The Journal Offers a Hand Up to Startups

The Wall Street Journal offers to small business startups a very helpful online site -- StartupJournal -- where entrepreneurs can drill down for good tips, podcasts and other useful information.

Businesses interesting in podcasting should pay attention to the podcasts on this site. They are short, six minutes or so, clearly presented, and full of how-to information. The StartupJournal also offers a discussion section where business owners can talk about their hits and misses.

The price is right -- FREE.

Long Live the News Release (Software)

If you think the last post was way too cheerleaderish about this web hype, check out the recent announcement by Edelman, the huge worldwide PR firm.

Edelman, recognizing that companies now need to get out there to the blogs, YouTubes, MySpaces and Facebooks of the world, has put together some software to help PR types create "social media news releases."

A social media news release is written differently and presented differently for today's fragmented, multitasking audience that can't deal with the old puff stuff.

Here is the announcement about the fill-in-the-blanks software, and here is another PR firm's examples of social media news releases.

COMMERCIAL TIME
News releases in the web world will be part of our January 10 seminar in Philadelphia, which is explained in the column to the right of this post.

Remember 8-Tracks, Slides Rules and Press Releases?

Is the old fashioned press release on its last legs in this Web New World?

Not yet, but Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz, a corporate blogging star, calls press releases "anachronistic," especially as a vehicle for disclosing important corporate announcements,

For months now, Schwartz has been bugging the SEC to recognize Web sites and blogs as the legitimate means for disseminating important corporate information. Web sites and blogs, he says, should satisfy the SEC's tough "Regulation FD" rules for releasing data.

Schwartz made his case in a letter to SEC Chairman Christopher Cox, which is here.

Cox has responded with a positive letter that seems to agree with Schwartz without proclaiming web sites and blogs as sufficient vehicles to satisfy regulation FD. See the letter here.

Worth watching.

Adland is Getting "Crowded"

Who in your company comes up with advertising, promotion or PR ideas? No one, you say, because you outsource it to an ad agency or PR firm?

Well, how would you feel about letting your customer public create your outreach to the public? It's a variation of what is called "crowdsourcing," whereby web users of all kinds contribute to a product.

If you think it sounds goofy, take a look at the National Football League's latest innovation at this site. (Aside: don't you wish Microsoft was half as innovative as the NFL?)

Letting customers pitch their television ad ideas is a major shift in corporate thinking, but the internet has demanded it. Now companies such as Dove, Southwest Arlines and others are doing the same thing.

It's cheap. The NFL ad winner will get a free trip to the Super Bowl. Chicken feed compared to ad agency concept fees.

This idea may be coming your way, whether you like it or not.

Big Red Gets The Video Download Thing

Companies toying with the notion of creating video podcasts (vodcasts) should be checking the quality and positioning of videos created by other organizations. An example of a very clean and appealing collection of vodcasts is one that popped up on our radar screen recently.

Cornell University gets it. Its page of video offerings is easily taken in and within a second the user is deciding what video to download or watch on the tube. The variety is interesting -- a poet reading her works, talks on exciting Alzheimer's discoveries, an explanation of rising tuition costs, a violin solo and an "All About Birds" video gallery are but a few of those listed.

Yes, it is an educational institution with some enlightening topics to explore. But if you can't think of an interesting way to present your products or services, well, then give us a yell.

Take it Off. Take it All Off.

Business executives who dismiss Web 2.0 -- blogs, podcasts, online video, etc. -- as all hype are absolutely correct. The web is much about hype these days.

But hype can be incredibly helpful to a company looking to gets its name or products out there.

Media outlets are full today of news about unboxing.com and a few similar sites that are attracting a growing audience and gobs of advertising. The "unboxing" sites even made the front page of today's Wall Street Journal

What do unboxing sites do? Simply provide lots of videos of people unboxing products, iPods, HDTVs, bean bags, phones.

Who could have predicted such a site a year ago? Who knows how long it will last as a popular site? No one, of course, but that's not the point.

The point is this: creative, even wacky sites that may be able to promote your services will be coming online with increasing frequency. The question is this: Is your company ninble enough to make use of them?

KITOWS

Can you sum up your company in one word? Probably not. And, you might add, there's no reason to do so.

But there is a bit of a marketing moment going on now that can be summed up in one acronym -- KITOWS.

Keep It To One Word, Stupid.

While this movement is inspired by the young internet generation (think iTunes, iPods,IMs, Borat, Britney, etc.), it is best articulated in a masterful article by the advertising master himself, Maurice Saatchi,whose first name is superfluous in the ad world.

Saatchi's piece, found here, is all about what he calls "one word equity."

Check this out and be more aware, as you monitor the marketing/PR world, how brevity has become the soul of marketing. "Just Do It!," evolved into "Do It!" and then fell victim to a lonely swoosh.

What are you selling? And, assuming that only one word could be connected with your company, what's your word?

Wanna Be Wired In? Think Inc.

This is an unsolicited, uncompensated plug for Inc. Magazine, one of the more interesting and helpful business magazines too often pigeon-holed as a publication for small business. Even if you work at a very large company, Inc. will keep you abreast of developments out there, particularly on the web.

The current issue includes an interesting article explaining “How to Get in On The YouTube Craze.”

One example: Smirnoff pushed its new malt iced-tea drink by posting a rap parody on the YouTube site, where consumers watch 100 million videos DAILY. The two-minute clip included country club types rapping their lifestyle and their new iced tea drink with a kick.

Bottom line: It was viewed more than a million times within a few weeks.

Here’s one more testimonial, this one for the online news site WebProNew, which has become a reliable provider of news about the fast-developing Web 2.0 culture and business environment.

Mr. Watson, Can You Dig This?

Some news articles are easily read and forgotten. But others stick out like giant red fingers pointing the way to the future for the smart business executive.

We got the finger from four such news articles in the last 36 hours. They all pointed to one sure-fire bet in the next few years: The good old telephone, which is poised to again revolutionize business the second time around.

This article describes why graphics chip-maker Nvidia purchased a company that makes chips and software for portable devices. The last line is the best line, as follows:

Jen-Hsun Huang, Nvidia's boss, stakes out the company's claim for this ground: "We intend to drive the next digital revolution, where the mobile device becomes our most personal computer," he said today.

Bet on this folks – the days of a single purpose portable player (think iPod) are numbered. Why carry two or three devices when one can do it all?

Consider this article about the pending deal between Verizon Communications and YouTube, which will result in YouTube videos showing up on cellphones. The Holy Grail indeed. If a phone can hold videos, it can hold music, books and web pages.

(See the article on News Corp. looking to team up with Japan’s Softbank Corp. to offer its MySpace.com product via cellphones. And the one on VodaFone Group doing a deal with Microsoft to streamline the number of platforms needed to create “smartphons.”)

So how can this change business? By itself, not so much, ,perhaps, but with the new search engine muscles allowing users to capture all manner of video, consider this scenario.

Company Cool has created a hot new video game and wants to get it known to the game-playing kid population. It will certainly crank out the press releases and hope for some ink and web news space.

But it also will produce a zippy video about the game that is uploaded to all manner of sites, including YouTube. A youngster searches on his cell phone for cool new videos, finds the new game video promo and, shazaam, it is now playing on his cell phone.

From company to consumer with no human middle man.

In Praise of Boring Lotus Leaves

On the video blog front, just wanted to show you a sample video from the GE Global Research Blog called Edison’s Desk. Look at it here for the few moments it takes and ask yourself this:

Why put a boring video on a blog? And why would GE do this?

The answer is simple. The employees working on this Lotus Leaf project do not consider it boring, nor do the handful of persons who commented.

Rather than demand that content be universal, Web 2.0 asks only that it satisfy someone out there. The research blog has a nice little “show and tell” feel to it, unexpected from a large corporation. And, it has a blatant cheerleaderish tone that viewers do not seem to mind.

Is your company doing enough “boring” things to attract this kind of audience?

Innovate! Innovate! Dance to the Music

When Microsoft was under fire from anti-trust warriors in this country and Europe, Bill Gates continually complained that the company needed the freedom to innovate. If any word was his mantra, it was that one: Innovate.

The mantra hasn't seemed to be working too well.

That "I word" came to mind today when the news wires were afire with word that Google has purchased privately-held JotSpot, a site that permits users to create their own wikis, either free or paid, with premium users getting more bells and whistles. More than 300,000 people use the free service. (See some of the web news about the deal here.)

If you don't know wikis, you will. They started out as electronic whiteboards that allowed users to share content over the internet, contributing their own words or changing what already is there. JotSpot advanced the wiki, allowing users to post and change photos, spreadsheets, etc.

Wikis are perfect for business teams dealing with projects that involve many employees and facets.

As usual, Microsoft is not unfamiliar with wikis and it seems to have fooled around with some wiki-type products in its Office environment. Not that most businesses have ever heard of Microsoft's offerings in this field.

No, once again it has been the small and independent creators of new, innovative products that have captured the early-adapters and now reap the financial rewards for their creators(although no details of the JotSpot deal were made public).

The Jotspot web site today carried a notice saying it has closed new account activity until the content is moved to Google, but it does have a FAQ list about the deal.

With its thousands of employees and billions of dollars in cash reserve, Microsoft has been in a good position to head off the Googles of the world. But the news today casts doubt on the company's ability to remain in the driver's seat in the Web 2.0 world.

Is It "Unpure" for Corporate Blogs To Be Collaborative?

Are blogs sacrosanct documents that are written and seen by only one person, posted and then left on the Intenet as untouchable history?

Some blogging purists think so. One we know was disturbed when we decided to go back to a post of a day earlier and change some language that was, in our view, both dogmatic and inaccurate. “Blogs should not be changed,” he said.

Imagine this gentleman’s reaction to a recent survey by a Brit writer who claims to have done a “postal survey” of 750 blogging business executives in the U.S., UK, Australia and South Africa. He reports that 83 percent of the bloggers had their work written or drafted by someone else, although they approved the text before it was published.

Is this study legitimate? The Davis web site gives no way to verify his claims and you can check it out to see it if raises your suspicions. We’re skeptical about the large number of busy execs who allegedly would take the time to answer a mailing. And isn’t is strange that it was a “postal” survey and not emailed?

Whether or not it is credible, the survey addresses a real issue in corporate blogging: the lack of a universal definition of blogging integrity.

Some argue that all blogs should be classic “web logs,” or personal diaries – even of business people – and they should be authentic and strictly authored by one person, reflecting that person’s view on the day it was posted. Anything else – including reviews and revisions by others before posting or any changes after posting – amounts to misleading and probably dishonest activity, they say.

But consider the many speeches by business executives and government officials that include personal reflections, including memorable State of the Union addresses by U.S. presidents with misty-eyed references to meetings with regular folks or service personnel who moved the commander-in-chief to stirring oratory. Does anyone really believe such words never passed under the nose of speech writers and aides?

Are personal speeches written (at least in part) by someone else dishonest or misleading?

Of course not.

In our direct speech-writing experiences, we always spent considerable time with the executive to understand his or her theme, points and tone. Then there was back and forth collaboration until the executive was comfortable with the talk. When the speech is given –- or “posted” – the executive in fact becomes the author. The speech is hers.

As corporate blogging takes hold, the issues of ghost-written and previously-reviewed blogs probably will undergo great discussion. If an employee blogger agrees to let someone else in the company review his blog, is that “censorship” or giving the blogger the benefit of another pair of eyes?

In our view, if the primary blogger is comfortable with getting assistance in presenting a blog that accurately reflects her thoughts and views – and also keeps her out of trouble – the blogging world will accept that blog as authentic.

If such posts are effective and widely-read but the purists still attack them as not “real” blogs, and if that happens to any great degree, the web world simply will come up with another name for something good that works.

Blogging on the Strip: Not a Roaring Good Time

Corporate bloggers who like to post while traveling know that the most reliable way to keep the pipeline open is to schlep the old laptop throughout the trip and work in a hotel room that has a high-speed connection.

One of us found out the hard way last week it is foolish to assume that a very large hotel in a very busy town will provide a full-fledged business center with easy access to high speed connections.

With its 5,000 rooms stacked in massive buildings that stand out on the Las Vegas Strip skyline, the MGM Grand Hotel certainly seemed to have its Internet act together – at least in the rooms. The high speed access connector was there for easy, if expensive (70 cents a minute) connectivity.

But without our laptop, we looked up the “business center” location near the front lobby and headed down for a post. What a disaster.

There are 5,000 rooms at the Grand, but only five web-connected computers in the postage-stamp sized business hub.

Oh, two of the computers were at a stand-up podium. Only three desktops were perched in a cubbyhole tucked away to the right. They were occupied. There were others waiting. When we finally got our chance, we checked out an email that included a link to a Word document.

Bad idea, clicking that link. The machine froze. The clerk who responded pointed to a phone and told us to dial an 800 number for help. At that point, we looked at the others nervously fretting nearby their turn in the digital dungeon and just gave up the ghost. Forget about it.

What was so stunning about this meager facility was its comparison to the earlier legs of our Southwestern U.S. trip. A very small and quaint inn in Santa Fe provided a pleasant and separate room with free web access and printing. The Sedona, Arizona, inn provided free access at two comfortable sit-down locations near the front desk.

Even the well-worn El Rancho hotel on the old Route 66 in Gallup, N.M., offered free access on several computers in a separate room with windows. The hotel is well past its prime, when Hollywood’s Golden Age movie stars stayed there during filming of Westerns. But it understands the web needs of today’s guests.

The MGM in Vegas has many pleasant amenities and features, but when it comes to business center Internet access, it is far from the King of the Hill.

Always Read Blogs Critically

Following up on the Wal-Mart blogging scandal, we’d like to now address the issue of product reviews and recommendations in blog sites.

When you read an article on the front page of the New York Times, you can be pretty sure that the article has been carefully written and edited. Moreover, you can be pretty sure that content in the newspaper that appears to be an article is, in fact, an article, not an advertisement disguised as an article. These rules do not necessarily apply to content found in the “blogosphere.”

A relatively new web site, PayPerPost.com , allows advertisers to pay to have individual bloggers post on their blogs about products and services offered by the advertiser. Bloggers continue to host their blogs on their own web server or blog hosting service such as Blogger, integrating content into their blog to fulfill PayPerPost.com’s objectives along with their own personal work. While PayPerPost does have specific guidelines detailing the types of blogs that they will allow, these guidelines ensure that advertisers paying for PayPerPost.com’s services have their funds used to generate posts only on blogs that meet minimal quality standards. These guidelines don’t address the quality of posting done by the individual bloggers.

More troubling is the fact that bloggers being paid by PayPerPost.com do not need to disclose they are being paid to make their posts on their blogs. This leaves end users of a blog unable to judge whether a post they are reading about a new computer program being useful is truly real, or contrived by the blogger solely for the purpose of making a quick buck.

One should definitely not rely solely on information found in one blog to make a decision regarding purchasing a product. Using sites such as technorati.com can allow users to find the most authoritative blogs in the general content area they are interested in, where one may be able to determine whether there is a general consensus of blog posts among the premier blogs in an area on a particular product or issue.

Furthermore, there is an array of web sites that offer solid product comparisons and reviews (e.g. cnet.com), and a good way to find them is to just Google. For example, the phrase “laptop reviews and comparisons” will bring up a list of review/comparison sites. Just look at the site for its scope and quality before using it, then check out the product on a few more comparison sites to look for consistent evaluations.

Three Quick Blogging Lessons from Wal-Mart Mess

There are three major lessons to be learned from the Wal-Marting Across America “fake” blog scandal that is summed up nicely in this Business Week article.

Lesson One: Put Business Week’s online news URL on your favorites list or, better yet, subscribe to its RSS feed. The publication rarely misses a business web trick.

Lesson Two: Honesty still matters. Maybe a fake blog doesn’t rank up there with backdated stock options, but it stinks nonetheless. The Fourth Estate is a lot bigger now, with millions of bloggers assuming the role of watchdog. Lie on the web – and lying includes sins of omission -- and you’ll probably get caught.

Lesson Three: Wal-marting Across America was a nice idea that could have worked well if the traveling bloggers – Laura and Jim – had disclosed that the trip was being sponsored by the Wal-Mart PR firm. (See Laura’s mea culpa here.) The fact is, a creative blog that says positive things about a company can be accepted if it is transparent and entertaining/informative.

Nature Got "Wired" and You Could Be Next

We’ve taken on the job of constantly monitoring the “Big Stuff” Radar Screen to let you know about emerging topics or developments that someday will be finding their way into your work day.

And since chances are good that your desk or credenza isn’t holding a copy of Wired Magazine (circ. 532,491 monthly) or the weekly scientific journal Nature, here is our alert to some September radar pings involving both publications. Right now they’re just small news dots, but they eventually may produce explosive developments affecting your business.

First off, the September issue of Wired scooped the pants off the Wall Street Journal by reporting weeks ahead of the WSJ on a pioneering Internet initiative by Nature. That news coup reinforces our long-held belief that heads-up business executives should read Wired to understand and stay abreast of the fast-evolving web and wireless culture.

Just as noteworthy as that scoop is the groundbreaking news: The prestigious, British-owned Nature is reaching far beyond its private, time-honored peer review process by inviting, via the web, every scientist in the world to comment on prospective scientific articles. Once the Wall Street Journal newsies got wind of the action (maybe they read Wired), they reported the facts and gave the story prominent play.

As of September 15, Nature had printed 34 comments from the scientific community on the types of articles which previously were vetted only in private and with each document scrutinized by three experts who are picked by editors and remain anonymous. Only after such traditional review were articles included in the printed, magazine-style Nature journal.

Before finding out what this means to you, you might want to read here about the pioneering Nature experiment, the debate it sparked, and an example of the outsider comments on one article.

Now, why is this Nature development the least bit important to you? Because it adds fuel to the mounting possibility that the “let’s invite the world on the web” model eventually will be tested by companies looking for product feedback, market research and all manner of public response. This model, a form of what they call “crowd-sourcing,” is best seen in wikipedia online encyclopedia with it constantly-updated material contributed solely by web users.

Annette Thomas, managing director of the Nature Publishing Group that owns the journal, notes in a letter to its audience that the company is preparing for a “new era” and that the “balance of rights” has shifted away from publishers.”

Says Thomas: “Blogs and podcasts now enable any individual to reach a global audience. Delivering real value in such times is challenging. Web 2.0 is about inclusion, participation and self expression.”

We think this constitutes handwriting on the wall. At the very least, it demands attention.

Will You, Like Zillow, Let Customers Into Your Act?

Web 2.0 quickly is creating a new breed of customers – ones who expect and demand an encyclopedic array of data to help them purchase or use your product or service. What seems to be one of the key characteristics of the new Internet is this:

“User generated content”

The fact is, even if you are creating the initial information about your product or service, the new web-wise customers soon may be knocking on your door and demanding input. A great example of users getting into your act is Zillow.com, the real estate web site that provides value estimates and details, along with aerial photos, of more than 67 million private homes in the nation.

Only a few months ago we searched on Zillow a property we know well and wound up with a screen showing a building that we knew had been torn down. The building details were useless and the value was far off base. Our initial reaction: this is like looking at a digital version of a five-year-old phone book.

Now Zillow has fixed this issue by allowing homeowners to edit the information about the property. This blog by the Zillow CEO explains it in some detail.

The site does require the homeowner to verify that he or she owns the property and the verification process seems a bit lightweight.

Once the homeowner signs in to the site (registration is brief and requires little disclosure), he is asked to designate the address in question. Zillow then gives the user a choice of names (probably from tax records of all homes on the block or past owners of the property). The user picks his or her name and checks off a statement that he or she owns it. Whatever facts he adds are listed on the revised screen as “Owner’s Facts.”

Homeowner edits will not change Zillow’s estimate of the home’s value, however. But the owner can add his own estimate that appears as well.

Technorati Tip

Don't forget, new bloggers, that any blog you produce should be registered with technorati.com, the most widely used search engine for blogs. Part of the process requires putting their code on your site.

Seattle Law Firm Hits Blogging Paydirt

A few decades ago, lawyers were prohibited from advertising and using the media to solicit business. Ironically, lawyers now are among the pioneers in using emerging Internet tools such as blogging to attract new clients. One of the most creative law firms in this regard is the Marler Clark firm in Seattle, which specializes in food-borne illness cases.

Thanks to today’s Wall Street Journal, executives unsure about the usefulness of corporate blogs can read about the huge blogging ROI reaped by Marler Clark, which now has 33 blogs and web sites covering 14 food-related illnesses.

The firm acted quickly as word spread in the news media recently of tainted spinach causing illness in California. Marler Clark already had an e coli blog and quickly used it to address the spinach issue. In the blogging world, speed and fine targeting can spell success. It certainly worked in this instance. Marler Clark began reeling in queries.

The small (six attorney) law firm with a large history of big cases got amazing results – 76 clients, says the Journal.Web pages are nothing new to law firms, but a technorati search turns up the new lawyer blogs popping up. One blog called Fight the Ticket is similar to sedate lawyer web pages but updated more frequently. This “Liklihood of Confusion” blog from a Big Apple lawyer has the more personal touch characteristic of most blogs.

The Marler Clark e coli page has a clean and easy to access design, with only a few paragraphs of each post presented on the home blog page. If their legal peers are paying attention, Marler Clark will be a blogging role model for law firms around the nation.

Coming After You: Put Your Web Fraud Alert on High

As businesses get deep into strategies involving the powerful and sophisticated tools of Web 2.0, it’s important to remember some old and basic principles with roots tracking back to our cave-dwelling ancestors. Within the last few days we got some sharp reminders of one of them – there are some rotten people out there looking to do you dirty.

Before we tell you about a personal encounter with these digital dirtballs, let us suggest that you check out this Thursday the bi-annual Security Threat Report of Symantec Corp., which says that hackers and scammers have stepped up their attacks on e-commerce, the single most-targeted industry.

The fraudulent actions against e-commerce rose from a level of 4 percent of all web attacks six months ago to 16 percent during the most current period.

You need not be a rube to fall for these frauds. One of us, who has been studying the Internet for years and whose name is not Carol, almost got conned into disclosing important credit card information by a clever fraud aimed at PayPal customers. We’re relating this to encourage all businesses that use PayPal to caution their customers about such schemes.

The current scam begins with an email alert, allegedly from PayPal, with a subject heading: “PayPal Notification: Possible Account Theft.”

The body of the email says that securiity questions and answers on your PayPal account were changed that day and if the changes were not authorized, “please contact us immediately.” The message includes an alleged security link to a PayPal-looking URL, which Lou clicked.

Up came an authentic-looking PayPal window, asking for a sign-in, which we fell for and dutifully filled out. When a screen appeared asking for credit card information the smell of fraud fill our nostrils.

A call to PayPal confirmed our suspicion that this was a fraud. Only then did we notice that the original email came from service@paypals.com. Note the plural of “pal.” The remedy was to sign into PayPal and immediately change our password.

Luckily, at that moment there was no balance in our account, so if the would-be thieves did enter the account in the five minutes before we changed passwords, they probably ignored it for greener pastures.

There are all sorts of trickery -- both simple and elaborate – looking to wreck your company. One catalogue shows a simple keystroke catcher, an inch long plug that fits between your computer and keyboard jack, capable of capturing 82 full pages of keystrokes. The cost: $66.

The extra minutes it takes to check for computer and web fraud may look like down time, but caution is both and investment and an insurance policy.

The New PR for Web 2.0: "Fluid Messaging"

With its bulging muscles rippling in places that didn’t exist before, the bold new Web is reshaping the future for business communications. We’re predicting that PR/Communications departments will very quickly have to master what we call the new “fluid messaging” for a business environment overrun with communications channels.

Oh, the old ways will not disappear. Press releases and news conferences will be used to distribute your messages.

But whatever messages your company produces will have to go to a much wider audience. That includes the huge web world and the internet culture that doesn’t particularly like “messages.” The blogging literati prefer the word “story.” And, it soon will be time to take your “story” to the next level.
Example: Thompson Group, a Tampa-based seller of luxury goods ranging from cigars to chi-chi bed linens, recently decided to purchase software that will take its press releases out into the blogosphere and elsewhere. Hey, said a company official, cigar smokers dig blogs and now we’ll reach cigar lovers through blogs.

That software, by Vocus, Inc., is an early sign of the new scramble by a new breed of PR professionals who combine technology and communications strategy to hit the expanded audiences made available via the web and wireless channels.

Just as important as the changing distribution of messages is the business of crafting messages. Gone will be the days of suits and dresses sitting around conferences tables to iron out a single message meant to last for months once it hits the media.

Real time communications is spawning the new Fluid Messaging, which means being fast on your feet to respond to changing situations with information AND explanation. That requires thinking ahead and having in place not messages but an understanding of core values and mission. (Think Google’s “Don’t Be Evil”)

Even in the Fluid Message era, decisions will have to be made when to turn on and off the spigot of information. For example: Would it be better or worse for Hewlett Packard --in real time, right now -- to be answering all of this leaked information that is coming out in the New York Times and Washington Post and other places?

Since all news is all over all the time, it is really imperative that your company get the facts out…fast, accurately, and in a simple style that anyone can understand.

The old consideration was “How Will The Times Play This?” In this new era, add to that: “What Will Bloggers Do With This and How Do We Respond?”