’s also important to understand that just because SMPRs provide a new format for delivering news, and, wire services provide a new push channel for companies to broadcast to bloggers, it doesn’t mean that bloggers/reporters will automatically pull your information.

As one reporter put it when learning about SMPRs, “You mean I can get the same poorly written press release in a whole new format, with fake, useless executive and customer quotes, so that I can deconstruct the content in order to figure out what the news really is?”

Great point…new technology and poor writing, still equal a bad press release.

I’ve heard many discussions lately surrounding PR 101 in regards to writing press releases. Everyone says, write well, write clearly, get to the point, reduce hyperbole, etc. But as with every educational institution, there are always different “schools” of thought on how to write well. So PR 101 doesn’t mean much if you didn’t learn the right things along the way. This really shouldn’t be open to various interpretations. Take the following advice at its core and don’t deviate from it.

Bloggers, like traditional reporters, are busy people. They will never ever get from a release what your product marketing and marketing department try to shove into it.

Another way to create a “better” press release is to think about it as taking the news release you would have written and then condensing it into a solid pitch letter. Get to the hook and the relevance ASAP. The process forces you to distill what really is important, why, and to whom it impacts. The end result should be a compelling, SMPR which bloggers — and honestly, traditional reporters, too — will appreciate.

For those who may need to catch up with the history…this was inspired by Tom Foremski's original post, Die Press Release, Die Die Die, where he tells the PR industry that things cannot go along as they are…business as usual while mainstream media goes to hell in a hand basket. In turn, Todd Defren of Shift Communications introduced his Social Media Press Release Template and it was extremely well received.

To help PR professionals create Social Media Press Releases, I developed a “how to” guide, using a social media format, to help put things in perspective.

I’m often asked, will SMPRs replace traditional PRs? The answer is no. In fact, many new media PR practitioners write and distribute both, or a fusion of the two.

I contacted Todd Defen - since he's the recognized expert on SMPR templates - and he offered this powerful thought, "It’s important to understand that the Social Media News Release is not intended as a replacement for the traditional news release. It’s an evolution. The SMNR’s core function is simply to allow creators of news to leverage the Web familiarity that is now ingrained in consumer audiences. With 50+ percent of consumers now creating and sharing content online (Pew Research), it just makes sense to democratize access to corporate news and multimedia assets to anyone (reporters, bloggers, laypeople) who might be interested, and, to create a forum for community and context that – to date – has been unavailable via old-world press releases.”

Amen.

Social Media Press Releases do not replace traditional releases, they complement them - much in the same way that Social Media activities and campaigns work best in concert with traditional PR initiatives. Together, Social Media + PR delivers a more effective communications program that actually "thinks about" and strives to "satisfy" the needs of your customers.

Click here to follow through to the Social Media “How To” guide.

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Tags: socialmedia socialmediaclub todddefren todd+defren chrisheuer chris+heuer briansolis brian+solis smpr pr publicrelations public+relations mediarelations bloggerrelations blogger+relations futureworks onlinepr newpr tomforemski tom+foremski pressreleases pressrelease press+release