Social media is where it's at, folks. Old news media is dead/dying: long live social media.
I spent Friday in workshops and presentations at the CIPR northern conference and that message came through over and over again. I've heard it before but it seems to me it's moving faster and the message gets louder.
If the trend predictors are to be believed then we, as bloggers, have increasing clout and in terms of relaying a targeted message. We are far more strategic than traditional news media - newspapers, tv etc. For example, we know, pretty much, our audience. We know who subscribes to our blogs. This, perhaps, explains why spammers try to piggy-back on our sites, placing urls through to their clients' websites.
I thought this was interesting: Boris Johnson's PR campaign for Mayor of London election made excellent use of new/social media and associated imagery. His PR team had an army of bloggers who were asked to blog on topics at points in the campaign, spreading a message instantly.
Did you see any of those illustrations of Boris silhouetted, with his bike, in candy colours? All designed to appeal to the "i-pod generation".
I like a newspaper. I find it hard to believe I'll give up rustling paper on the bus for a palm-pilot thing. But I may find it harder to buy one. As it is I struggled to buy a Guardian yesterday morning at 8.30am, though that was because the Labour party Conference has hit town... and there hangs another tale.
