The End of the Social Media Release

That’s my goal: to put an end to the “Social Media Release.” Not because I want to see a return to the days of text-based news releases, but simply because I don’t want the Social Media Release to be “special” anymore. I’d like it to be a standard operating procedure for corporate communicators.

What brought this to mind? For one, this fantabulous “social media release” by Cisco Systems. (That’s Cisco, the multi-billion dollar tech behemoth, for you non-techies.) There’s no mistaking their intentions with this news; witness the headline: “Social Media Release: Cisco Connected Life Contest.”

(They’re sponsoring a contest looking for users’ ideas for “new experience(s) or capabilit(ies) you would like networking and communications technologies to help you do, whether at home, at work, or on the move.” Sounds cool. Here’s the official contest page.)

In the body of the release (which largely hews to the SHIFT template – yay!), there’s a link to a “Traditional Press Release.” And that’s what got me thinking about the “end” of the Social Media Release.

The Cisco release is great – it’s straightforward, easy to understand, contains lotsa links to additional content (inclusing a video featuring the band members from KISS!), a YouTube community site link, an RSS feed, a Digg This link, etc.

Why oh why would anyone rather look at a “traditional” release? Isn’t this what all news releases ought to be like? Or have I been drinking too much Social Media Kool-Aid?

Either way, yet another big company has jumped on the bandwagon, and that’s one more step in the right direction. Kudos, Cisco! (And hat-tip to Shel Holtz.)

Continue reading here: Social Media Predictions

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