“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.

At least once every week, or so it seems, someone comes out with a “Traditional media is dead” article or warns that “We shouldn’t waste time on traditional media and advertising.” As a matter of fact, I read an article several months ago about a survey on the subject by PR/PA agency mergers and acquisition consultants, StevensGouldPincus. SGP managing partner, Art Stevens was quoted as saying, “If this trend persists within the next two years social media will replace traditional media as PR/PA’s primary tool for reaching client audiences with news and information. When you consider that traditional media have been the bedrock of professional PR/PA practice for more than 100 years, the implications are profound.”

I’ll concede that the preferred vehicle for news distribution is definitely shifting to digital, real-time and even mobile platforms and I’ll agree that the implications are profound to communicators and consumers alike; however, the source of most of that content remains the same: The percentage of original content found on social media pales in comparison to traditional media. In reality, most news content is first published in the print or web editions of major news outlets, and then syndicated or picked up on social media networks and blogs, confirms this BurrellesLuce newsletter on “Social Media Myths and Misconceptions“.

In fact, according to a Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism study last year, “Blogs still heavily rely on the traditional press — and primarily just a few outlets within that — for their information. More than 99 percent of the stories linked to in blogs came from legacy outlets such as newspapers and broadcast networks. And just four — the BBC, CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post accounted for fully 80 percent of all links.”

So, let’s face it, without traditional media, in whatever form, there would be very little news to fuel social media. Will that change in the future? Perhaps. But as of today, traditional media is NOT dead.

Even if it is, perhaps that isn’t such a bad thing after all… Because as Seth Godin recently wrote in a post entitled, Bring Me Something Dead: “Dead means that they are no longer interesting to the drive-by technorati. Dead means that the curiosity factor has been satisfied, that people have gotten the joke… Only when an innovation is dead can the real work begin. That’s when people who are seeking leverage get to work, when we can focus on what we’re saying, not how (or where) we’re saying it…”

What do you think the future holds?

I recently joined the Droid world. I LOVE my Droid Incredible. The coverage is amazing, the clear picture and fast processor allow me to view websites and videos on the go, access Adobe files with crisp clarity and truly work “in the cloud.” And of course the tool that every public relations professional needs at all times – a camera. The Droid comes with a 8 mega pixel camera for all your photo needs. But my real Droid joy comes from the many apps I now have at my fingertips.

I don’t know how many apps are too many or too few. After reviewing the app marketplace I downloaded, tested, and kept the following free apps to help organize and maximize my mobile experience:

AndroNews: Provides fast links to major news sources: CNN, USA Today, WSJ.com and BBC to name a few.

Evernote: My most-used, must-have app for organizing notes on all of my devices. The “cloud” at its finest.

Facebook: Full-featured Facebook interface.

FourSquare: Not totally sure why, but I continue to “check-in” from time to time.

Google Goggles: Snap a picture and launch an automatic Google search of whatever you’ve scanned. *CAUTION people searches yield XXX results

Magic8Ball: To help with my really tough day-to-day decisions.

Scanlife: Allows me to engage and maximize the QR Code experience.

TMZ: Celebrity gossip. A supplement to my subscription to People!

Touiteur: My Twitter app of choice. I tried several apps, including the Twitter app and found Touiteur to be the best, most feature-rich.

UrbanSpoon: Scouting new restaurants either at home or on the road.

Where: Provides easy-access reviews and allows local vendors to send me coupons when I’m in proximity of their location.

All of the apps I share here are free. I don’t mind paying for an app if it’s good, but there are so many great free apps you don’t necessarily have to invest to maximize your mobile experience. Though I caution you before settling on any apps; thoroughly read the reviews. Don’t be fooled by the overall rating. Upon digging deeper into the reviews I realized many of the reviewers who provided detailed feedback actually ranked the app lower than the overall rating. Those higher ratings were primarily just the rating with a very brief “It’s excellent” or some mundane response.

I know we have a lot of Blackberry, iPhone and Droid users who follow the BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas blog so I ask you to please share: What are your go-to apps? How do you use them to stay organized and be more efficient? If you are in PR or media relations have you helped create an app for your brand or client’s initiative? Can you give examples of successful app marketing campaigns?

Over the last few years, however, the rate at which we receive the news has been accelerating and, believe it or not, promises to become even more immediate. Some news organizations are applying extreme and sometimes controversial business practices to keep up with this increasing pace and to survive in the highly competitive online news space.

With more pressure to deliver content to their followers, organizations like Politico and Gawker are helping to ratchet up the intensity to an even higher level when it comes to reporting the news. Pre-dawn start times at agencies along with bonuses tied to the number of pageviews a reporter’s story garners are adding to the sense of urgency in which a story is posted online. Tracking how many people view articles online is becoming a higher priority not only at new media, but old media as well – creating an environment to see who can post the most exclusive stories the fastest.

As a result, when a major national story is in the midst of breaking news, the rules of engagement sometimes become a bit blurred, with more outlets favoring “cut and paste reporting” over actual journalism. Last month Rolling Stone magazine was about to post the General McChrystal story in which he and his aids were critical of the White House – first sending an advanced copy of the story to the Associated Press (customary for magazines trying to promote a story) with some restrictions. But before Rolling Stone had a chance to publish the story on their website, on their scheduled date, two major websites (Politico and Times.com) decided to post a PDF of the entire story to their respective sites.  

Although it was seen by some as a breach of copyright and professional best practices, both companies explained that they posted the story as it was unfolding. Since Rolling Stone didn’t immediately post the article itself they decided to move forward on their own.  Eric Bates, executive editor of Rolling Stone, didn’t see it that way. Voicing his concern not only from his magazine’s perspective but from an industry perspective, he called it a “transitional moment,” adding, “What these two media organizations did was off the charts. They took something that was in pre-published form, sent to other media organizations with specific restrictions, and just put it up.”

However, the exhausting pace of online news isn’t just taking its toll on the media organizations themselves. It is also coming at a price to the individuals supplying the content. The longer hours and added pressure to constantly come up with exclusive stories has contributed to an increased turnover of staff at online news organizations with more journalists facing burnout at a younger age. A dozen reporters recently left Politico in the first half of this year and it’s very common for an editor to leave Gawker after just one year.

While some may debate the future of the media, one thing is certain: The online media race is on.  I’m just not sure if slow and steady wins this one.

Do you think that the media and their audiences, are biting off more news than they can chew?  As a public relations professional, what do you think about news organizations bending the rules of engagement to keep up with today’s frenetic pace of news and how does this impact the way you conduct media relations? If you’re a journalist or blogger, how are you handling the added pressure of constantly having to deliver? Please share your thoughts with me and the readers of BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.

This CNN article suggests it is “anxiety” that keeps most of us from unplugging completely on vacation. I’ll admit I, just like “tech-loving kids and parents,” could not do it. I knew there would be emails sent only to me which I would then need to forward to others. I’m also a news junkie, and Twitter is one of my best news feeds.

But, I did try to limit my time on the “crackberry” and computer to a few minutes a day. Peter Bregman’s post The Mostly Unplugged Vacation for the Harvard Business Review shares many of my same feelings and strategies. His suggestion for those who can’t unplug completely: “Choose a specified time — and timeframe — each evening… Scheduling time sets clear expectations — for you, for the other people on your vacation, and for the people reaching you.”

Social media doesn’t have to be for work, so I decided to use Foursquare and Facebook to share my vacation with my friends. Since I was headed to see family and friends in North Dakota, I knew the locations would be quite different from the usual tourist spots others would be visiting. I really enjoyed the comments I received, especially after visiting the world’s largest Holstein Cow in New Salem, ND. (However, I was surprised no one responded, when I became the “mayor” of Wood Lake, ND.)  And, many people shared my pain as I was delayed, re-routed, and delayed again in my attempt to fly home.

The key to enjoying your vacation seems to be setting limits on your online interaction. Here are a few good posts on ways to manage your time:

• Five Reasons to Unplug Your Vacation by Annie Scott
• How to Manage Social Media (And Still Have a Life) by Caitie Hawley
• Tips for Unplugging While on Vacation by Michael Giuffrida

Are you unplugging on your vacation? What tips do you have for the BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas readers?

Image Courtesy of DC Comics

It would be hard to imagine the fictional newspaper men (and women) of the past like Perry White of the “Daily Planet” (Superman) hollering for their first quarter numbers of “unique visitors per month” or boasting about their ranking for “most-linked-to-news-outlets” or even deliberating about putting their content behind a “pay-wall.” Today these are just some of the relatively new terms being used to describe the various metrics and business models newspapers are exploring during this transitional period in which the entire industry finds itself. 

For the last several years the forecasts for news organizations have been filled with doom and gloom. However the news about the news industry has been much rosier as of late. For starters, newspaper website’s traffic continues to grow. As highlighted in this Media Post article, online newspaper operations from the top 25 media outlets reached 83.7 million unique visitors in April, up 10 percent from March, 12 percent from February and 15 percent from January of this year, according to comscore figures released by the Newspaper National Network. And according to Nielsen, 74.4 million unique visitors per month in the first quarter of 2010 were a record – up from 72 million from the first quarter of 2009. These increases were actually higher than competitors like CNN and The Huffington post who came in at 43.4 million (flat) and 22.2 million (a 3 percent drop) respectively.

(For a list of the top 100 daily newspapers, 25 consumer magazines, 25 blogs, and the 20 social networks in the U.S., check out the updated 2010 Top Media List from BurrellesLuce.)

It is obvious from these figures that, as Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt was recently quoted as saying, “Newspapers don’t have a demand problem they have a business model problem.”

As various business models continue to be tested, measured and debated within the industry, a silver bullet has yet to emerge. So far, it appears that several viable solutions are taking shape and depending on who you ask you’ll get a justification for each of them. According to this article on CNN.com, “Last year Rupert Murdoch, chairman and CEO of The Wall Street Journal’s parent company News Corp., said ‘The current free access business model favored by most content providers was flawed and contributed to a fall in newspapers’ revenues.’” The WSJ is currently behind a pay-wall and “he also claimed the Wall Street Journal had proved that charging for content could be made to work pointing out that 360,000 people had downloaded an iPhone WSJ application in three weeks and that users would soon be made to pay “handsomely” for accessing WSJ content.”

Alternatively, The New Times plans to use a metered system (EZ Pass approach) starting January 2011, where a certain number of articles would be free before demanding payment (similar to what Financial Times is currently using). This may solve their monetization challenge, but it will no doubt affect their “most-linked-to-news-outlets” rank, a measure used to track the amount of people who actually clicked-through to the original news organizations website via a blog or third party source. This could significantly impact results, with 99 percent of the stories bloggers include as links coming from traditional mainstream media sources. Interestingly enough, 80 percent of the stories linked to in online and social media come from only four news outlets: The New York Times (20 percent), BBC news (23 percent), CNN.com (21 percent), and the Washington Post (16 percent). The Wall Street Journal has twice the print circulation as the New York Times, but  is not on this short list. 

Some pay-wall advocates would argue that the majority of these visitors are merely “drive by users” who come in once through an aggregator and don’t really engage with the product. The counter argument claims more traffic directed to a newspaper’s online site would ultimately translate into higher advertising dollars.

If the numbers prove the demand for news content is there, let’s hope for the news industry’s sake the revenue will follow. In my opinion credible news journalism still trumps all. As long as it’s being distributed through the device of choice, engaged by the readers, and monetized in a way that generates revenue without isolating readers – it doesn’t matter whether it’s done through pay-walls, online advertising, or possibly something we haven’t thought of yet. (After all necessity is the mother of all inventions.) A tall order for the news industry for sure, but the future suddenly looks a whole lot brighter. There’s no doubt the identity of the news industry will change, but a reinvented news organization is still better than none at all.

Flickr Image: Tony the Misfit

BurrellesLuce sponsored the Washington Women in Public Relation’s PR Woman of the Year award on November 4. Sarah Temple, senior vice president of social marketing practice, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, was named the 2009 “Washington PR Woman of the Year.” Also honored were Jody Arlington, managing partner, PR collaborative, and director at Georgetown Entertainment and Media Alliance; and Kirsten Suto Seckler, director of global brand marketing and awareness, Special Olympics. Dana Bash, CNN’s senior congressional correspondent, responsible for covering the activities of both the U.S. House and Senate, keynoted the event.

All four women provided great insight and encouragement to the women (and men) in attendance. I’d like to share a few of their sentiments:

• Look for mentors and then be a mentor yourself. (Bash)
• Don’t be discouraged about the re-hashing of the same topics in the news. Find a new angle which supports your organizations goals and get your story out there. (Bash)
• You are only as good as your colleagues and teams. (Arlington)
• Public Relations professionals are detectives, explorers, athletes, circus performers, and super heroes. (Seckler)
• PR can change lives. Seckler recapped a story of a Special Olympics golfer who is now known for being a golfer, not someone with a brain injury.
• All three Temple, Arlington, and Seckler all share a common passion: they’re curious. For example, Temple works with scientists, and they share our curiosity. She uses it as common ground.

Temple summed it up by quoting Eleanor Roosevelt, “A woman is like a tea bag, you never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water.”

Have you heard some inspiring words lately? How have you helped to inspire others? Are you mentoring others?

NASA is trying to reach younger people, who feel space travel is blasé. They also need funding and support for future missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. I was surprised how many stories relayed NASA’s key message: space missions are important to the advancement of science.

A. Pawlowski made this point in a CNN.com article looking at the debate over space travel. A very fun sidebar in the print edition of the Washington Post highlighted many of the products developed because of the space program. Even Google Earth got into the act.

Peter Shankman of HARO was asked at a presentation at the National Institutes of Health which government agency is utilizing social media well? Not surprisingly, his answer was NASA.

I really cannot wait until all the coverage is reviewed and analyzed. I believe the communications teams at NASA pulled-off a great event, which advanced their purpose.

Have you used an anniversary to successfully drive home your key messages to new audiences? Myself (and the rest of us here at BurrellesLuce) would like to hear about your success stories.

In the U.S., fewer outlets report on unique stories leaving less for the broadcast media to cover. You see, much of what is reported by broadcasters is born in print. Why is this important? Because while I love social media and all it has to offer, I don’t want to tune into an anchor checking their tweets. Where’s the journalistic integrity in an anchor reading their Twitter feed? Granted, there is a lot of great information available via social media, but evil forces are at work – a la celebrity death hoaxes (glad you’re o.k., Jeff Goldblum) – and I want to trust my news provider.

In Germany, however, CNN provided straight reporting of the news. The anchor and field reporter interviewed real people related to the story. It was simple, but  interesting and compelling. I even enjoyed the cricket coverage. Why? There were interviews with real people who play the sport, who love the sport, and whose business was impacted as a result.

My frustration came to a head recently when John Roberts, CNN’s American Morning anchor, gave a look followed by “I’m just saying” three times in as many minutes. Really, John? That’s your job. You are paid to say things, so please ease off the slang. What’s next, Kiran Chetry shrieking “OMG” before announcing breaking news? I’ve been a news junkie most of my life, so to watch something I’ve long enjoyed suffer is painful.

Sadly, the news outlets are not alone in struggling to find their niche and that impacts our clients here at BurrellesLuce. On a daily basis, I work with public relations peers who face a similar identity crisis. In some cases. PR pros abandon traditional media and hastily turn to social media outreach when their core stakeholders aren’t in that space. While I always say everyone needs to be listening in social media, you need only be active if you have something to add to the conversation or your key stakeholders are there and you want to be relevant to your audience.

What do you say to the CEO who says “We need a Facebook page”? The same thing you would say to him if he asked for all communication to be delivered on stone tablets. You counsel based your audience and your overall strategy. 

Am I alone in wanting and expecting more from our news providers? Please share your thoughts and I will climb off my soapbox.