It is clear that we have hit a very raw nerve in the pursuit of the Social Media Release concept and that the time has come to update the stale concept and practices of the traditional press release. This is particularly true in light of the ever-increasing velocity of information and the increasing number of sources for information through Social Media.

Tom Foremski’s rant on this subject from the perspective of a Social Media era journalist is as important today as it was when it was first written in February of this year. Indeed, it inspired Todd Defren’s Social Media Press Release Template, which in large part already covers the most important elements of the Social Media Release requirements we are publishing today. Many others have contributed to this effort, most especially the members of the “Working Group” and the members of the New Media Release Google Group discussion list.

Now we must move to the hard bit, resolving our thoughts of the requirements through the further input of the professionals who care about this important area of public relations practice. Then further resolving the technical issues to get a final specification that we can turn into a technical standard that can be widely implemented by the wire services, search engines and other tool makers such as WordPress, BEA, Technorati and Six Apart.

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.

Ultimately, it is about a wide and relatively free distribution technology (RSS) upon which the Blogosphere is built (thank you Dave Winer and every other person who has added to the capabilities since) and an open, user defined folksonomy that connects the small pieces in a loosely joined structure. This is a disruptive force in the core of the wire service’s business model – charging a fee for distribution of news to sources for relaying that information to the general public. My favortie economist, Paul Zane Pilzer, has a lot to say about the economics of distribution being disrupted through the application of technology that is relevant here if you want to go really deep into my thinking on this matter. Unlike some people though, I don’t see this destroying the wire services, I see it forcing them to evolve even further then they did when the Internet first gained wide adoption a decade ago.

Rather than paying for distribution, people will pay for what is most important in the wild and wooly sea of information in the world – it has been an under reported aspect of their business, but one that has been present all along. The real economic and social value is in authenticating and validating the source of the release and the integrity of its content. This is the business opportunity I saw back in April when I first spoke with Tom Foremski and I first registered some related domains, including this one that I have donated to the community as a platform to talk about best practices for the Social Media Releases. It is the same business opportunity I see today and core to the issue of trust in an open system such as the Internet - which is perhaps the most important assett next to time.

While services like PRX Builder are great innovations that are pushing this conservative industry forward, I see no long-term viability in that sort of tools business – it is seemingly more of a stop gap measure while the broader news/PR ecosystem finds its new equilibrium. Perhaps there is more to it than I have seen so far, but the tools used to generate Social Media Releases will end up being free plugins for common blogging platforms and merely features of the enterprise blogging software suites. The services will most likely pick up the feeds from companies who register with them (or source through them) and provide validation of their authenticity to other interested parties. In addition to independently verifying the information, they will provide real measurement and tracking capabilities that go beyond column inches and into the heart of engagement, getting closer to measuring the specific impact of the release on the bottom line.

If the wire services don’t do it, perhaps this community of practitioners will come together to create a ‘limited source’ version instead.

Why am I sharing what I believe to be the secret sauce with you here? Because I have already shared these ideas with all the major wire services, so in the interest of full disclosure, we can create a more level playing field and hopefully accelerate innovation of concept and execution.

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