The next big break for media clippings will be when WSJ.com does away with it’s paid content.

My Two Cents: Web 2.0 is still evolving and it behooves us to figure it out before it becomes Web 3.0.

You know, I am a relative newcomer to the PR field, but I think I see where executives have a hard time with PR. Executives are concerned with value, and PR, unlike advertising, doesn’t always bring immediate results–especially big immediate results. Ask Russ how long it took to get articles published about his clients in top tier publications, it is very much a relationship process, and how many of us can go out and become best friends with someone in only one day? (Execs and shareholders don’t want to wait that long)

PR’s eternal struggle will be to bring and show value. I had a manager who believed that PR was not measurable. As desireable as this was, it simply wasn’t true. If PR wants to keep its seat at the C-suite table, it needs to show results, it needs to show how it meets the bottom line. Where I see a struggle today is with new and emerging communication channels, how do you measure the effect of a YouTube video for your client? How do you measure the value of a Podcast or blog? The PR Pros who succeed in demonstrating value in these media will be very successful.

A number of people of have commented on using Digg. Read Greg Hartnett’s post and comments; Steve Rubel’s thoughts and responses; another post here and here.

My Two Cents: I recently had a good friend Digg a news release about a client. At first I felt this was a misuse of Digg, but after further thought, I think to Digg one’s own release is just a step beyond putting the Digg link on the release page. I mean, with so many news sources on the net, why not cut through the clutter and get the story in the communications channel? Where I see it being a problem is if the entire agency and client Diggs the article and creates a pseudo-popularity and I think crosses a line. What are your thoughts?

I am probably one of the last to hear about youtube and the lonelygirl15.com hoax/stunt??? It was brought to my attention by Mike Pogue of the New York Times.

My Two Cents: This youtube event reminds me of the .com vs .org discussion wherein we need to know the source of information to determine credibility. I am not familiar with thelonelygirl15 story but from the sounds of it, it’s pretty innovative, regardless of who is promulgating the videos and site. The danger I see is that, in an era when trust and transparency are in more and more demand, events like this can blur the lines and hurt credibility. Time will tell, and again, this is part of the learning curve.

What do you think? How important is disclosure in advertising? Do you see this as detrimental to corporate or brand trust?

As a communicator, I really get a kick out of the new communications channels the Internet has provided, and podcasting is cool because it is tech-heavy, i.e., it requires a little bit of techknowledge in order to put it out there. The problem I have is this: How many people are going to use/listen to my podcast?

My gut tells me that tons of people know what a podcast is, thanks to Steve Jobs’ iPod. But I think, and my good friend Russ Page agrees, the curve for adoption from there drops off big time. Now ask people if they’ve listened to a podcast, probably a pretty good response, but then get into “Do you listen to the podcasts you subscribe to on a regular basis?”; “Do you know how to subscribe to a podcast?”; “Do you know how to create a podcast?” I base much of this off of my own experience, I listen to podcasts from time to time, I even subscribe to a handful, but because my work is thought intensive, I really can’t listen to the podcast during the day, and that doesn’t leave a lot of other time for me to listen to the podcast.

I think podcasting is a valuable tool, but it needs a little more education to speed up the adoption process. According to the Pew Institute, an April 2005 report stated that more than 22 million Americans own an Ipod or an mp3 player, of those, 29 percent have downloaded a podcast. that’s 6 million people. Definitely a lot, but the study doesn’t show repeat use, and can’t say for certain if the podcast was actually listened to–which as a communicator is very important. The research was also limited to those older than 18.

Here are some other interesting points:

• There are no differences between men and women owners of iPods/MP3 players
when it comes to podcasting. They are equally likely to have downloaded
podcasts.
• Nearly half of those who own iPods/MP3 players between the ages of 18-28 have
downloaded podcasts, compared to about 20% of the owners iPods/MP3 players
over age 29 who have done so.
• Somewhat surprisingly, there is no notable gap between those who have
broadband access and dial-up users when it comes to podcasting. Some 33% of
the owners of iPods/MP3 players who have broadband at home have downloaded
podcasts and 28% of those who have dial-up at home have done so. This is not a
statistically significant difference.

My Two Cents: I think it is still an evolving channel and given the adoption rate thus far, it may prove to be a quickly growing channel that is growing exponentially. At the very least, I think that a podcast can be a great additional resource, I would use a podcast to compliment a fact sheet or bio, it would add some audio that investors or journalists might be interested in listening to.
What do you think? Have you had success/failure with podcasting? Do you think it is a viable channel?

I think the problem with any new media channel is that we don’t quite know how to use it. Like a new born baby figuring out how to use its arms and legs, we know the channel is there and that it works, but it hasn’t been put to the test like many traditional media, i.e., regulated!

The other sad fact is that there are those in our industry who are dishonest–I know, I had a hard time believing it too when I found out. We definitely benefit from the nature of social media which relies on a very symmetrical, all-way communication model. If someone were to abuse a new media channel like Digg or Del.icio.us or YouTube, it is probably safe to say that there are enough of us are opinionated to say something and reverse or stop the abuse before it becomes a trend.

My Two Cents: the ease of use of new media channels does not remove the learning curve–in some cases, like YouTube, the novelty may serve to steepen the curve.

What do you think?