15 people says things!

1. Did you mean to say “how formal they are” instead of “informal”?

   To me they are very formal and structured with specific language and boilerplate text statements about the company and what it does.

   They do kinda stink and I don’t “get” them. When I read them I think “OK, here’s the quote from the CEO. Here’s the quote from the business partner.” But I think old-skool media still needs them.

   If I was running a corporate blog, I might post an informal note about whatever the release is detailing and link to the “real” release for those readers who are interested.

   By Dean on February 5, 2007 2:11 pm

2. I agree with Dean. Provide the press release via the usual channels, then link to it from a blog post that summarizes the interesting parts of it.

   Press releases are intended for a specific audience: the (old-school) press. Hence the name. The idea is that a journalist looking for the official details on story X has somewhere to go for all of it, and that journalist is charged with turning the company-spun release into something people won’t snore at. (I was that person once.)

   Of course, none of that fits on a blog. The point of a blog is to be informal, almost to the point of intimacy. Blog readers don’t need to be reminded about forward-looking statements or filled in about the history of the company as a “market leader”. They *do* want to read about something engaging, otherwise that post gets passed over in favor of a thousand other aggregated posts.

   So do the extra work and give blog readers something they’ll actually care about.

   By Chris Radcliff on February 5, 2007 2:54 pm

3. Ah – the turmoil of the new media revolution (if I may say so). Isn’t it fun?

   By Chris Ritke on February 5, 2007 3:10 pm

4. It does seem out of place to push press releases, that you created, on your own blog. I think the more practical use is to send ‘em to the right media editors to get your project noticed and, hopefully, written about.

   By Courtney Payne on February 5, 2007 3:15 pm

5. Dean: Good catch, Rundle just told me about it when I got back from lunch. Fixed.

   By Scrivs on February 5, 2007 3:18 pm

6. From personal experience (I’m a journalism major working as a PR-professional) I know, that press releases that are published on a companys own website have a higher rate of succes than press releases mailed directly to the media.

   The logic seems to be that the journalists feel that they have ‘found’ a story themselves and therefore lend it more weight (this of course assumes that the journalists visit your site from time to time).

   Placing the press release on the blog part of your site does seem a little odd though. It would sort it under news and subtly mention it on the blog.

   By Jesper on February 5, 2007 4:13 pm

7. I almost just made this mistake. Perfect timing.

   By Justin Ruckman on February 5, 2007 6:00 pm

8. I think, but can’t confirm, that most sites that do this don’t have a company.com/press/ page. Instead they have the blog. A chronological archive of outward statements? Sounds like both a press page and a blog if you look at it that (their) way, right?

   By Devin on February 5, 2007 6:16 pm

9. Press releases could be revamped if you ask me. Making them more presentable is an all around good idea.

   However, I don’t see the big deal in posting a press release in full or in part on a blog. Why it that a big deal? I think it could be used effectively if they were to give focused reasons as to why they, personally, believed the change to be good for the company. I could see them putting it in there to take advantage of the feed syndication as well. A blog is not a single point on the internet, like the press page, when it broadcasts to multiple users.

   “Press Releases kill any need for conversation due to how formal they are.” This seems a little ridiculous. Every blog or news site across the internet translates the official release into a blog type format and then discusses it. Why can’t it start with the source and still end with users posting comments?

   By Ellsworth on February 5, 2007 6:48 pm

10. As anyone who has worked in the world of public companies knows, press releases serve a very specific legal function for most companies. A press release crossing the wire has become the most accepted way of making private information public. This is that so-called “full disclosure” when insider information is no longer insider.

    Now, given that most press releases are written in the same officious language I used above, it would make sense if the blog entry used the press release as a launching point for a “what we’re really saying in plain English (or whatever language)” conversation with the people who care enough to read the blog.

    Of course, we also know that the only people reading press releases are the competition. (Most media get the release through a pitch.) So they have also become a vehicle to scare the competitors. Oooh. Scary.

    All of this pontificating to say I think press releases could be a really interesting launch point for a blog entry, but I agree that they shouldn’t be the entry, themselves.

    By Rick Turoczy on February 5, 2007 7:29 pm

11. [...] Scrivs asks an interesting question over at Wisdump: In this world of digital media why in the hell would people create press releases and push them on their own blogs? [...]

    By Cyprus Blog Network / Press releases vs. blogs on February 6, 2007 3:09 am

12. The purpose of press releases has long been outdated – even before we got blogs. They try to tell the facts the way marketing sees it (and at times from the legal perpective too).

    Any press releases, no matter where it is released, should be more informally styled. Plain English language, to the point, no CEO quotes (unless it is about the CEO specifically) and no marketese what so ever. As far as legal goes – if you tell the truth, then it is as legally sound as the formal style.

    This way the journalists likes it, the investors likes it, we might like it and it may even be usable on a blog.

    By Thomas Baekdal on February 6, 2007 4:08 am

13. Partly in response to what Devin said, any company that does press releases should have a /press/ section on their site. Pushing everything onto the blog is just being careless.

    By Montoya on February 7, 2007 12:26 pm

14. I agree. I like Feedburner’s hybrid style. They kinda “talk” about what they just released.

    By Devin on February 7, 2007 11:55 pm

15. [...] “Seriously, someone help me out and tell me the purpose for them. I am going insane over here.” [...]

    By Jackson Fish Market on February 9, 2007 11:33 am

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