Society of New Communications Research Symposium

Posted on November 14th, 2008 by LauraTomasetti

The SNCR held its third annual research symposium today in Cambridge, with some fascinating presentations.

UMASS researcher Nora Barnes presented a study looking at corporations’ use of social media. There’s a huge disparity between the number of Fortune 500 companies and INC 500s using social media - maybe no surprise, when you consider most Fortune 500s are publicly traded and as such tend to play it more conservatively when communicating - whether via traditional or social media.

INC 500s outblogging Fortune 500s

It’s clear that the more entrepreneurial businesses comprising the INC 500 are leveraging social media. Seventy-seven percent of INC 500s are using at least one form of social media, with 39% maintaining corporate blogs (vs. 12% of Fortune 500s).

Why use social media?

INC 500 companies responding to the UMASS survey said they view social media as: another way to communicate, to add value to customers, to create brand awareness and demo product and services (with online video). The VPs of marketing interviewed added that social media is cost effective.

Don Middleberg, author of Winning PR in Wired World, shared results of a new studyexaming how journalists are using social media. “Twitter is the next hot thing in PR,” Middleberg said. Twenty percent of journalists surveyed are already using Twitter for sources and ideas for stories. They’re also using IM and blogs heavily, and recognize that more news is being broken on blogs, changing the role of traditional media.

Middleberg also talked about the value of the social media press release. “Historically, press releases were used to interest reporters in writing a story. Now press releases are used more for SEO benefits and for things like attracting readers to a CEO’s blog,”said Middleberg.

At the end of the day, we see many of the age-old principals of PR still apply, but are applied with a different tool set. Social media provides a platform for greater collaboration between journalists and PR people who take the time to be in communities like Twitter and add value without spamming.

One other SNCR session I’ll blog about soon is “The ROI of Online Press Releases.” I’d definitely recommend this conference if you can attend next year.

Twitter/Laura360

Filed under: Digital PR, Events and Conferences, Internet, Media and Press, PR Industry |

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