DISQUS

Mashable - The Social Media Guide: Are Media and PR Pros Ready to Embrace the Twitter-Sized Press Release?

  • Jim "Genuine" Turner · 4 months ago
    A dollar a character? I am definitely doing something wrong.
  • Alex · 4 months ago
    A miss. And yes, I'm a journalist. This seems just plain unnecessary. We receive fax, email and all of the above on the regular directly to the newsroom when it comes to press releases. If this does "take off" it will only be for a short time and due to Twitter-happy folks.
  • Jennifer Van Grove · 4 months ago
    Thanks for sharing your take Alex. I agree that it does seem a bit unnecessary, but it could get interesting if big brands or PR agencies turn to something like Muck Rack to exclusively share news. Not sure that's a foreseeable outcome, but just a thought.
  • Bruce Colwin · 4 months ago
    pr140.com is trying another approach - combining a snipurl with a #pr140 hastag, that apparently journalists will search for. Still a bit of a shotgun blast without any further tagging for industry, etc. But an interesting approach.
  • fourzerotwo · 4 months ago
    Ugh. We need to encourage companies to take MORE control of their brand and communication with their fans / consumers / audience. Not make it LESS personal. This is a step in the wrong direction which I hope fails.
  • mark mayhew · 3 months ago
    i think you're right, it's all about the conversation/engagement
  • Bray · 4 months ago
    These geniuses copied my company’s, QuickNewsBits, concept to a tee. This same concept was covered in both PRWeek and BtoB Magazine earlier this month. Legal action is being considered.

    We are in beta and will have journalists who opt-in to use our platform. This process is already underway. These guys are a sham; journalists for the most part have no idea they are listed on their aggregate site. The PR component to their so-called business that you write about coincidentally is launched after buzz about QuickNewsBits has been generated. Geniuses.

    If you're looking for more extensive info on this concept, go to QuickNewsBits.com, and it may answer some of your questions about the concept and how it stacks up against Twitter.
  • quikness · 4 months ago
    Calling the guys at Sawhorse a 'sham' strikes me as odd. They've been experimenting with Twitter concepts for a while. Nobody has a silver bullet or all the answers and its great to see companies trying things out.
  • Jennifer Van Grove · 4 months ago
    Bray, to be fair, the idea for a one line press release has been around since the launch of Twitter. You don't need a platform like Muck Rack or QuickNewsBits to tweet a release if you've already got an audience.
  • Frederick Marullo · 4 months ago
    In this new era you have to be as broad as possible, let's see if they can harness enough journalists for it to be some kind of hub. We'll see, but not a bad idea, but it's not the only strategy a brand should use...maybe one of the 25, targeted to journalist not the audience which is a completely other playing field. Brand needs to entertain, interest and create a feel good sentiment about their brand and engage their audience. But let's see where the chips may fall, I've advise our agency to post a small press release about our DIESEL social media only campaign, we'll see but it's strategy number 43 for us on this succesful campaign ;)

    thanks for the post.

    Frédérick
    http://twitter.com/cincogroup
  • SteveSeager · 4 months ago
    Ugh. Simply. Ugh.
  • markhanson · 4 months ago
    But isn't that a Twitter version of something like PR Newswire that tempts lazier PRs into thinking that distribution of press releases is more important than relationships, timing, knowing your audience, tailoring stories etc etc

    If you're strong in the above and you understand social media then you'll have a strong journo following on Twitter
  • TheGeekHead · 4 months ago
    Didn't know where to post the message to let you guys know about a story. NOW you can tweet a prayer to god. check it out http://bit.ly/Vm7M5
  • Population · 4 months ago
    The story itself its interesting, definitely newsworthy. For what MuckRuck is trying to do, their following seems small. They don't offer their clients much currently.

    However, I'm tempted to follow MuckRuck because of your story.
  • Matt Schwartz · 4 months ago
    It will all depend on how many news sources follow them. There would be times I would pay a small amount to get a tweet in front of an influential list of Tweeters and Bloggers. They'll live or die based on how much the blogosphere and news sources buy into them. Right now, it's a wait and see scenario.
  • David Leonhardt · 4 months ago
    Even if you have 20,000 Twitter followers, most journalists will not see your tweet, unless you have made great efforts to get them as followers. Serious journalists will follow only those whom they consider good sources for stroies they are likely to write. However, if they get wind of a tweet release service and it seems to be useful, you don't need to court journalists and convince them to follow you despite all the irrelevent tweets you make. The serv ice makjes sense.
  • PRP · 4 months ago
    we post all press release from pressreleasepoint.com to twitter.com/prnews. almost all newswires have a twitter account. size matters.
  • PRP · 4 months ago
    almost all newswires post it to their twitter account. we post all release from www.pressreleasepoint.com to twitter account prnews. size matters. it is worth paying if there are enough number of followers.
  • Laura · 4 months ago
    It's a great idea if the journalists you need to reach are using Muckrack. For example, it'd be worth it for a new tech release but not for something with health, since there are at approx. 3x as many tech reporters than health reporters on Muckrack. It is also significantly cheaper than a paid release through a service like PR newswire, so even a few hits would make it worth the price. Kudos to the Sawhorse guys for thinking creatively.
  • Aerocles · 4 months ago
    I Have 3000+ Followers Including Many Journalists, Bloggers, Influencers & Reporters... More Than @Muckrack! I'll Charge 75 Cents Per Character if you go through me over Muck Rack. I'll even go as low as 50 Cents per Character if you commit to 10 Twitter releases a month. @Aerocles
  • ChelsyOh · 4 months ago
    There are resources (paid and unpaid) to connect to journalists via Twitter that are relevant to your organization. If they're interested, they will follow you back, I certainly don't think there is a need for someone else to be doing this for you. The point of Twitter is to directly connect to your followers, not have someone else do the connecting.