Social Media Release

In a clear and succesfull attempt to show the power of Blogs as an open and credible conversation platform that seemingly meets the requirements of Fair Disclosure, SEC Chief Christopher Cox replied to Scott McNeely’s letter requesting clarification on whether the Internet adequately meets those requirements. Thanks to Kevin Dugan for the heads up via the Social Media Release mailing list (still misnamed as the New Media Release list).

This is exciting and I will have more to say later, but a few of the highlights and what it means for us:

• How cool that he actually commented in the context of the post he was replying to - at first I was concerned that I did not see the coment on the original post (which is where I would have put it) - but being able to make it relevant to another point - I can just see him reading it and feeling that sense of inspiration that many of us have felt when joining the conversation for the first time “OMG, I ‘get it’ - all I need to do is say what I am thinking right here and everyone can listen in or even join.” Just cool - total respect for him on this smart move.
• For the Social Media Release communite more directly, his statement is telling - his questions show a natural and deserving bias towards accepting this very logical conclusion - modern Web technology and network infrastructure, unobstructuted by discriminatory network access policies and practices, is sufficient to meet Regulation Fair Disclsoure - this is exactly what I have been discussing with so many of the wire services over the last few months.
• The other interesting thing - he still sent the letter ‘with the snails’ - there is a need to have the ability for validating both the source and the content of the communications vis a vis a mutually trusted source - this is what I have been talking about for a long time around the value of the wire services fully shifting from that of being the distribution platform to being the source for validating the authenticity of the content - we will be making an announcement about this issue in the near future.
• He ok’d the use of blogs and corporate Web sites - Quoting Mr. Cox “Indeed, because information that is not “selectively disclosed” or that is not material nonpublic information is not subject to the public dissemination provisions of Regulation FD, Sun and other public companies can already do this without implicating the provisions of Regulation FD.”
• It more fully opens the possibility of using a Social Media Release Microformat to distinguish between unofficial and offical corporate communications through Blogs.
• The timing is perfect for us.
• I am looking forward to Jonathan’s reply - the questions being asked, it seems, are easily answered in light of current capabilities and upcoming advancements.

This is also the topic of a community conversation we will be organizing in the near future, stay tuned for more details. (Apologies for the rush job and typos, need to finish another document and get some sleep at some point before Web 2point2 Unconference tomorrow.)

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