Stowe delivers the rant of the year (yes, it’s only January, but it’s still a great rant) on the attempted hijacking of social media by PR. Pushing for candour from the capitalerati is a noble cause. The idea is doomed, of course – there’s just too much upper middle-class security at stake for anyone in BigAnything to take a genuine risk on sincerity. But it still quickens my pulse to read a great polemic – especially one that rings so true. Update: Brian Solis, who comments below, has posted a response to Stowe. Is this going to be one of those Sundays? Update 2: The Stowe has landed, and (hopefully) has the last word.
Tell Us What You Really Think, Stowe
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[...] John Gruber’s translation of Macromedia’s response to Steve Jobs’ sermon on the DRM mount is witheringly funny, and yet another reminder (for anyone who needs it) of the inane insincerity of so much corporate flubblegubble. Related Posts [...]
[...] The real issue, to my mind, is whether the political process is compatible with the core values of social media. Mathew notes this as well, with some doubt that campaigns are up to it. This is of course the conversation that Stowe had recently about PR, and it’s a very good point that can be equally made about most of our social institutions: authenticity is precisely what many try to avoid, and it’s hard to resist the conclusion that the rush to social media we’ve seen so far in this campaign is anything other than a cynical attempt to grab some headlines and get some “I’m with it” branding. I frankly doubt that’s true – the online success of the last Dean campaign and of netroots – except perhaps when it came to crunch time in Lieberman v. Lamont (entirely understandable, as a commenter briskly informed me some time ago) – tells us something about what the people want. And if enough people want it …. [...]
Thank You for Bringing Attention to the Need for C…
If anything, this conversation demonstrates why the blogosphere (and most importantly, people) will chew-up and spit-out traditional PR and corporate marketing types – without thinking twice. But thatÂ’s the beauty of this. It forces evolution and imp…
hehe true Brian. I have no problem with idealism and applaud your efforts.
Just pointing out what a couple people much smarter better than I said it:
“A blog is just a tool” Dave Taylor
“A blog is like paper it could be toilet paper or it could be a work of art” Jason Calacanis.
Those are the two lines that stuck with me from the Blog Business Summit earlier this year.
[...] Why Social Media Press Releases “Matter” January 20th, 2007 at 9:31 pm by Tony So, once upon a time, I also used to think “why bother with social media press releases? — why not simply blog?“ In fact, with Edelman’s SMPR product “release” some weeks ago, the whole meme had been bounced around for a while — and with Stowe Boyd’s post yesterday, it has once again made the rounds [my original thoughts are over here]. [...]
Rick, really valid points. But even Luke had Yoda to help him know the difference between good and evil. All we can do is try to educate….
Exactly how are you going to stop marketers from marketing or PR’rs from PRing?
Welcome to the real world where companies try to sell stuff. Ever see one of those ads in a urinal at your local restaurant?
If they will run ads there they will run them anywhere. If sending out “social media press releases” gets bloggers to cover their stories they are going to send them out. So what?
The blogosphere is not utopia. It is just the newest tool in life. Kinda like the force Luke; some will use it for good and some for evil.
I do not envy you the task that lies ahead. :)
You sir, are right on point with the statement, “It is simply the expected tension between the authenticity of social media and the lack of it in much of business.” Hence the reason why a few of us are actively trying to change things before businesses over-pollute the social media landscape. Thanks Rob!
Thanks, Brian, but I don’t really need to read anything else to understand that Stowe is right on point – and you understand that my post was less about the idea of a social media press release than the role of PR more generally, I assume. And I don’t personally think this is an Edelman issue. It’s simply the expected tension between the authenticity of social media and the lack of it in much of business. Which, as far as I’m concerned, is as immutable as the law of gravity. And that, unfortunately, is going to have the communications industry in the crosshairs for quite a while – between a Stowe and a hard place, I suppose.
Unfortunately, Stowe’s post really misses the point. Here are two pieces you should read before assuming PR is hijacking anything (although Edelman might have screwed the pooch for the rest of the industry already. Post 1 and Post 2