Comments on: @Journalist Did you get my press release?

By: Humber post- grad PR student- Victoria

Humber post- grad PR student- Victoria — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 22:50:06 +0000

A post to be read by all. Thanks for doing this one Stephen. The reactions from your Twitter post were interesting. They opened the door to a whole new flock of questions we need to start to ask ourselves. Questions that will help us understand the tool we are all coming to include in our daily routine.

When it comes down to it, Twitter is a way to “connect” and keep up to date with anything you chose (to follow). That “connection” of course goes two ways. Here’s where we need to work together.

Some are saying the follow up Tweet is breaking PR Twitter etiquette. On the other hand what is the etiquette of using a tool of communication to… ummm… communicate?

As all things in life, I think the key is balance.

Social media is creeping up all over the place, it’s poking through our old ways and it’s starting to even oooze out of us. The journalists should understand the PR practitioners are using Twitter and social media to improve the communication of their messages (i.e. news releases). The PR practitioners should remember that too much of anything isn’t a good thing. If we can follow these “rules” then I think balance is achieved.

The tool is here and it’s an opportunity to make things better for everyone. I hope the simple concept of balance works out. If not then I just found myself a job straight out of school. Writer: Tweet Etiquette.

By: Melanie Seasons

Melanie Seasons — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 12:46:30 +0000

@Craig – I completely agree. I don’t like to make follow-up calls at all, but if I’m fairly confident the story is right, I will give him or her a quick ring to check (or Tweet – whatever the case may be). More often than not, it does result in a definitive ‘yes’ or ‘no’, which is essentially what all PR people are interested in.

For someone like me, new to the UK and only specialising in online PR, it’s very difficult to cultivate meaningful relationships with print journalists. I’m more than happy to do so in whatever way possible, but if a journalist absolutely refuses based on the fact that I’m in PR and that he or she doesn’t want any phone calls or public online contact, it’s fairly impossible to do so.

By: Valley PR Blog » Blog Archive » Valley PR Blog’s Weekend Reading for 1-9-09

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 13:16:46 +0000

[...] @Journalist: Did you get my press release? – PR Blogger/Stephen Daives [...]

By: Can PR behave itself on social media? » pr-media-blog.co.uk

Can PR behave itself on social media? » pr-media-blog.co.uk — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 10:54:43 +0000

[...] Blogger Stephen Davies has spotted PR people using Twitter to pester journalists with the loathed “Did you receive my…” question and canvassed views via, well, [...]

By: Craig McGill

Craig McGill — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:59:20 +0000

I have moaned against the ‘did you get the release’ phone call for years (and now the tweet) but the one thing I do have to grudgingly say is that the call-round more often than not does result in an increase in pick-up for stories because a lot of times reporters – or the person manning the main news@ email address don’t read everything that comes in.

If journalists read their mails or each paper agreed on a format, then that would go a long way to sorting this situation out.

Of course there are those that always want spoken to on the phone as well before receiving an email…

By: Adam Lewis

Adam Lewis — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:13:54 +0000

Not that I’ve got much experience of this but…surely it depends on the journalist being targeted? As Daryl states, PR professionals need to exercise their own judgement on the journalist they’re pursuing. I’m sure some hate the idea of a follow-up phone call, some will hate the idea of a DM, some might actually like it. It’s the PR professional’s job to work out which method suits which journalist.

By: Ruth Seeley

Ruth Seeley — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:46:36 +0000

Conversely, there are also journalists who are awakening to the benefits of PR folks and journalists working together on Twitter to cope with tight deadlines. See these two tweets from BBC tech journalist Rory Cellan-Jones. Of course he’s been on the media on Twitter ‘list’ for more than a month now – he just doesn’t follow very many of the folks who follow him.

@ruskin147 now lying awake worrying about what we can film at CES on weds before the show opens..8 hour time diff means we must shoot weds for thurs

@ruskin147 @ prsarahevans hi – can you put me on your media on twitter list? Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC Technology Correspondent

By: Patrick Evans

Patrick Evans — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:59:28 +0000

It is an interesting debate. I think most reporters don’t like follow-up period unless you are presenting new information or they have already expressed an interest. There are certain journalists on Twitter that I DM news releases versus sending them via e-mail, but I don’t use Twitter to follow-up and I know they like getting the information via DM versus e-mail.

Good post.

Patrick

By: Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:39:39 +0000

@Gienna Lol! Yes.

By: Gienna Shaw

Gienna Shaw — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:37:50 +0000

How about neither an @followup nor a follow up phone call. My response to either: Is something wrong with your e-mail system? Or do you think I’m incapable of reading a press release and deciding whether or not to act upon it?

I get literally hundreds of pitches a week. If I got a phone call or twitter about all of them, I wouldn’t have time to write any articles. I still get at least three or four “did you get my press release?” calls a week. It’s an infuriating waste of my time, it’s disruptive, and it only biases me against you. If A PR person twittered me in this manner, I would block him or her immediately unless we have a good relationship and he or she regularly pitch me stories that are directly related to my beat and not too self-promotional.

Can you tell I feel strongly about this?