Fine Print

E-newsletters are still a great way to digest what’s going on out there if you need more info than just 140 characters.

An article by Rebecca Lieb (Vice-President & Editor-in-Chief, The ClickZ Network) popped into my inbox this morning, jostling for space among Google Alerts, Radian6 reports and other client-monitoring tools. Lieb talks about young bucks in the publishing industry moving into management positions, and quite rightly asking for digital tools they need to move the business forward, only to be met with a “Huh?” from the older guys. (I can say “older guys” by the way. I’m in my ’30s, yeah.)

Here’s a succinct quote from the article: “Clinging to Luddism and deliberate blindness in the face of the digital revolution (no understatement there!) may have been cute 10 years ago. Today, it’s inexcusable.”

It seems that the PR world has leapfrogged publishing. Traditional press releases are soooo 2007. The digital editors and reporters of Today 2008 need to be pitched more directly, thoughtfully and in a timely manner. They don’t want to be scooped by a competitor who happened to check their Twitter followers five minutes sooner.

End quote from Lieb: “Because friends can no longer allow friends to remain digitally illiterate.” Yes! It’s not a competition. Encourage your colleagues, contacts, sources, and online network to dip their toe into the digital world. It’s very cool, makes the job a whole lot easier and will move the media industry forward in big ways.

[Update: Just ran across this quote. Very interesting. “Of course there’s no doubt that our generation is taking advantage of the Web 2.0 craze — with countless social networks, start-ups, application developments and a million other projects that are making young little geeks rich quick. However as savvy as we may be, it is the chronologically advanced who are especially successful at solving the problems we increasing — and desperately — need solved. In other words, the high tech future may belong to the over 30-set.” Source.]

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada