Subscribe for Email Updates
RSS Feed
Technorati
Delicious bookmark
Bloglines
Web 2.0 Sandbox
I kinda view Web 2.0 as a big sandbox with a bunch of kids playing in it. The kids include the entrepreneurs, users, investors, traditional media, bloggers, analysts, pr people, and a whole lot of other diversity. I’ve been noticing a lot of name calling lately and it is starting to sound more juvenile than the adolescent bickering you might hear in the playground sandbox. My industry seems to be getting a lot of sand in its eyes. I recently read something posted by a sandbox kid who shall remain nameless due to their cyber-age. This person slammed PR people saying that because our industry was “dying” that we were all scrambling to figure out how to survive in a Web 2.0 world. While it makes for an entertaining post and every bully loves a good pig-pile, you’ve gotta be kidding me. All kids in the sandbox are doing the same thing. The world has changed, Web 2.0 rules and we are all — without exception –adapting our professional roles to ensure our customers benefit most by the services we provide. Last I checked nobody was doing Web 2.0 missionary work and to imply they are is ridonkulous. Heehaw! Venture Capitalists are investing in Web 2.0 companies in hopes of a good return for their investors. Analysts are writing about Web 2.0 because it is smart for their business and their clients need the insight. Traditional media are adding in Web 2.0 components like user-generated content and citizen journalism because it makes them more savvy when it comes to reporting the news and engaging their audience in a way that had never been achieved. PR people are looking to build awareness and association for a client and look to Web 2.0 opps because it’s a very important medium for news/content consumption. I hate to be the one to pop the delusional bubble of many of these bullies, but PR is not going away. Yes, viral is an important opportunity but it will not replace the PR industry. Why? Because noise is noise is noise whether in the physical world or on the internet. Businesses still need to get above the noise and get their message out in an effective way. These companies need to focus on their core competencies, not pitching stories. To assume the blogosphere will spead their message like wildfire in a way that obviates the need for any other marketing/PR is as silly as the name-calling in the sandbox. Will some businesses succeed this way, absoluteley and some of those kids probably are poopoo heads. However, most businesses will not and PR can and will help them.
Can’t we all just get along?
April 8th, 2008 at 4:43 am
I take a longer view. I view the current radical shift in communications back to the time of the Gutenberg Press. Before that only the wealthy had books and read, after that the masses had a book. Whether that bible served them well or not, it got them reading and thinking beyond the work a day world. It changed things, and people were unhappy with it.
I also liken it to the shift when the telephone became common, the tv ended up in everyone’s home, the airplane started flying us from one spot to another in a day. All these shifts brought us in touch with people outside our sphere. This is bound to cause friction.
Now we have, in our careers seen, the end of typesetting, and napkin based layouts…all is computer and programs. I know you saw the shift in the local tv market last week. I think the pundits have it wrong. It isn’t the end of the personality driven leader delivering us thoughts and ideas. It isn’t the beginning of the branded media company. It is and always be about an individual sharing great ideas to other individuals. Those with the best ideas and best delivery of those ideas will be followed. They will be the winners. As you say, and rightly so, there is a need to get above the noise. Each company needs to deliver to its clients and prospects what they need, where they live. So many of us live on the web now.
PR will not go away, there is a desperate need for great communications, especially now that it has been democratized (read dumbed-down) by applications like YouTube and other social media platforms. I believe the future belongs to those who serve well, who perform professionally and follow the rules of best practices both in the sandbox and outside.