By Sarah Wurrey
September 26, 2008

For this episode of the Roundtable, my usual co-host Jen Zingsheim was out on vacation, so I needed two special guests to fill her venerable shoes. I am joined by Valeria Maltoni and Doug Haslam. Valeria, whose blog Conversation Agent is one of my favorites, is the director of marketing and communications at Sun Guard Availability Services. Doug, who is joining us on the Roundtable for the second time after serving as one of our first guests several months ago, is an Account Director at Boston’s SHIFT Communications, and blogs at DougHaslam.com (and naturally, Doug’s blog is one of my favorites too!).

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SAN FRANCISCO: Watercooler recently named Shift Communications its AOR to help raise its profile in the social networking space.

Created in 2007, Watercooler is a platform for sports and TV fans that allows users to access the application from social networking sites, including Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Hi5, and Friendster, so that the content created with one post is duplicated on all the user’s sites.

Kevin Chou, CEO of Watercooler, said that more than 20 million have downloaded its application or joined its communities, but now it needs to focus on a branding plan.

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Shooting down a launch. The highest-profile website launch in a long while was last Monday’s unveiling of Cuil.com (pronounced “cool.”) The new search engine was built by former Google and AltaVista engineers, who say it searches three times as many pages as Google. But by the end of the site’s first day, many bloggers and journalists seemed to have found something to dislike, whether it was a prominent site missing from a set of search results or Cuil’s propensity to match photos of one person with Web pages related to someone else. Public relations executive Todd Defren of Boston’s Shift Communications had some advice on how things could have played out differently.

The [PR] agency should have insisted that Cuil slap “BETA” all over the site and any other outbound communication. I checked lots of different sections of the Cuil site, and never saw any hint from the company that they might not be ready for prime time. The messaging is marked by ambition and (in retrospect) arrogance. The agency should have enlisted the search community’s aid. There are plenty of search algorithm experts, [search engine optimization] experts, online marketers, etc., who might be willing to offer free advice for such an ambitious start-up. Taking on Google is a big, hairy, audacious goal: this community could have gotten excited about collaborating on something so audacious. This longer-term, inclusive approach could have cushioned the launch with some built-in compassion for the Cuil engine’s lapses.
www.pr-squared.com

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“The SEC is taking the right steps to embrace the new tools and services that reach people in addition to wire services. With the recognition of blogs as a viable form of disclosure, under certain circumstances of course, the SEC is officially recognizing Social Media and in a sense, socializing the rules associated with Reg FD.

Perhaps, the most significant change stemming from the new SEC guidance is that Web-based disclosure does not have to appear in a format comparable to paper-based information, unless the Commission’s rules explicitly require it.

This is music to my ears as it finally opens the door for the Social Media Release.

For a few years, Todd Defren, Chris Heuer, and I have not only defended and charted the opportunity for Social Media Releases (SMRs), but also fielded emotionally-charged questions from the financial and IR communities asking about whether or not an SMR would ever meet disclosure requirements for Reg FD, and without it, what good would it ever be…”

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“Mr. Penn, who isn’t looking for a job, got the idea for the social media résumé from Todd Defren of Shift Communications who created the social media press release, a template for a Web 2.0 news release that he made available free to others in the public relations industry.”

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Todd Defren created a collection of resources and posts for public relations 101. It encompasses social-media tactics, free online services that appeal to small businesses and creating a news release for an online community.

Scott Monty
relationship director, Crayon

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Innovation is essential for the PR industry as it continues its evolution. PRWeek profiles five agency executives whose ideas could have an effect far beyond the reach of their agencies

Todd Defren
Principal, Shift Communications

“Let’s screw up intelligently,” Todd Defren dares the industry.

Defren envisions a PR industry that is willing to take risks - and perhaps make some mistakes - to get things right.

I’d like to see us experiment more,” he adds.

And the industry may not have a choice. As media grow increasingly sophisticated, Defren believes bad PR - e-mail blasts, unsolicited attachments, and uninformed press releases - will disappear.

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With access to blogs, message boards and other media tools, consumers have ushered in the age of citizen journalism. They can report, critique and disseminate news and information, becoming an important part of the conversation.

That’s the premise behind the social media press release, which includes rich media along with text that targets consumers as well as journalists.

With the goal of making press releases more Web friendly, SHIFT Communications, a Boston-based PR firm, has designed a template that reduces the traditional text of a press release to bullet points while adding videos and links.

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SHIFT Communications, one of the fastest-growing national Public Relations firms, won THE coveted Stevie Award for being named Agency of the Year in The 2007 American Business Awards last night.

Hailed as “the business world’s own Oscars” (New York Post , April 27, 2005), The American Business Awards are the only national, all-encompassing awards program honoring great performances in business.

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 BOSTON: RealNetworks has consolidated its external PR capabilities by naming Shift Communications its US AOR.

Todd Defren, principal at Shift Communications, said the agency will be conducting traditional and social media programs for all of RealNetwork’s divisions including Rhapsody, RealPlayer, RealArcade, and Technology Products and Services—the company’s mobile division.

“We’re helping develop a blog outreach strategy, blogosphere monitoring, and advising them on how to best respond to comments and bloggers themselves,” Defren said. “We already help them set up the RealPlayer blog for the launch of the newest version of RealPlayer.”

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Who knows better than a marketer that the medium is the message? A midsize Boston PR agency, SHIFT Communications, has developed a press release made especially for the Internet. The impetus for this invention: Web 2.0, that second-generation wave of Net services that let people create content and exchange information online. To encourage PR folks to use these Web tools to get the attention of journalists and bloggers, SHIFT has developed a model for a “social media press release” …

…SHIFT Communications aspired to a launch event that would be the talk of the DEMO 2006 technology conference (in February), as well as both tech-oriented and mainstream audiences… The PR team spread the company’s passion to consumers using the media who had seen Pleo’s magic up close and personal throughout the process in a deep enough way to suspend their disbelief and make them product evangelists.

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…[Todd Defren, principal of SHIFT Communications and author of the blog PR Squared] notes that approximately 3,000 press releases cross the wires each business day, overwhelming editors who often discard these notices without ever glancing at their content… Defren developed a social media news release template to modernize press releases and increase their ease of use through five principles…

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…I contacted Todd Defren - since he’s the recognized expert on SMPR templates - and he offered this powerful thought, “It’s important to understand that the Social Media News Release is not intended as a replacement for the traditional news release. It’s an evolution. The SMNR’s core function is simply to allow creators of news to leverage the Web familiarity that is now ingrained in consumer audiences. With 50+ percent of consumers now creating and sharing content online (Pew Research), it just makes sense to democratize access to corporate news and multimedia assets to anyone (reporters, bloggers, laypeople) who might be interested, and, to create a forum for community and context that - to date - has been unavailable via old-world press releases.” Amen.

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PR Agency SHIFT Communications Promotes Julie Crabill to Vice President

July 24, 2008

PR Agency SHIFT Communications Promotes Amy Anderson to Managing Director, Boston Office

July 2, 2008

PR Agency SHIFT Communications Adds Four New Clients in San Francisco

June 10, 2008

PR Agency SHIFT Communications Refines Social Media Release Template with Conversation Aggregator, More Democratization

May 22, 2008

The Holmes Report Crowns PR Agency SHIFT Communications as “New Media Agency of the Year”

May 14, 2008

PR Agency SHIFT Communications Named Agency of Record for Six Sizzling Startups

May 1, 2008

SHIFT Communications Skyrockets to #26 in National Ranking

March 17, 2008

PR Agency SHIFT Communications Named Agency of Record for The Rubicon Project and Powerset

March 17, 2008

SHIFT Communications Announces Open House

November 2, 2007

SHIFT Communications Tops $10M in Revenues

October 17, 2007

SHIFT Communications Promotes Mandy Mladenoff to Managing Director, San Francisco Office

October 2, 2007

SHIFT Communications Wins Sabre Award for Advancing PR Industry

August 8, 2007

New Facebook Application, “Newshound,” Allows Users To Save, Share, Comment and Subscribe To News & Web Content

July 31, 2007

SHIFT Communications Rings Up Two 2007 Bell Ringer Awards

June 28, 2007

SHIFT Communications Wins “Agency of the Year” in 5th Annual American Business Awards

June 12, 2007

RealNetworks Names SHIFT as Agency Of Record

June 12, 2007

Travelocity Books SHIFT as AOR for Emerging Brands
May 14, 2007

SHIFT Communications Upgrades to New Headquarters
May 1, 2007

SHIFT Communications Wins Bulldog Award for Innovation of the Year
April 19, 2007

SHIFT Communications Debuts First-Ever “Social Media Newsroom” Template
February 5, 2007

Novell Names SHIFT Communications Agency of Record
September 1, 2006

SHIFT Communications Promotes Mandy Mladenoff to Vice President, Account Services
August 1, 2006

SHIFT Communications Releases Helpful “PR 2.0 Essentials” Guide
July 25, 2006

SHIFT Communications Wins a Bell and Three Awards of Merit at 2006 Bell Ringer Awards
June 15, 2006

Agency BootCamp: San Francisco

11-:30 am - 2:00 pm, Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Conference location:
Lulu
4th & Folsom
San Francisco, California 94107

Interactive discussion about social media marketing strategies and solutions, led by some of the leaders in the industry. IT’S FREE AND LUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED. Seating is limited. Registration required.

What you will learn:
• The makeup of a successful social media campaign.
• Common mistakes and misconceptions.
• Steps to maximize the ROI of your campaign.
• What the future holds for social media.
• Answers to your own questions. You are encouraged to participate in this interactive format.

For more information, go to http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/869150/.

South by Southwest Interactive Conference

Friday, March 13, 2009 to Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Conference location:
Austin Convention Center
500 E Cesar Chavez Street
Austin, Texas 78701

For more information, please go to http://sxsw.com/.

What is the SXSW Interactive Festival?
The SXSW Interactive Festival offers five days of panels, keynote discussions, Trade Show, and exciting evening events. Attendees benefit from hands-on, how-to training as well as long-term, big-picture analysis in an atmosphere that charges creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. More to the point, coming to SXSW Interactive is a great way to recharge your creativity.Where does the SXSW Interactive Festival occur?
Daytime panel programming (as well as the Trade Show & Exhibition) takes place at the Austin Convention Center (500 E. Cesar Chavez) in downtown Austin. Evening events occur at various nightspots around the city.

 Web 2.0 Summitt

Wednesday, November 5, 2008 - Friday, November 7, 2008

Conference schedule and specific locations TBA.

For more information, please visit http://www.web2summit.com/.

New Media Expo

Thursday, August 14, 2008 - Saturday, August 16, 2008

Location: Las Vegas Convention Center, 850 Las Vegas Blvd. N., Las Vegas, NV

The 4th Annual New Media Expo is an annual convention that educates individuals and companies about how to produce high-quality audio and video digital content, grow a loyal audience, and market or monetize that content in creative ways.The Expo is a “prosumer” and corporate event that brings together influential digital media creators, podcasters and content developers to cover the complete range of creation techniques, business objectives and future trends.The Expo is also a major networking event where content creators can share ideas and build partnerships.For more information, please visit http://www.NewMediaExpo.com.