Blog series: Press releases, public companies and blogs
January 23rd, 2006 by Todd Van Hoosear
After posting a reference to Amy Gahran’s plea for dropping the traditional press release in favor of what James Clark of Room 214 is calling the search release, it became clear that there’s more to the topic than I could cover in one comment, or one post. So I’m going to turn it into a bunch…
My initial point was that until the SEC and self-regulatory agencies like the NYSE and NASD change their requirements, the traditional “press release spit out over the traditional wire services” approach to information dissemination will not change.
I did a quick scan to see if anybody was writing about the topic of RegFD and blogs, and found very little conversation on the topic online.
Amy then asked me to clarify what the SEC requirements are. I posted a long reply that I will mark up as a separate post to make it a little easier to digest.
Amy and I decided offline that it’s time for more discussion around the intersection of press releases, public companies and blogs. Specifically, I’m proposing a series of topics that include:
- Material Information: What makes certain information more important than other information?
- Disclosure of Material [Nonpublic] Information: What is currently being required of companies in regards to disseminating material information?
- Material Alternatives: What other options exist for disseminating material information?
- Who’s the Audience: A discussion of who public companies write for, care about, and why
- Disclosure of Non-Material Information: How public companies are currently communicating non-material information to various publics
- Non-Material Alternatives: A survey of other options that exist for getting out non-material information to various publics
I’m sure Amy will have other thoughts as well–this is my agenda currently. I won’t lose sight that a great deal of the complaint isn’t necessarily about the medium, but the message itself: Does the press release in its current incarnation still serve as an appropriate tool for communicating to any audience, or should it go the way of the dodo in favor of alternatives like James’?
If you paste a press release into a blog, does anybody hear a tree clap?
Or something like that… Stay tuned…
Technorati Tags: RegFD Reg+FD blogs blogging PR press+release SEC fair+disclosure social+media hRelease newmediarelease pr2.0 RegFD SocialMediaRelease Social+Media+Release
This entry was posted on Monday, January 23rd, 2006 at 9:33 am and is filed under PR. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
January 23rd, 2006 at 11:16 am
Todd, Probably as you were writing this I came across David Meerman Scott’s new ebook “The New Rules of PR”, which positions the press release as a tool to reach buyers directly rather than (or really in addition to) journalists. It doesn’t bring up Reg FD issues, though perhaps he should address that. It does show the increasing awareness that press releases are being een by more than just selected journalists
January 23rd, 2006 at 3:18 pm
Great work, Todd — thanks for posting it! I’m sure this discussion and exploration (which will, I think, involve a fair amount of citizen journalism) will only get more intriguing as it unfolds.
From my perspective, here’s what compels me about this issue. I’ve talked to a lot of people in media — including PR pros — about what I see as the overwhelming shortcomings of the traditional press release in today’s media environment.
As I counter the arguments some of these people muster in defense of the traditional press release, they often begrudgingly relent point by point.
The sole argument that’s keeping the press release on life support, IMHO, is the undeniable fallback “Federal law requires it for financial disclosure.”
So that’s what’s got me wondering… REALLY? Is the press release the ONLY communication vehicle that will satisfy disclosure requirements? Might the laws and rules in fact leave room for other options?
That’s what I’d like to explore more critically.
Thanks for getting the ball rolling on this,
- Amy Gahran
Contentious.com
RightConversation.com
January 23rd, 2006 at 4:45 pm
Hi again, Todd
I just posted to Contentious a context-setting piece for our collaborative exploration.
See: “Disclosure, Press Releases, and Life Support: Can We Pull that Plug After All?”
- http://snipurl.com/lv5i
Onward!
- Amy Gahran
January 23rd, 2006 at 5:15 pm
Thanks, Amy. I enjoyed the post. Like I said, I was surprised at the lack of discussion around these topics in the blogosphere, so I’m happy to share the torch with you. Hopefully, we can get a discussion going.
January 23rd, 2006 at 11:28 pm
Todd, I’m writing a post tonight about the relevancy of wire services, and are they needed. This fits in quite well with yours and Amy’s discussion. Maybe we can make it a triad of discussions …
January 25th, 2006 at 10:22 am
Jeremy, thanks for joining in the discussion! (His post is here: http://pop-pr.blogspot.com/2006/01/wither-goes-wire-services.html.)
July 31st, 2006 at 12:15 pm
Submit Press Release
From my perspective, here’s what compels me about this issue. I’ve talked to a lot of people in media — including PR pros — about what I see as the overwhelming shortcomings of the traditional press release in today’s media environment.
August 11th, 2006 at 1:34 pm
If you manage any aspect of the PR process for a public, US-based company, please consider taking no more than 5-6 minutes of your time to fill out a short survey on how your company is currently using press releases: http://www.questionpro.com/akira/TakeSurvey?id=508372.
I’ll share the results on our blog.