What’s Your Agenda? New Media Versus Traditional Media

Planit Agency
May 26, 2010

While most original reporting still comes from traditional journalists, technology is making it increasingly possible for the actions of citizens to influence a story's total impact. Even further, PR professionals need to be aware that the stories that are gaining traction in social media platforms not only differ from each other, but also differ substantially from mainstream press.

When developing a PR plan for a client, it's crucial to consider these different platforms and use them to your advantage. This article from journalism.org goes into more detail on the topic, but here are my main takeaways:

Each social media platform has its own personality and function—bloggers tend to gravitate toward stories that elicit emotion, concern an individual or group rights, or trigger ideological passion. Twitter has a heavy focus on technology, and the information that is passed along via Twitter is typically breaking news or updates. Twitter is less tied to traditional media, while blogs still heavily rely on traditional press. A handful of traditional outlets account for a majority of all links on blogs, including BBC, CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. YouTube has a strong visual appeal (obviously) with a "Hey, you've got to see this!" mentality. Unless your client has something that is worthy of sharing, don't rely on this medium to gain a tone of traction in your plan.

To check out the whole article, click here.