Social media press releases: good, bad or indifferent?
Social media news releases are the topic of discussion over on the PR Week blog today. It’s got a quote from me that was necessarily brief, so here also is the slightly longer version:
The hype and hatred dished out since the creation of social media releases four years ago have both turned out to be misplaced. News releases still regularly result in stories being run because, when done right, they’re not the road to hell. Social media releases have only had a limited take up because they’re not a shortcut to heaven. Good PR teams mix and match between the two different concepts every day.
It’s one of those tiresome debates which is unnecessarily polarised.
A press release is written to be read and understood quickly and clearly by a person. A social media release is written to be read and understood quickly and clearly by a person.
Both audiences are busy. Ok, so journalists get more press releases but that’s a reason not to stick to a template.
Fundamentally who cares what you call it?
I never believed in social media releases as a separate concept… and I speak as someone who was worked on both sides, as creator and consumer of same. SMRs were generally (a) the story boiled down to bullet points, and (b) a few direct quotes. Which, in my time as a journalist, was all I ever wanted from a press release.
Then again, in a world where celebrities’ 140-character tweets lead to BREAKING NEWS straps, I don’t think the term ‘press release’ means anything any more.
Ah yes, bullet points. I’m quite a fan of those.