Mike Davidson's Newsvine, which appears from the outside to be a most engaging collaboration of news and community involvement. I'm not certain I know enough to comment further, but it sounds to me like the sort of next generation news delivery service that I feel is inevitable.
I've been among an ever burgeoning crowd of people watching the emergence of
But I'll wait until I know more to really comment on what this Disney graduate is doing. I wanted to comment more on his recent disclosure that the ton of coverage Newsvine has gathered--including CBS news-- so far has been done without PR or so much as a press release. I also want to briefly clarify my views on PR.
Shel Holtz on a recent For Immediate Release podcast that was most kind to Naked Conversations, alleged I thought PR and press releases should be abolished altogether. That is not true, although I do see some fundamental changes required for the survival of either. If you are a public company, you need press releases just to comply with certain legal and SEC requirements. If you are in a niche or smokestack business, where your target audiences do not use the Internet as a primary source of information, you need press releases. I just believe a great many--perhaps most--press releases are unnecessary these days. And those that are necessary can be reduced of pap to be made more useful to editorial recipients and analysts.
I also question whether the cost of a PR agency for a startup--particularly a new technology startup is necessary. In the case of Riya, it has not been. Now comes Newsvine, demonstrating the same point. The guys at FireFox proved the same thing--way back--over six month ago.
Times are changing rapidly. PR agencies, new companies need to assess how they build awareness and credibility with their audiences. And they may find it much more efficient not to do what everyone else has always done.
