These are my notes on Ch.12 from Public Relations Writing & Media Techniques

• The media traditionally has the following characteristics:

1. it’s centralized, having a top-down hierarchy
2. it costs a lot of money to become a publisher
3. it’s staffed by professional gatekeepers known as editors & publishers
4. it features mostly one-way communication with limited feedback channels

The World Wide Web

• allows interactivity
• a website is literally a distribution system in cyberspace
• in a lot of cases, an organization’s website is linked to other web pages and information sources
• there are 2 basic concepts that are important when writing for the web:

1. there is a huge difference between how people read online & how they read printed documents
2. the PR writer needs to know the basic difference between linear and nonlinear styles of writing

• when writing online you should limit line length to fewer than 60 characters
• you have 10-12 seconds to “hook” a viewer onto your site otherwise they’ll click on to something else
• if you want to attract visitors to your site you must give a lot of directional signage, which includes hyperlinks & search engines
• page view/page impression – refer to the number of times a page is pulled up
• unique visitor – means first-time visitors to a site
• cookie – a file that is placed on your hard drive by a website you have visited
• return on investment (ROI) – you compare the cost of the website to how such functions would be done by other means

Social Media

• according to wikipedia “social media describes the online technologies and practices that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives with each other.”
• blogs are the most dominant, but social media also includes MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, etc.
• conversation is not organized, controlled, or on message, BUT is vibrant, emergent, fun, compelling, & full of insights
• in 2007 there were 112 million blogs, with 120,000 being created every day
• corporate blogs are usually written by an executive & represents the official voice of the organization
• 70% of Americans 15-34 were currently actively engaged in some form of social network in 2008

Podcasts

• is a digital media file or series of such files that is distributed over the internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players & personal computers
• 3 major advantages:

1. cost-effectiveness
2. the ability of users to access material on a 24/7 basis
3. portability

• organizations use podcasts to provide news about their company, in-depth interviews with executives & other experts, features giving consumer tips about use of products & services, and training materials for employees
• the ideal length is 10-20 minutes