Have read quite a few really insightful pieces on this topic this week so thought I would share the links below.

• A case study chat with Playstation’s New Media Team at the New Comm Forum sharing 15 lessons learned on implementing a Blog here

• Social Media Group discussing Chris Anderson, Editor of Wired Magazine, on a rant against PR people sending him press releases:

“I’ve had it… Lazy flacks send press releases to the Editor in Chief of Wired because they can’t be bothered to find out who on my staff, if anyone, might actually be interested in what they’re pitching. So fair warning: I only want two kinds of email: those from people I know, and those from people who have taken the time to find out what I’m interested in and composed a note meant to appeal to that. Everything else gets banned on first abuse.”

He published email addresses of the latest offenders…

The article goes on to a solution, which is rather than pushing press releases to editors, let them pull content from you - enabled by offering Social Media releases. They are using RSS, so know when there are updates, and at this point pull content from you that they think will be of interest to readers. Full article here.

• Also came across this article on the PR Squared Blog, which asked, “Am I seriously suggesting that a PR person MUST become an active Twitter user if they want to have a meaningful career? “  They highlighted benefits Twitter delivers to professionals such as personal branding, knowledge and relationships. Read the full post here

• Brian Solis of Silicon Valley, a new Facebook friend of mine and an incredibly passionate and talented individual within the new media and PR.2.0 (that is the name of his blog at www.briansolis.com) sphere defined PR 2.0 as:

“The realization that the Web changed everything, inserting people equally into the process of traditional influence. Suddenly we were presented with the opportunity to not only reach our audiences through gatekeepers, but also use the online channels where they publish and share information to communicate directly and genuinely.”

In this post he reviews a new book he was asked to write the foreword for from Deirdre Breakenridge. The full foreword by Brian Solis and details of the book are here.

• A really good article at poynter.org from Amy Gahran (conversational media consultant and content strategist) on how journalists are responding to changes in the industry. There are some really insightful assumptions listed here, although I am sure they are not applicable as a general rule across all journalists, such as:

“The only journalism that counts is that done by mainstream news orgs, especially in print or broadcast form. Alternative, independent, online, collaborative, community, and other approaches to news are assumed to be inferior or even dangerous.”

“Real journalists only do journalism. They don’t dirty their hands or distract themselves with business and business models, learning new tools, building community, finding new approaches to defining and covering news, etc.”

The full article on Poynter is available here

Have had quite a intensely busy week, despite it being short for NZ’s ANZAC Day, and have very little intellectual horsepower left. So instead of writing a post today I am going to point to some interesting links from during the week I have come across.

Carnegie Mellon University holds a lecture series where lecturers address the students as if it was their last lecture they would be delivering. One lecturer, Randy Pausch, did not have to imagine this scenario as he had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. Randy gave a lecture called “Really achieving your childhood dreams.” Millions of people have watched this lecture online, where he tells the audience how he has lived his childhood dreams and, what he thinks of as more important, enabling the dreams of others.

The strength of character, powerful attitude and sparkle in the eye of Randy will bring you a smile and a tear to your eye simultaneously. Since delivering this lecture Randy’s book “The Last Lecture” was released and is a bestseller, currently impossible to get a copy of.

Of these gifts given to the world by Pausch, Wired Magazine said, “No matter how long Pausch’s attitude and treatment keeps the cancer at bay, the gift he has given his kids and the world through these works and the dreams and projects they inspire will long out last the lifetime of any man (and probably his article on virtual reality in The World Book Encyclopedia too).”

You can watch the full last lecture from Randy Pausch Here

On a similar note, I heard a radio show last week where they were calling to listeners to write a letter to your 16 year old self. The letters I heard that were written by the show hosts were moving about what advice you would give yourself, learnings, what does matter and what doesn’t. What Randy’s lecture makes you think about is the right now. I know this is quite existential for a Saturday afternoon, but quite frankly you never really know what is around the corner.

Perhaps with the right now world view it would be useful to write a letter to your 85 year old self and in that letter lay out a roadmap of exactly how you can and will achieve your childhood dreams and how you are going to make sure that enabling the dreams of others is a key part of achieving yours.

Or perhaps skip the letter but keep these learnings and values at the forefront of your mind and get out enjoy, experience and enable. I found this lecture, his exuberant attitude and to see the importance and value someone with a very short time to live places on relationships with family and friends very inspiring. We can all live like this, some of us are just lucky enough to have a bit more time to practice this approach to the world and the people within ours.

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New research out from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre shows that caffeine does not in face perk us up per se, but prevents us from drifting down and losing focus. After 2-3 hours in a work day the brain releases a neurotransmitter called “adenosine” which causes drowsiness and promotes sleep. An espresso timed when this drowsiness starts to come on stops the adenosine being released.

I guess the majority of us are not too desperate to know exactly what neurotransmitter is responsible but more what is the best way to stay on the ball. The interesting thing I found as a person that is hugely coffee dependant is that the best way to ward off this onset of drowsiness and lost focus is to go slow and steady with the caffeine sipped throughout the day. My approach to date has been the triple shot shock method which I thought just had to be the most effective. In the morning of course as to make sure that at a time when sleep actually is an acceptable activity I am not there as an Owl staring at the roof..
“The bottom line: Experts say there’s no harm is using moderate amounts of caffeine to smooth the bumps in life day to day. But if you use caffeine to muffle a constant howl from an exhausted brain, think about cutting back. It might be time to reevaluate.”

Read the full Psychology Today article Here

I read an interesting article on Readwriteweb this morning titled, “Real people don’t have time for social media”. There were a few really interesting points in there that helped formulate my understanding of roles within a social media scene although I think “most people” as opposed to real people would have been much more accurate headline for this article.

I think social media still has connotations of unproductive time wasting through things like online chatting. This isn’t the case at all. What social media tools allow are a huge increase in efficiency and productivity.

Some “real people” use social media tools to help them stay up to date with topics they wish to follow and are passionate about (personal) but also use them to do their job better (professional).

In the information age that is today there is a mass of research, data and opinion readily available at our fingers tips. Social media tools, are just that tools, for us at home and in the workplace to filter, sort and receive all information that is relevant and potentially critical to our areas of personal and professional interest.

I did like the breakdown of roles ReadWriteWeb made within a social media community
1) Participants
2) Content providers
3) Community Directors (What must be the mayoral equivalent in the offline world)

I think people must move through each role as they find their areas of interest (participant), find a voice and form opinions (content provider) and then connections are made with others and the interest becomes a true passion that they really want to share ideas around with others (community director).

My point for this post is to say that yes, social media tools and the increases in efficiency and productivity they provide are currently not accessed by most (”real”) people. But for people like myself for whom information is integral to staying abreast of developments they can really make a difference to building understanding, skills and expertise and in ensuring you are up to date with any shifts of new developments.

I use a number of social media tools for both my personal interests (online/New media, emerging tech, journalism) and professional interests (finance, capital markets and investment) and since I have done so it has made a huge positive difference in both areas. Based on this, I would recommend that more “real people” give these tools a go.

Another great ReadWriteWeb post here Ten common objections to social media adoption and how you can respond

See here for a diagram of a vision for 2010 that came out of an LA Times offsite of 24 newsroom editors “to develop a three year plan for the newsroom.” As you would expect there is a focus on feedback and input from readers, customisable content, a recognition of content from professionals and amateur and a wide channel view for the future across TV, print, web and mobile. See this link for the memo sent to staff and a book/blog reading list provided to those going along.

“Rest assured that we still want to break news and do in-depth and investigative stories that matter to our readers. But we also are looking for ways to reimagine our business so that we can remain relevant for many years to come.” - LA Times Editor

When easily accessible publishing tools such as blogs and citizen journalism sites first came into existence they were very far removed from traditional publishing houses. In the last 6 -7 years they have become commonplace, in use by individuals who would not previously been able to publish their ideas, opinions and any other creative content they choose to generate. If this content is generated out of a work setting and of a person’s own initiative many claim it is because it is a created out of passion, which makes for expertise, understanding and a good read. This is how many of the leading blogs were formed and the reason they can gain such a strong and rapid readership.These tools are now also used widely by organisations, with main benefits that come to mind gains in productivity, increased ability for collaboration and the ability to have a two way conversation.

But more relevant here is that they are also used to today by “traditional” media companies, complementing (e.g. add a comment, social media tools) and in some cases replacing traditional journalism. What I thought first thought when I read the article about the LA Times offsite was how difficult it must be to accelerate change within a large media organisation. This is where pure new media companies have an edge through agility. This LA Times plan is a couple of years off (2010), when realistically technology that is hot now and integral to this roadmap plan from LA Times may will be archaic, may have evolved, maybe even totally replaced.
In my mind it would be best to run this type of “Newsroom to New media” offsite with the understanding that “remaining relevant” will always be an ongoing process, not a fixed project with an end date looked to, in this case 2010. At the offsite focus would be best set on reinforcing to the whole editing team that the fact the roadmap that they set today will quite possibly need to change daily, weekly, monthly. And that this is one of the most exciting aspects of their field.

On the journalism note this seems relevant,