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Posted by Tom Gable
BIOCOM hosted a panel discussion today on “Social Media 2.0,” with Terri Somers, BIOCOM director of communications and former Union-Tribune life sciences reporter as moderator. The panelists: Mauricio Minotta, Director of Communications, The Salk Institute; Peter Pitts, partner and director, Global Health, New York, Porter Novelli; and Shari Roan, life science reporter for the Los Angeles Times.
The most compelling insights for the PR profession came from Roan. In a few minutes, she provided an incredibly succinct description of where newspapers are going in evolving from old to new models and incorporating social media to drive change:
- The Web site is now their main product, not the print edition.
- Most readers come from the Web.
- As a result, the L.A. Times now reaches broader, more diverse audiences.
- The Web site has 10 to 15 times more content than the print edition, which has its obvious production and distribution limitations.
- They have more than 100 blogs, so can cover issues and ideas that wouldn’t typically get into the newspaper because of the size of the news hole.
- With blogs, there are more opportunities to tell your stories and also stimulate comments, which help gauge public interest.
- The blogs provide short snippets of news and are not fully reported out. They try to be fast in getting out the news and then provide links to stories or sources with more detail.
- The beat reporters, such as those in sports, use Twitter to provide up-to-the-minute coverage. This has been valuable in covering breaking news, such as the recent fires near Los Angeles.
- Twitter is used to Tweet on headlines and link back to the Web page.
- Social media has made journalism more of a two-way street; they can engage with readers.
- With an unlimited news hole on the Web, there is a greater need for visuals, including video.
Thanks to Roan for these important insights, including the latter. PR professionals, many of whom came out of print journalism (including yours truly), tend to think in terms of the printed word. Creating a visual communications strategy with Web sites, Facebook, You Tube, Flick, Twitter and all other tools and tactics can provide new power to any program, particularly those with difficult stories to tell in print but that can be covered in a three-minute video.
Tags: blog, creative, facebook, media, news, newspapers, PR, social media, Twitter, writing
