#Journchat Brings PR, Journalism Together on Twitter

I participated last night in #journchat, a madcap Twitter roundtable on the pressing issues in journalism and PR. Kudos to Sarah Evans for organizing the TweetChat. Here are some more intriguing points I took away:

1. Twitter has forced journalists to change the way they break news. Journalists must be capable of delivering news via any medium. 
   See comments from KatieKrafka, Merredith, BJMendelson and Dark_Faust 
     
2. Local news is losing the battle for attention in SM as my news resource
     
3. Journalist and PR flacks should have a wide assortment of tools, including social media tools, in their toolboxes.
     
4. Twitter isn’t mainstream, nor is it a mainstream part of the journalist/PR relationship. Pitching on Twitter elicited mixed reviews from journalists and PR pros alike. 
   See comments from MrsNatalieW, ScottGow, Britl, and Madison14.
    
5. Newswires are losing the battle. Journalists prefer trusted sources and social media channels over outlets like PR Newswire.
   See comments by UrbaneImagery, DeeGospel, CarrieKerpen and DocKane.

During the chat, I had a spirited and far-ranging debate with Doug Haslem, a social media and technology PR guy for SHIFT communications.

On press releases:

Me: It amazes clients still hire us to write press releases. They’re a weak strategy for ink, good only for search engines.
Doug: Releases are SEO bait, not pitches. Agreed. I never lead w/ a release, but I do summarize the news.

On brevity:

Doug: I stopped writing page-long pitches years ago. Three lines max if email. You get 10 seconds on the phone. Twitter? Sure, for length.
Rich Young: If i have a relationship w journo, I get 25 secs to pitch, if i don’t, i get 10.
Me: In other words, hone your pitch Twitter-style. 25 seconds = 140 characters, give or take…agree?

On relationships with journalists vs. skillful pitching:

Doug: Most PRs who sell themselves on relationships w/ journos are lying.
Doug: My relationship w/ a reporter? “I have client info that might help a good story.” That’s my #$^%#^ rel’ship.
Doug: Yes, [a relationship] helps get the phone answered/email returned. That’s an advantage. But it stops there.
Doug: If you got both, you got gold, but the given the choice, go with the better pitcher/storyteller

You can find more of the exchange between Doug and I on Doug’s Utterli page.

Here are some other thoughts:

• Now is the perfect time to befriend a journalist. They’re watching their friends get laid off and fearing for their own jobs.
• What have you done FOR a journalist — BESIDES give them a “story” idea. Link love for their blog? Props on Twitter? Anything?
• Build a relationship with a reporter BEFORE you need ink, not WHEN you need ink.
• Breaking an embargo is like running a red light b/c the guy in front of you did. Damned if I’ll be late, right?

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