The 3D movie fad is nothing new. Yet, after the 2011 re-release of The Lion King in 3D the fad seems to be getting bigger and bigger. With an increased number of 3D movie releases in theaters, I can’t help but notice that so many are just old movies that are being re-released. What a genius way to create profit! These movies wrapped production years ago, factored in budgets years ago, and already generated revenue for movie tickets and home sales. Now, to add a twist to them with minor post-production changes, 3D movies are creating a whole new field of easy revenue.

This being said, I’m not completely sold on the 3D idea. I don’t like when the movie is so 3D that objects are jumping in front of my face or when I start to feel motion sick. Yet, with the older movies that are now being converted to 3D, I’ve learned they aren’t as “3D” as we know it, but rather a layered look and 3D true to its definition.

Recently I went to a 3D showing of my old favorite, Beauty and the Beast from 1991. After the initial embarrassment of putting on the huge 3D glasses, I got to really enjoy the viewing. I remembered some dialogue by heart and was pleased that the beast wasn’t flying out into the theater to greet me. All in all, it was a positive experience where I took time aside to view a classic in its entirety.

Will I go see Titanic 3D this spring? Probably.  Yes, I have spent the infamous three hours and 14 minutes watching this film previously (ok, many times previously). However, I just can’t resist seeing it on the big screen again. For me, the draw isn’t so much for the 3D thrill, but rather for the nostalgia of the movie itself. Why not revisit an old favorite but on the big screen?

What do you think about companies like Disney and Disney Pixar cashing in on old hits re-released? Do you plan to see any of the 3D re-releases in 2012 and 2013? This list may tempt you: Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc. and The Little Mermaid. Non-Disney 3D releases expected for this year are: Godzilla, Madagascar 3, Men in Black 3, Untitled Spider-man Reboot, and Untitled Batman Project.

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Bio: After receiving a B.A. in communications, and briefly working at a TV production studio, Andrea began volunteering abroad. This lead her to work in the non-profit world, where she was fortunate enough to learn about international education, women’s empowerment and social issues for the elderly, while traveling to over a dozen countries.  Since joining BurrellesLuce in 2011, Andrea is excited to share her thoughts and views on branding, social media, and communications with the growing Fresh Ideas audience, as well as her passion for cultural awareness, volunteerism, and sustainable efforts. Twitter: @AndreaCorbo; Facebook: BurrellesLuce; LinkedIn: BurrellesLuce

“until neither the Plain nor the Star-Bellies knew whether this one was that one… or that one was this one or which one was what one… or what one was who.”

The last few month, the news out of the “television” world has been very Seuss-like to say the least:

At this year’s winter TV press tour Kevin Reilly, entertainment president, Fox Broadcasting Company, revealed that his network plans to use web content as a development tool for the airwaves. “Something that starts in digital could be the next big primetime hit… We have an expertise, and a history, and proficiency, and a primetime audience base,” he confirms in this Atlantic.com article about 5 Ways the Networks Want to Change How You Watch TV. Reilly goes on to use Web Therapy starring Lisa Kudrow (of Friends fame) as one example of a web-only series that has successfully made the switch and is now aired on Showtime.

In an effort to kick start their declining subscription base, Netflix is beginning to act more like a network rather than your average streaming video provider. By jumping into the original programming waters, Netflix plans to release three new series in 2012 – starting with Lilyhammer, a crime comedy set in Norway’s former Winter Olympics headquarters, starring The Soprano’s Steven Van Zandt. Not to be outdone and fresh off a year where they realized 60 percent revenue growth in 2011, the web streaming service Hulu is launching its first ever original scripted series. Battleground, a mockumentary series described as “The Office meets The West Wing, premieres February 14, explains, this opinion brief on TheWeek.com.

And remember when YouTube was just a site where you could watch short clips of people doing funny and unusual things? Well, last week Reuters joined CNN and the BBC by unveiling its own channel to be shown on the popular video sharing site. The channels will show original content from Reuters on YouTube, which will allow them to leverage an army of over 3,000 reporters worldwide.

I doubt all the players involved with getting content to the masses will end up in blissful harmony like our friends the Sneetches, but it should be fun watching them run from one machine to the next having their green stars removed and re-added over again.

What are your thoughts? Please share them with me here on BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.

Flickr Image: Nate Hofer

Just in case you have been out of commission and haven’t heard of Pinterest, according to its About Page, “Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web […] Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.” 

The site was (soft) launched less than two years ago and is still by-invitation-only, but has exploded in popularity in the past few months. According to ZDNet, Pinterest received nearly 11 million total visits in the week ending December 1, 2011. That’s 4,000 percent growth on visits during a single week in just six months, points out CNET, bumping it into the top 10 social sites among the more than 6,000 properties that Hitwise tracks.

In fact, for the first time Pinterest made the new BurrellesLuce 2012 Top Media Outlets: Newspapers, Blogs, Consumer Magazines, Websites and Social Networks. The site comes in at number 9 on the top social networks (with 0.41 percent market share) according to Hitwise rankings for the week ending December 17, 2011 – beating out newcomer Google+ which rounds out the number 10 spot with 0.36 percent market share.

We all see cool stuff online that we’d like to share or save (aka “pin”) – I have some Facebook friends that I wish would use Pinterest instead of filling my stream with kitten images and quotation graphics, but that’s for another post. Snark aside, it is no surprise that people are finding use for this online pinboard. Friends and colleagues that are engaged are pinning wedding themed items, foodie friends are pinning recipes, fashion junkies are pinning wish-list items, etc.

So, I get the individual use, but what, if anything, can this do for companies or organizations?

Pinterest for Cause Marketing
Joe Waters answers this question for causes/non-profits in a HuffPo article. He points out that if you have an interesting or compelling story that can be told with images (and believes every cause does), and if you’re active on other social media platforms (because he doesn’t believe Pinterest is a good stand-alone platform yet), then you may very well benefit from the site. However, he warns, you must act socially – be useful. One example is Amnesty International’s boards.

Small Businesses on Pinterest
Kathleen Scarrow addresses Pinterest from the small business point of view in a Globe and Mail article. She points out that currently the majority of the user base is women 25-44 so if this is your target market, and again, if your story can be told via images, then this may be a great tool to use. She also warns about self-promoting and to think creatively instead. A good example is Etsy’s boards.

Journalist and Media Outreach
Mashable posted an article from the International Journalists’ Network that talks about how journalists could use Pinterest. For example, you could use the site to showcase your work, use mobile pinning of pics for breaking news, find trends or ideas, or simply curate the news into a make-shift online magazine. Check out TIME Magazine’s boards where they’re using it for staff bios and to promote behind-the-scenes blog posts and more.

Corporate Branding
Other articles, including this one on Mashable and  this one on AmEx Open Forum, discuss how bigger brands can or are using Pinterest. First and foremost they warn against blatant broadcasting and suggest using a more holistic approach. Some of the suggestions are using it as a focus group, promoting a lifestyle, showcasing brand personality, crowdsourcing, general inspiration for your team(s), fostering creative communications between the brand and its customers, and running contests – such as Land’s End’s Pin It to Win It contest.  If you want specific brand examples, try checking out Real Simple’s boards, which according to a Business Insider post, now gets more referral traffic from Pinterest than from Facebook. Or check out the Whole Foods Market’s boards – be forewarned you WILL be hungry after seeing this one!

I thought I’d share my research here, with you – the BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas readers – but truly want to know if you’re using Pinterest, for what, and why.

At this time of year, perhaps more than any other, we PR and marketing professionals can all breathe a sigh of relief knowing that there are no shortages of bloggers and writers flexing their “intuitive” muscles to predict the trends and topics in store for the coming year.

Not too long ago I posted on Fresh Ideas about the 10 Brands That May Not Be Around in 2012 as revealed by 24/7 Wall Street, a firm offering insight analysis and commentary for U.S. and global equity investors.

Now CoreBrand, a branding and marketing research firm, is making some predictions of its own. According to an article on Business Insider, These Famous Brands Will Disappear in 2012, “two days before the Wall Street Journal  reported Kodak will fill for bankruptcy, James R. Gregory, CEO of branding and marketing research firm CoreBrand, predicted that Kodak would ‘disappear’ as a brand in 2012.”

The article is quick to address that “bankruptcy doesn’t mean the end of Kodak as a business. The company and its brands could be bought or restructured.”  Still we can’t ignore that many businesses within the tech industry are struggling to find relevancy in a rapidly changing digital landscape – even the ones who have consistently relied on their strong branding efforts to pull them into the new millennium.

The same can be said for companies in the automotive industry, which have struggled to balance their bottom lines even after extensive government and taxpayer bailouts. In fact, Saab, number four on the list, also recently filed bankruptcy.  Yet the company still garners media attention, because, as this Wall Street Journal article explains, “this quirky little car brand with its few, but fiercely loyal enthusiasts, has been a source of great affection, nostalgia, and Swedish nationalism.”

But having a recognizable and timeless brand can’t do much when an organization suffers financially and structurally… or can it?

Lesser known companies may not seem to do well on their own, but might still rely on the success of their products. For example, Yum Brands! (number 7 on the list) is parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, all of which seem to do well in their own right. That is, if Yum Brands! avoids taking a page from the playbook of Hostess (whose classic brands include Twinkie, Sno Balls and Wonder Bread brands). Last week, Hostess filed for bankruptcy just two years after emerging from bankruptcy, confirms the Huffington Post.

What are your thoughts? Are these “disappearing acts” just a sign of the times or can something be done from a communications and PR standpoint to help other brands from avoiding a similar fate? What is digital media’s role in all of this, if any? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Bio: After graduating from Rider University, where she received a B.A. in English-writing and minor degrees in Gender Studies and French, Deborah joined the BurrellesLuce Marketing team in 2007.  As a marketing specialist she continues to help develop the company’s thought leadership and social media efforts, including the copywriting and editing of day-to-day marketing initiatives and management of the BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas blog. Facebook: BurrellesLuce Twitter: @BurrellesLuce LinkedIn: dgrogers

LIVINGSTON, NJ (January 6, 2012)

Read more here.

Did your favorite Fresh Ideas posts make the list? Be sure to leave a comment and let us know.

20. The Art of Storytelling

19. PRSSA National Conference Speed Networking PR Student Questions

18. How to Speak C-Suite

17. Disappearing Act: 10 Brands That May Not Be Around in 2012

16. The New York Women in Communications 2011 Matrix Awards

15. When a Hashtag Leads to Help: PR Tips from #BlueKey

14. Zappos, 24/7 Customer Service in the Internet Age

13. Oscar’s Social Media Fever

12. Snooki’s Appearance at Rutgers – Good PR or Poor Reputation Management?

11. Poll Results: Should PR Interns Pitch the Media?

Christmas classics like Drummer Boy, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Silver Bells, and Blue Christmas have been playing in retail stores, gas stations, hotel lobbies and over the radio waves for more than 60 years. Recently, these songs and many other holiday pop classics were highlighted in a popular web comic strip XKCD. The illustration points out that many of these songs, as well as other Christmas blue chip classics, were published and recorded around the 1940s and 1950s. Hint, it’s the baby boomers that we have to thank for keeping these songs in the mainstream for so many years.

Eric Harvey, a PhD candidate in Indiana University’s Department of Communication and Culture claims during a very specific time in American history (1940s and 1950s), culture and technology played a big role in the release of many of these holiday classics. During that time millions of young baby boomers were enjoying holiday films like Bob Hope’s the Lemon Drop Kid which gave us Silver Bells, and Bing Crosby’s Holiday Inn where he famously croons as a WWII soldier returning home with “I’ll be home for Christmas.” In the late 40s radio began to converge with TV and it was commonplace for families to be huddled around their living rooms enjoying holiday musicals, the songs forever etching memories of Christmas past in their minds.

With over 76 million babies born between 1945 and 1964 (who today make up more than half of all consumer spending in the US), it’s no surprise these songs are being used intentionally by retailers to recreate Christmas past and market to today’s multigenerational audiences – hopefully stimulating spending around the holiday season.

Harvey also points out, however, that “While it’s true that the majority of Christmas pop music played on mainstream radio stations was originally published and recorded in the 1940s and 50s, and naturally the culture of that time will permeate these songs, that does not directly equate to a modern nostalgia for that era.” In other words, what if you’re not a baby boomer? What if you didn’t see the movies, the TV show or are just too young to identify with these songs?

With the sheer repetition of these songs being played during today’s stressful holiday seasons, will these songs eventually condition us to equate them with long lines, holiday traffic or the dreaded visit from you’re annoying brother-in law? Very doubtful. After all, every generation has their favorite Christmas songs, and with today’s limitless choices and devices to hear them, it’s sure to be a Rockin’ Holiday Season for all generations! My personal favorites are Father Christmas by The Kinks, Greg Lake’s Do You Believe in Father Christmas? and Joan Jett’s Little Drummer Boy. What are yours?

Happy Holidays from all of us here at BurrellesLuce!!

WordPress Image: SierraAshley

How much exposure does one person need? I have my own Facebook page to post personal updates and photos and my own Twitter handle to speak my mind in “real time” — so why not a 24-hour “TV” channel, aka “The Harry Grapenthin Channel,” dedicated to my content (or lack thereof)?

As frightening and ridiculous as this sounds, Google continues to work hard at making this a reality (no pun intended). Rewriting the rules of television, Google has made it vividly clear how it intends to pursue its piece of the TV advertising pie. As a follow up to Google TV, the search engine giant recently announced it will be offering a software package that allows you to search the Internet for interesting things to watch and plans to launch 100 new advertising supported “channels” for its YouTube online video service, confirms The Economist. (Madonna, Shaquille O’Neill, and Jay-Z are some of many celebs already signed up to provide professional content). Just when we thought there were too many channels on cable TV, a channel per person or topic could mean millions more popping up on the Internet.

But what about live sports you ask? Google has that covered too. In fact, last month Google dipped its toes in the “live sports” waters for the first time when it announced the future launch of seven sports channels, including one that will feature programming from Major League Soccer. “What you’re seeing is a bit of a tip of the iceberg, explains Brian Bedol, a cable industry veteran who founded Classic Sports Television in 1995, in this Sports Business Daily article. “This is where the young male demographic gets more and more of its entertainment. If you’re in sports, you need to be looking at how you’re delivering sports over the Internet.”

Whether we get our television from networks, cable providers, satellite providers, online providers or “fill in the blank” – one thing remains the same, television content, as we know it today, continues to be in high demand and still commands huge advertising dollars … whether this continues remains to be seen. However, Google is betting that it does.

Panelist Ricky Choi, social media strategist for LivingSocial, reminded the audience, “Social media should be visual, personal and conversational.” He noted that social media will be a better marketing tool than email in three to five years and that social media engagement is the sum of interaction and content. Communicators should try to include context without being salesy.

The evolution of the media is happening, but questions remain regarding the best way to translate personal use to the big picture, Noyes reiterated. Choi suggested more education as one possible solution. Facebook is trying to educate younger users on how to be good digital citizens and understand that reputation is important. The social media giant is working with outside thought leaders to encourage people to use their privacy settings effectively.

Moderator Mike Schaffer, director of social media, iostudio, asked the panelists for brands who are using social media effectively. The panelists touted Dell, for its various social media identities and customer service, and Pepsi for its Refresh Project.  ABC anchor Diane Sawyer was praised for use of social media.

(Read the full Twitter Chat Transcript in the BurrellesLuce Resource Center)

Facebook Stats
To understand the full usefulness of Facebook communicators should consider these statistics:

• One out of every eight minutes spent online is spent on Facebook.
• The average Facebook user has 150 friends.
• The average user is connected to 80 groups.
• 25 percent of users’ time online is spent on social networks.
• Facebook grew 500 million users in two years.
• To translate Facebook to 70 languages it used crowd sourcing.
• The fastest growing Facebook audience is seniors.

A key question for accessing ROI: what’s the value of a follower or a fan? It was suggested you need to look at who your fans’ influence and what is the possible amplification.

Tips for Using Facebook Effectively
In general, there is a generation gap with social media. The youth embrace social media, but young professionals need business experience to harness its power effectively. Some best practices for Facebook:

• A one-line post will see increased engagement.
• Post a question or a call to action.
• Post one story idea a day to entice reporters.
• Photos and videos increase interaction.
• Start a conversation.

Choi suggested considering dividing your social media team into those who are responding to issues proactively and reactively. He also encouraged using a promoted hashtag for indexing.

Want more tips on how to effectively use Facebook in PR and marketing? Johna Burke, SVP BurrellesLuce, will be leading a workshop and speaking at the PR News Facebook Conference held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on December 1, 2011.

Where do you think social media is headed in the future? How can communicators use it more efficiently?

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to attend the PRSA-NJ panel discussion on Tools of the Trade:  Effective Online News sponsored by BurrellesLuce.  The event was held at the beautiful Monmouth University campus and had a great turnout of emerging journalists and up-and-coming publicists. 

The panel had one consistent message across the board for students and professionals in attendance: 

• Know who you are pitching.
• Know your news hook.
• Be relevant, specific and succinct.

Judith Feeney —  digital editor for NJ Press Media,  Asbury Park Press (app.com), Daily Record (dailyrecord.com), the Home News Tribune, and the Courier News — started the discussion by reminding us there are a vast number of new tools and a lot less time to get the job done.  She suggested that PR and media relations professionals need to become familiar with all of the tools out there.  Know who you are pitching and don’t blanket your pitch to multiple people.  Look at the type of material the publication and journalist produces and tailor your pitch accordingly.

Christopher Sheldon, the Long Branch editor of Patch.com, a hyperlocal publication, said to make sure to include the who, what, where, when and why in the first paragraph.  If it’s not local to his area, he cannot write about it.  His audience is looking for community news.

Christy Potter Kass, assistant editor of The Alternative Press, agreed with Chris and said her publication is also hyperlocal and stories must tie into the values and interests of local readers.  She emphasized not to confuse hyperlocal publications with national publications.  When asked the definition of “hyperlocal,” Christy said the more local the story the better.  News must be about something going on in town or have a connection to the community.

Joan Bosisio, group vice president of Stern & Associates said that (with all the recent layoffs) PR people have an opportunity to help journalists, who are working on stories, do their jobs.  Journalists are now doing more than one job and by presenting them with not only the story, but the materials to help them write the story (e.g., video, spokespeople and social media) you make their job easier.

Kristine Brown oversees PR for St. Barnabas Health, the state’s largest hospital system.  She gave us some real life examples of crisis communications and advised that essential PR skills have not changed with all the new online tools available.  Kristine said you still need to know your audience, know your story, cultivate relationships with the media (this has helped her in time of crisis) and move at the same pace the news is moving.

As for journalists and PR professionals alike, essential skills include: spelling, grammar, and attention to detail. The ability to take your own photos, as a journalist, will also help prospective media professionals stand out.

How are you using online tools to help you connect with journalists and the media? As a member of the media, what other ways can PR and communications professionals work with you to get their stories out? Please leave your comments below on BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.

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Adbusters-Organized Protest Occupies Wall Street (MinOnline)
“It wasn’t quite the turnout Adbusters magazine originally had expected, but the counter-cultural activist magazine helped organize a march on Wall Street on Saturday Sept. 17. Dubbed “Occupy Wall Street” by the magazine, the effort to assemble people via mobile phones, Tweets and web site notifications had hoped to organize thousands to join the protests.”

In Kabul, It’s Not MTV, It’s a Mission (New York Times)
“Tom Freston is a pretty mellow guy, but sitting in the corner of a downtown Manhattan restaurant last week he was getting very excited as he talked about his new project. ‘Every time I go there, there are kids doing a bunch of new things, making all kinds of interesting programming,’ he said.”

Associated Press Teams With 40 Newspapers On Mobile Coupons (PaidContent.org)
“With newspapers having suffered through 20 straight quarters of decline—and no end in sight—a collaborative effort on the part of the Associated Press and 40 newspapers is designed to play on two of the industry’s last advertising strengths: digital and pre-print circulars.”

Breaking: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses; Creates Qwikster For DVDs (TechCrunch)
“Netflix CEO Reed Hastings just dropped a bombshell. In the wake of a rapid decline in Netflix’s stock price last week, Hastings is taking a bold step by separating the DVD and video streaming services. The DVD-by-mail service will now be called Qwikster, and the streaming service will maintain the Netflix brand.”

The New York Observer Grabs Mediagazer’s  ‘Human Editor’ (Yahoo!/TheCutline)

Gannett Chairman and CEO Craig Dubow Will Take Medical Leave of Absence (TVSpy)

PBS ‘Need to Know’ EP Joins Current TV as Programming Exec (TVNewser)

Lanctot Returns To Razorfish As Chief Media Officer (MediaPost)

Trading Places: Glam’s Jacobs To Head Omnicom’s Accuen (MediaPost)

1st Female Editor Denies Influence of Gender (Maynard Institute)
“Jill Abramson, who last week became the first female editor of the New York Times in its 160-year history, said Sunday, ‘The idea that women journalists bring a different taste in stories or sensibility isn’t true.’ The statement was challenged by women who have studied the topic of women in journalism.

Shoppers Via Twitter Spend More, Online Behavior Impacts Retail (MediaPost)
“Shoppers who land on retail sites through Facebook or Twitter are less likely to make purchases. Their conversion rates average 1.2% and 0.5%, respectively. Per average order, however, they spend more than those who come through Google.”

UPDATE: Facebook Suggests Subscribing To Profiles (All Facebook)
“Facebook is suggesting that you subscribe to people’s public status updates and customize how much of their feeds you receive. The site is rolling out a new subscribe button that will enable you to receive in your news feed publicly visible status updates from people who aren’t yet on your friend list.”

Are Big Media’s Partnerships With Seattle ‘Indies’ the Future of Hyperlocal? (StreetFight)
“In the furiously expanding, highly competitive and often conflicted hyperlocal space, some pieces appear to be coming together. Just possibly, highly digital Seattle may be the birthplace for what has long eluded hyperlocal: a sustainable business model.”

Flickr Image: Craig S.

Michael Arrington, founder of TechCrunch, a blog focusing on technology startups, continues to cause quite a stir in the journalism world. Arrington announced last week that he is starting his own fund (CrunchFund), with the help of AOL, that will invest in small startup companies and has been under a barrage of criticism, mostly from journalists, for this unique arrangement.

Their main complaint is that Arrington, and other TechCrunch writers, can use the site, a highly trafficked blog ranking number 2 on Technorati’s list of Top 100 blogs (as of today), to potentially post comments and promote the same companies his fund holds positions in. 

As reported by Claire Cain Miller in the New York Times, the journalism world is claiming this type of arrangement violates the covenant of all journalism; reporters should avoid conflicts of interest by maintaining distance from the people, organizations and issues they cover. And, once again, fuels the debate over whether bloggers should be held to the same standards as journalists.

“Journalists write with the principle of public illumination,” said Edward Wasserman, the Knight Professor of journalism ethics at Washington and Lee University, in the above mentioned article. “If it’s helping a group of investors make decisions or advancing one’s own portfolio, you’re not really in the journalism business. You’re in the private enrichment business.” 

To complicate matters even more, Arianna Huffington, AOL’s editorial chief, recently told David Carr of the New York Times that Arrington would be relinquishing all editorial control of TechCrunch so he can run his new fund. (Read the full article here.)

Arrington sees it differently and told another New York Times writer that “I am TechCrunch and TechCrunch is me,” according to this Reuters article.

Hoping to clear up some of the confusion surrounding the issues and set the record straight, Arrington wrote a recent blog post about “editorial independence,” stating: “I believe that AOL should be held to their promise when they acquired us to give TechCrunch complete editorial independence. As of late last week, TechCrunch no longer has editorial independence. Some argue that the circumstances demanded it. I disagree.”

Arrington is demanding AOL relinquish all editorial control, insisting TechCrunch remain autonomous from and independent of the Huffington Post or that AOL sell all TechCrunch shares back to the original shareholders, regardless of his own personal role with the company going forward.

Things should really get interesting if Arrington regains editorial control, especially if his fund begins to thrive and he starts to show a return on investment to AOL, who incidentally has 10 million reasons for wanting his fund to succeed.

So what do you think? Should bloggers and journalists be held to the same standards of transparency and avoiding potential conflicts of interest? Do the latest developments at TechCrunch, Huffington Post, and AOL affect the on-going evolution of the media and how we practice media relations and PR?

Ad Giant Nurtures Startups (WSJ)
“Advertising companies keep finding new ways to cozy up to technology businesses—even tiny ones. Omnicom Group’s OMD and its client General Electric just completed a summer-long tech incubator to get an early in on new tech trends relevant to marketing. They awarded the $10,000 prize to a website called …”

7 Parts of a Facebook Post (SocialMediaToday)
“Content creation is one the biggest challenges for brands. Many of the folks I work with have a hard time trying to find the right thing to say to their listeners. There are two approaches I like to guide brands to take…”

Twitter Limits: Maximum Tweets Per Day? (SocialMediaToday)
“There are over two hundred million registered users of Twitter. This number grows by hundreds of thousands each day as new users sign-up. There are over one hundred and fifty million Tweets per day. So many, in fact, that many people find it hard to monitor ongoing conversations without using special platforms.”

Google Explores Re-Ranking Search Results Using +1 Button Data (Wired)
“Google is making plans to turn its +1 button into a crowdsourcing tool that helps it re-order search results and fight web spam. While not surprising, the move would bring Google’s search engine into the social networking era, while simultaneously creating a new avenue for blackhats to manipulate search results and potentially incurring the wrath of trust-busting authorities. Google confirmed its plans in an e-mail to Wired.com.”

News International confirms internal review of ‘journalistic standards’ (YahooNews/TheCutline)
“As the saga of the British phone-hacking scandal continues slowly to unfold, News International, the British arm of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, has confirmed it is conducting a thorough internal investigation of its properties.”

 Golden Globes Trial: Inside One of TV’s Messiest, Nastiest Battles (HollywoodReporter)
“THR’s in-depth look at why the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is accusing Dick Clark Productions of secretly squeezing it out of its own awards show.”

Here’s Why Fox News Claims Gawker’s Traffic Fell 75 Percent (Forbes.com)
“Fox News and Gawker are going at it again. The Rupert Murdoch-owned cable channel says Gawker is irrelevant, so much so that its irrelevancy needs to be discussed both on Fox’s No. 1-rated air and on its website. The Nick Denton-owned gossip site says Fox’s logic-challenged attack is preemptive payback — pretaliation? — for a juicy story on a major Fox personality it’s getting set to publish.”

Steve Jobs’ Greatest Legacy: Persuading The World To Pay For Content (PaidContent.org)
“Jobs pried open many content companies’ thinking, because his focus was always on getting something great to the customer with as few obstacles as possible.”

Study Reveals Facebook Age Gap: Older Users Don’t ‘Like’ It, But Are More Likely To Click Through (MediaPost)
“Don’t expect Facebook users age 50+ to ‘Like’ a product or service in an ad, but do expect them to click through to the landing page or Web site, according to a new study.”

G.E. to Produce Short Films About Innovation (NYTimes/MediaCoder)
“General Electric just can’t stay away from the movies. Barely eight months after ceding control of NBC Universal and its Universal Studios to Comcast, G.E. is diving into the documentary world as the financial backer of 30 three-minute films by directors including Morgan Spurlock (“POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold”), Joe Berlinger (“Crude”), Barbara Kopple (“Shut Up and Sing”) and Alex Gibney (“Magic Trip: Ken Kesey’s Search for a Kool Place”).”

Last week the New York Times wrote an article reporting on yet another potential crushing blow to the music industry, a little known revision to a copyright law from the mid-seventies, dealing with musical artists regaining rights to their songs. Basically the law grants artists “termination rights,” allowing the artists to regain control of their work from the labels, 35 years after the songs release, provided they file the proper forms two years in advance.

“The recording industry has made a gazillion dollars on those masters, more than the artists have,” said Don Henley, a founder both of the Eagles and the Recording Artists Coalition. “So there’s an issue of parity here, of fairness. This is a bone of contention, and it’s going to get more contentious in the next couple of years.” Some big names released in 1978 and eligible to be granted termination rights in 2013 include, Bruce Springsteen’s “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” Billy Joel’s “52nd Street,” and the Doobie Brothers’ “Minute by Minute.

This will be a bone of contention for years and will certainly wind up in court and in the hands of lawyers, some of whom I’m sure were rockin’ right alongside me. Thirty-five years is a long time, but after seeing these bands perform over the weekend with passion and energy, sounding better than ever, something tells me they’re not going away anytime soon, and thank goodness!

Listening to bands tell their stories between songs during the festival reminded me of how this whole thing started and why it’s all here in the first place…and never a  mention of words like copyright or piracy. I say avoid the legal fees, pay the artists instead and let Don Henley go back to singing with his Eagles band mates.

• There was a newspaper boon in the 1890s, when the number exceeded 13,000 — about the same number as now – according to a recent Stanford University presentation.
• Concluding a year-long study, U.S. newspapers are transforming, not going out of business, says Paul Steinle, a just-retired journalism professor and academic provost who ran United Press International from 1988-1990.
• Some of the best newspapers in America – of all sizes – are now reporting profit margins averaging 10 percent to 15 percent a year despite devastating drops in advertising revenue over the last five years, according to Paul Steinle and his co-researcher, wife Dr. Sara Brown.
• The Newton Daily News reported last month that their content “reaches more people today than at any point in its entire history.”
• Recently retired Lexington Herald-Leader publisher Tim Kelly wrote that“there are 122 non-daily newspapers in Kentucky right now, only one fewer than 15 years ago. Not exactly a rush to extinction.”
• Last month, Jason Schaumburg, editor of the Daily Chronicle reported, as reported to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the papers overall circulation grew about 8 percent over last year –and online page views have increased 35 percent since 2008.
• Released just last week, a comScore study for the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) showed newspaper websites posted the second consecutive quarterly traffic increase. NAA President and CEO John Sturm explains, “The credibility associated with newspapers and strong newspaper brands clearly carries over to the online environment — distinguishing newspaper sites from other sources.”

Although she’s actually at a TV station, not a newspaper, Emily Neilson best described the shift of 8 News NOW as no longer being a TV station but rather a local news organization that is platform agnostic.

Kevin Slimp, director of the Institute of Newspaper Technology, reported that this has been the busiest summer he’s ever had with newspapers all over the U.S. and Canada calling for advice and training as they prep for major tech upgrades.  He, admittedly, hasn’t done any serious research on the subject but shared one theory as to why, “We finally realized we (newspapers) aren’t dying, so we’d better start preparing for our future.”

So, are newspapers (and other ‘big media’) really dying? NO! (yes I’m shouting). Are media outlets evolving? Yes.  Do we know exactly what media will look like in five years?  I think that may be a good topic for a future blog post. What do you think?

Deborah Gilbert-Rogers*

Earlier this week, Georgetown University’s Center for Social Impact Communications and Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide released some findings from the Dynamics of Cause Engagement study. The purpose of the study was to reveal trends in cause involvement and evaluate the impact activities play on engagement. Other results will be released in the coming weeks.

“Despite the growing popularity of social media as means of engaging with causes today, younger Americans still look to personal communication with friends and family as well as traditional media when learning about and telling others about causes,” confirms this press release announcing the study.

Below are some other findings highlighted in the release:

• More than four out of ten Americans (ages 18-29) get their information from family (48%), friends (46%), and TV (45%).
• Sixty-two percent of Americans say that “being told in person” is how they are most often informed about causes and other social issues.
• Fifty-six percent of Generation Y (ages 18-29) and 59% of Generation X (ages 30-45) say that they are engaged via face-to-face communication regarding causes, despite them being more likely than other generations to also be sent social media or text messages about causes.
• Thirty-six percent of Generation X and 37% of Generation Y say that they would support a cause online compared to offline, believing that social media helps increase the exposure of causes.
• Seven out of ten participants indicated that cause-related emails sometimes feel like spam.
• The Silent Generation (those over the age of 60) is more likely than other generations to be told about causes via email. However, 55% believe they receive too many cause-related emails.

As a member of GenY, I can relate to the idea of using social media to promote causes. However, most of the causes that I am involved with are ones that have been introduced to me by others (also confirmed by the study) or ones that I have researched because they speak to my personal values. However, I don’t get a lot of cause-related emails and the ones I do get are for causes that I already support so they don’t feel all that much like spam. What I find more ”spammy” are the banner ads that follow me around the web after I’ve visited a cause-related site or interacted with a cause or charity on Facebook. What are your experiences? Do you agree with the study?

Please share your thoughts with me and the readers of BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.

***

Bio: After graduating from Rider University, where she received a B.A. in English-writing and minor degrees in Gender Studies and French, Deborah joined the BurrellesLuce Marketing team in 2007.  As a marketing specialist she continues to help develop the company’s thought leadership and social media efforts, including the copywriting and editing of day-to-day marketing initiatives and management of the BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas blog. Facebook: BurrellesLuce Twitter: @BurrellesLuce LinkedIn: dgrogers

Interestingly, 69 percent of reporters said they use Twitter as a reporting/sourcing tool (this is a 21 percent increase from 2010) with 49 percent saying they have their own Twitter account. But only one percent indicated they’d like to be contacted via Twitter. The disconnect here is interesting to me and I have to wonder why, if they are using Twitter for research, they wouldn’t want to be contacted via the platform. Perhaps they want to listen (aka lurk) and not actually engage – despite the 37 percent who said they use social networking sites to participate in conversations (27 percent specified Twitter). Hmm… that’s a head-scratcher.

Other notable findings: 

• 92 percent believe journalists’ reliance on social media is increasing.
• 78 percent say they use company websites as a tool in reporting.
• 75 percent indicated they use Facebook, with only 10 percent using MySpace. (No surprise there.)
• 48 percent say they use citizen-generated video; 68 percent say they use citizen-generated photos.
• 77 percent believe new media and communications tools/technologies are enhancing journalism; 14 percent think social media and citizen journalism will ultimately lead to the demise of the profession. (My guess is these will be the ones looking for a new job soon.)

 Key takeaways for public relations / media relations professionals is that 53 percent of journalists surveyed indicated they prefer to be contacted via email, and 34 percent prefer phone. 

Even as social media continues to change the media landscape, PR Daily surmised journalists still prefer more traditional methods of communication. 

Jen McClure, president of the Society for New Communications Research, stated: “Social media tools and technologies are being used by journalists to monitor issues, stories and content even after a story has been published. The publication of the story is no longer the end result. Today, media organizations and journalists also must serve as curators of content, are looked to to drive conversations and expected to provide information to keep the conversation going even after the story has been published.”

Do you agree with these findings?  Look forward to your thoughts and comments on the BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas blog.