Elements of the Social Media Release
November 2nd, 2006 by Chris Heuer
Before diving deep into the key elements of the Social Media Release that we have identified over the course of our discussion, it is important to note some of the key drivers of this effort and some of the things that are not yet adequately addressed.
Primarily the driving force behind this movement is the technological advancements that have occurred primarily though computer mediated communications. This is principally understood as the extended capabilities inherent in the Internet for expanding reach, engagement and measurement as much as it does for search and monitoring. Fundamentally though, it is about the era of social media where people not only consume media, but also create it – this is what our colleague Richard McManus refers to as the “Read/Write Web”. Where community and collaboration are no longer defined by physical proximity but by common interests.
The Social Media Release is intended to make it easier on people to identify and share the most important pieces of information with others around the globe while adding their own valuable perspective and/or editorial. It also takes full advantage of HTML, multimedia and the network effects enabled by the Internet by using structured data via the Microformat, which ultimately increases its findability by interested parties - which is ultimately the driving purpose of public relations and the press release specifically.
Please note that our current work does not adequately address multi-lingual variances, though we feel that the framework it represents is fairly universal. It is also light in the realm of financial information distribution, which is handled quite well by the XPRL standard. We hope to accommodate both of these issues as the discussion around the technical standard progresses.
With that understanding, let’s jump into the elements we identified in our discussions:
Headline: No explanation needed (I hope)
Sub Headline: No explanation needed (besides, its optional)
Highlights / Key Facts: This is one of the major differences of the Social Media Release compared to a traditional press release. Highlights, aka key facts, are short and to the point statements that are the important takeaways that are the reason for the release. There is no technical limit on these highlights, only practical limits of brevity.
Summary: This is intended to present the highlights of the Social Media Release in paragraph form for those who do not like reading the bullet format – it also allows more room for tonality and perspective.
Tags / Keywords: By specifying the most highly relevant tags / keywords for the information contained in the Social Media Release, it will have a higher chance of being discovered by people who monitor social media for those particular keywords and phrases. At present, search engines like Technorati and other services create ‘feeds’ for these tags that individuals and organizations use to connect to the information that most interests them. This is a very important piece of ensuring the release gets to the right people and as widely as possible in the social media ecosystem. There is no technical limit as to how many tags can be included, but as a practical matter it is probably best to keep it more focused than less, else the value of the system will be eroded as email has been by spam. An optional component here might be to create an additional field that would specify any 3rd party service(s) to which these tags should connect such as Technorati, Delicious, Digg, FURL or even Personal Bee. The addition of these services would enable easier socialization of the information in the release and enhance the ability to track its influence and reach.
Links / URLs: While links may be embedded in most of the other areas of the Social Media Release since most elements allow HTML, this specific designation of all the links in a separate field emphasizes them in a way that makes it easier for people to access them.
Link Types: One of the reasons for having a separate area of the Social Media Release for Links is to identify them as link types, which adds even greater value. These enable the recipient to identify the links source, relationship and relevancy. Link Types will be defined over time based on real world usage. They are initially intended to be left as an open, practitioner-defined field. Examples of link types include, 3rd party review, supporting research, case study, company web site, buy link, and most notably, collections of links such as those created on sites like Delicious and Furl.
Reserved Link Types: There is the possibility of having special link types reserved such as CSS, where a CSS link type can be used to display the Social Media release on different sites with a particular style and emphasis. This would allow companies control over the visual presentation of the release. Additionally, the recommended presentation style can be made available as a default option through the working hRelease Microformat Web site. In fact, it may actually be used for some of the other elements listed here such as company Web site and Source URL rather than keeping them as independent fields. This is where dialogue with the experienced Microformats community comes in.
Quotes: As an easily identifiable and widely used element of the traditional Press Release, calling out quotes as a unique field is an obvious requirement. This also leads to types of quotes, which require further discussion and may in fact be left as a user defined field in the initial standard
Embedded Audio, Video and Images: Use existing RSS protocols for creating enclosures that enable practitioners to include logos, photos, audio clips, video and other similar content along with the release.
Embed Other Microformats: In the event that the release is about a particular event, we would like to include the hCal, another type of Microformat that defines event specific information such as date, location and start time. This can also be done for hCards to include relevant contact information. The process used here for embedding other Microformats in the Social Media Release should enable all other Microformats to be embedded as they are developed.
Traditional Press Release: For those who like to ‘kick it old school’, we want to allow the inclusion of the standard release in text format. This allows recipients to receive and republish as they always have done and accommodate our multi-channel, write once, distribute everywhere communications philosophy. In short, it helps bridge the gap between the traditional press release and the Social Media Release.
Company Information: This should include separate fields for Company Name, Description, Company Web Site, Ticker Symbol, SIP Code and whether or not the company shall be considered the primary source of the release rather than a party to the release. There can be multiple company descriptions in each hRelease.
Contact Information: Multiple hCards can be included here with one being designated as the primary contact. hCards are similar to the types of contact cards that you find in Outlook and contain all relevant information in a common Web standard format.
RSS Feed for Company: Within each Social Media Release is the information on the location where someone can find and subscribe to all releases from this company. This URL for the feed may exist on the company site or at a 3rd party location such as FeedBurner or PR Newswire. Additionally, this may serve as a location for all feeds from the company’s blog or just the specific feed for the company’s hReleases.
Date/Time Stamp: At the original point of publishing, a date/time stamp is added to the hRelease to validate when it was published.
Modifications / Corrections: This item is a bit trickier and may not be addressed in the initial specification. There is good reason to include it as a type of data being described, but there is some concern that this might be something that should be handled outside of the Social Media Release standard as a piece of functionality within the services that leverage that information instead. At the very minimum we need to store the ‘last modified’ date / time stamp. In the ‘blue sky’ no limitations version of the Social Media Release, it would also include a form of “versioning” that addresses each modification made, descriptions of the modification, and even perhaps a link to a new release intended to call attention to the correction / modification.
Geography: If the release is intended for a specific geography, the Social Media Release can specify the point of origin using geocoding specifications together with an extended radius field. This again is intended to allow for a more targeted connection between the source of the information and those that care about it most.
Source URL: The source URL should indicate where the Social Media Release was originally published and allow for individuals to return to that source to see if any modifications were made. This also makes it easy for people to reference a link to the original release and for practitioners to track citations to it. Another piece of important information here might be a separate verification mechanism to absolutely authenticate the content using a security mechanism such as Pubic Key Infrastructure or a Checksum (techie stuff, but strong and proven technology).
Trackback URL: Following standard conventions of blogging and RSS, a trackback URL will enable the conversation around the release to be tracked more cohesively – at least among those sources that want to demonstrate that their audiences can feel comfortable knowing that the source of the information is trusted and accurate.
While this is the end of one phase of the discovery process, it is really only the beginning of the process. Now we need to get some wider inputs on this and engage in some deliberation on the finer points of the Social Media Release (aka hRelease) with the Microformats community and other interested parties.
If you are so inclined to write about it, please use the tag ‘socialmediarelease’ and/or ‘hrelease’.
[…] Before considering the individual elements of the Social Media Release more fully, I think it is important to understand why we are seeking to turn these requirements into a Microformat specifically. The Microformat is a relatively new standards body for defining structured information using HTML and XML in a way that increases its findability and usability. From my perspective and that of others who have been producing social media for a length of time, all I need to say is RSS (aka Really Simple Syndication). The combination of RSS, tags and structured information is a powerful force for connecting people and organizations who have information to share, with the people and organizations who are most interested in that information. […]
[…] Chris Heuer, after gathering input from the Social Media Club’s Media Release Working Group, has released the first draft of the Social Media Release Microformat standard. In Chris’s words: The Social Media Release is intended to make it easier on people to identify and share the most important pieces of information with others around the globe while adding their own valuable perspective and/or editorial. It also takes full advantage of HTML, multimedia and the network effects enabled by the Internet by using structured data via the Microformat, which ultimately increases its findability by interested parties - which is ultimately the driving purpose of public relations and the press release specifically. […]
Great! Intriguing! Any samples yet? Some really good ideas in here.
The only other thing I would add to the release would be disclosures. Perhaps using XFN or something similar, in terms of the hRelease.
[…] Today, Chris posted the initial social media release guidelines and considerations for discussion. Most of the conversation will take place in the New Media Release Group which is open to anyone. If you want to have a hand in shaping one of the core PR tools, check it out. “The Social Media Release is intended to make it easier on people to identify and share the most important pieces of information with others around the globe while adding their own valuable perspective and/or editorial. It also takes full advantage of HTML, multimedia and the network effects enabled by the Internet by using structured data via the Microformat, which ultimately increases its findability by interested parties - which is ultimately the driving purpose of public relations and the press release specifically.” […]
[…] The content has been modified a bit since so much has happened over the last few days. Most notably, Chris Heuer created this site dedicated to Social Media Releases (SMRs), presented the format for the SMR at the recent Society for New Communications Research event in Boston, and also ran a powerpful post entitled, “The Impact of Social Media and How it Changes Everything.” […]
[…] What would a Social Media Press Release look like? Discontented with the traditional press release, Chris Heuer has written the post Elements of Social Media Release - the result of conversations with others in the Social Media Release Working Group. The Social Media Release is intended to make it easier on people to identify and share the most important pieces of information with others around the globe while adding their own valuable perspective and/or editorial. It also takes full advantage of HTML, multimedia and the network effects enabled by the Internet by using structured data via the Microformat, which ultimately increases its findability by interested parties - which is ultimately the driving purpose of public relations and the press release specifically. […]
Interesting. It reminded me to look in on http://www.xprl.org/ which since I lasst looked seems to have sprung back to life.
There must be a way to bring these two streams together.
[…] Elements of the Social Media Release Still too techie for most clients to understand, but progress is being made. (tags: PR socialmedia social+media pr2.0 interactive+pr) […]
I am redesigning our news room and I like this concept. One thing I would consider in presenting the content is the order of the elements. Reporters are superfast readers and they use the inverted pyramid style when writing. While these tags are useful and very comprehensive they need to be able to get to the traditional release quickly. Also helpful would be to put all quotes in a different font color because we are always harvesting those and need to identify them quickly.
[…] >> More information on the SMNR: on the New PR Wiki, in a Google Group, and here are the elements of a SMNR. […]
[…] Elements of the Social Media Press Release (Chris Heuer | Social Media Release) […]
[…] In Deutschland beschäftigt sich bisher fast nur Thomas Pleil mit der Pressemitteilung 2.0. Chris Heuer hat nun die Standardisierungsbemühungen für die SMR zusammengefasst und schlägt folgenden Aufbau vor: […]
[…] You knew it had to happen. First it was blogs, then video blogs (or vlogs), as well as social media releases, all leading up to the much-touted Web 2.0, which PR and marketing pros are predicting will have a profound impact on companies and their ability to market. […]
Here’s a link to Edelman’s new StoryCrafter web-based publishing tool for Social Media press releases. Ummm, no thanks, bring on the microformatted easy to use plugin for Wordpress ;-)
Oops, forgot the link:
http://www.edelman.com/news/storycrafter/default.aspx?hid=171
[…] For public sector communicators there are probably at least two salient points. One, the development of the template and the microformat are a good indication that we should be paying attention to the elements of the format, if not putting out releases this way ourselves: can you really see Ministry X putting out a release with a digg this! link at the bottom? […]
[…] Back in November of 2006, Chris Heuer posted the key elements of the Social Media Release. My todo list has been insane, but one of the items was to see how PRX compares against the Key Elements List. […]
[…] I’m obviously biased when it comes to this subject because I’ve created a data format for the Social Media Release called PRX. PRX is an RSS extension that conforms to SHIFT Communications’ Social Media Press Release Template. It includes the elements that were specified in Elements of the Social Media Release. […]
[…] If you’d like to learn more and want to go beyond what’s listed, visit Chris Heuer’s Elements of a Social Media Release. […]
[…] According to Social Media Club founder Chris Heuer, the social media release is “intended to make it easier on people to identify and share the most important pieces of information with others around the globe.” This sounds encouraging and actually strums my heart strings with renewed hopes of world peace. […]
[…] I have tried to use existing microfomat properties and work from the elements for hRelease as outlined by Chris Heuer. It was also a given that the page would validate. The best way to see this is to look at the code: […]
[…] Publish data-rich press releases. For example, see Edelman’s web-based tool for publishing social media news releases. It contains all the traditional elements of a press release but in a more web-friendly format, with hyperlinks, links to images, tagging and links to other sources. (See also the Social Media Release blog) […]
[…] If you’d like to learn more, visit Chris Heuer’s Elements of a Social Media Release. var OutbrainPermaLink=”http://technosailor.com/2007/10/11/down-with-the-press-release/”; var OB_demoMode = false; Expert Author Bio: Geoff has worked as a marketing strategist in the Washington, DC region for 14 years. Dubbed a “local blogging guru” by the Washington Post, Geoff’s Buzz Bin blog is nationally recognized, and is the top ranked independent PR blog in the Washington, DC region. He successfully launched FortiusOne’s GeoCommons using an aggressive social media strategy, and marketed Godsmack lead singer Sully Erna’s bio using a diversified Myspace and blogosphere campaign. Geoff’s book on new media “Now is Gone” will be released this autumn by Bartleby Press. Categories: Geoff Livingston, Marketing, Now is Gone, Social Media, pr at 12:20 am - […]
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[…] Elements Of The Social Media Release […]
[…] http://www.socialmediarelease.org/2006/11/02/elements-of-the-social-media-release […]
[…] (Note: this post is a little more down-in-the-reeds than most of my posts. If you aren’t familiar with the social media release, you may want to read The "Social Media Press Release" Debuts, Elements of the Social Media Release, and scan the Social Media Training Wiki page on social media releases) […]
[…] U osnovi, SMR se može sastojati od velikog broja osnovnih elemenata, od kojih su najbitniji (ako se neračunaju osnovni elementi klasičnog saopštenja): klučne reči/tagovi, linkovi u saopštenju (uključujući i link do izvornog SMR saopštenja), RSS izvor (saoptenja i kompanije), mogućnost linkovanja ostalih lokacija koje pominju izvor (trackback link), dodate slike, video (preporuka Youtube.com), audio, itd. […]
[…] 8 - Social Media Release » Blog Archive » Elements of the Social Media Release […]
[…] For public sector communicators there are probably at least two salient points. One, the development of the template and the microformat are a good indication that we should be paying attention to the elements of the format, if not putting out releases this way ourselves: can you really see Ministry X putting out a release with a digg this! link at the bottom? […]
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