More tools undercut news monopolists

New Zealand Herald - 21 April 2005

By STEVE SHEARMAN

As a multi-channel marketer I have a vested interest in talking up new information channels. One view is that new digital channels increasingly challenge the virtual monopoly news media once had on voicing and shaping public opinion.

A quick dig around the web uncovers all forms of dialogue and communities of interest. Seeds of thought have taken lives of their own and ended up as fodder in the news media, completing a virtuous circle of storytelling.

A good example involves ticketing company Ticketek, whose website has in the past frustrated customers to the extent that it inspired a couple of disenfranchised users to express their complaints in a weblog (halfpie.net/article/238/ticketek).

In what surely must be one of the more laughable Darwinian public relations moments of the past year, someone with an IP address - the internet equivalent of a phone number - belonging to Ticketek's Auckland office and calling themselves Simone gushed about how she loved Ticketek and suggested the complainers get a life. Unknown to Simone, her IP address exposed her for what she was - a fraud.

The weblog administrator called her bluff, which resulted in further heated discussions about Ticketek's website problems and the ethics of masquerading as a consumer.

The story, undoubtedly a good yarn, was picked up on other weblogs that linked to the original dialogue. Then the news media got hold of it (see link to Herald story at bottom of this page). A small voice suddenly grew into a foreboding reverberation.

I don't mean to pick on Ticketek - the point is that communication and influence is an increasingly complex business.

With the continued growth of online forums, weblogs and email newsgroups, and the ability of search engines like Google to find and index what were once voiceless and benign special interest groups, digital information channels now have the potential to be disproportionately influential.

The implications are greatest for PR practitioners, who need to start participating in the new channels rather then view them as an arcane underworld.

They should consider frank, arm's-length communication, where customers can express themselves so PR advisers can stay across current opinion and offer quick responses.

The opportunity for PR is to find new ways of doing old business. Press releases and media relations are still important, but they're no longer the only tools.

* Steve Shearman is managing director of Touchpoint.

New Zealand Herald - 21/04/2005