RECENTLY an old colleague of mine posted a question on her Facebook wall, which said: "If new media is all the rage, how come people still invite only the 'boring old mainstream media' for press events, launches, etc., that gives them a day's worth of coverage at most, hmmmm...?"
There were a host of comments from her friends, which developed into a fair discussion from the integrity, credibility and accountability of new media as against mainstream media and one comment even went on to compare new media to fast food like pizza and main stream media to a filling meal like rice and curry.
But it is a pertinent question to ask as to why new media people are not invited or not given the place of main stream media at press conferences, launches and such. A question I should well ask myself to start with, as I too advise people on such matters. Why don't bloggers and tweeters (micro bloggers) play a role in a PR strategy here in Sri Lanka?
In my view, one of the main reasons is because the mainstream media is also known as the established media, which means it has close on 100 years of dealing with issues and reporting news and along the way has established certain rules and norms within which it operates; which cannot be said about the new media in Sri Lanka, which on the other hand is struggling in this area.
New writing styles, story ideas and unusual framing of facts would be an unexplored area for those who are used to the established media and an area some may even fear to tread, since the rules of engagement are not all that clear.
one thing to be considered by new media people here in Sri Lanka is the fact that the blogosphere and social media networking sites like Facebook still don't have the punch to create opinion like the mass media: Administrators, policymakers, lawmakers or the business community would care very little for opinions expressed on Facebook since such statements are considered mostly frivolous.
Also, if you post an opinion on Facebook and expect responses to it, you would notice that people responding to your opinion would mostly be from a set circle of your friends even though you may have over 1,000 contacts on your Facebook page.
Also, if you post an opinion on Facebook and expect responses to it, you would notice that people responding to your opinion would mostly be from a set circle of your friends even though you may have over 1,000 contacts on your Facebook page.
The power of mainstream media is the commerce that it can drive. In other words, advertising revenue which translates (agreed or not agreed) to the actual power of that media. The opinions positioned by that media whether its own, in editorial form or otherwise, become political, economic and social drivers as opposed to a blog (in Sri Lanka) which would struggle to get any readership including the fact that it may not be properly marketed or may not have enough people interested to read it or even if there were those interested enough, they may not have access to the internet that freely.
In the book 'Six Pixels of Separation' by Mitch Joel, he talks of the five Cs of entrepreneurship 2.0, which are connecting, creating, conversations, community and commerce.
Joel says that (in the internet), "it is no longer about idly sitting by and letting the media wash over you. People are using this new found channel to create content - text, images, audio and video." This brings us to the standing of these people building content in new media. For example on Facebook I find there is hardly anybody willing to discuss anything serious on mainstream issues. Triviality is the name of the game. Any random sample would show that content creation simply has no depth or direction.
Having said that, I know that there are bloggers who delve into serious issues. But the audience they can garner is hardly worth anything in the commercial world. That is why we find that they have to get the help of mainstream media to popularise their content.
Therefore, if new media in Sri Lanka is to be considered on par with mainstream, they have to change the way they develop content, strive to gather larger audiences (in their medium), which would mean con-necting with new readerships that would remain loyal and responsive, understand the needs of their community and finally make it commercially attractive. I suppose it will be at that point they will get on the list of invitees for a press conference.
(The writer, a PR consultant and head of Media360, was previously a mainstream journalist in print and electronic media. He also edits a new media website.)
