Let's do better than this, shall we?
Since Ivy Lee’s famous press release in 1906, media communication has evolved. Some would argue the pinnacle of this development is the social media press release. It’s nothing revolutionary in The Lobby’s opinion, but it does hit the nail on the head in one sense – in keeping with the times.
Digital is here to stay, whether you like it or not, which to a certain degree means that tools, plied for whatever trade, that keep up with the changing face of internet technology are probably more likely to survive, thrive, and get the job done.
Here are some mind boggling statistics to reinforce this point:
- In 1995 there were 45.1 million internet users, at the end of September 2009, that same figure had risen to 1.73 billion.
- On average 247 billion emails are sent every day.
- There are over 234 million websites and 128 million blogs today.
- 27.3 million tweets are sent on Twitter every day.
- Facebook serves 260 billion page views per month, or 37.4 trillion page views a year.
Now then, back to the social media press release. The basics are straightforward and well established, especially for public relations professionals. It’s a digital news release that contains multimedia elements such as MP3 files or links to podcasts, graphics, video, RSS-feeds, Technorati tags and ‘add/share’ buttons for popular sharing platforms such as Digg, Reddit, Stumbleupon etc. Here you can see two examples of social media releases from Cisco and Symantec.
So what about the position paper, the staple food of the ever-so-non-digital Brussels public affairs scene? At the risk of upsetting our peers in Brussels, it seems the most avant-garde move that that public affairs professionals have done on this front is to turn a Word document into a PDF, ideal for – yes – printing. OK that’s not quite true, but you get the gist.
Where is the digital position paper? The tool that in the future will form the means to communicate with stakeholders (when we’ve finally evolved into a paperless society and when digital paper has taken off in a big way), the tool that will be read by Commission, Council and Parliament officials on Android powered pads. We’re not there yet, but the tools to create such a position paper are most definitely here or in the pipeline at the very least.
Imagine opening up a truly interactive and visual position paper. The key messages are there sure, but, for instance, the manufacturing process is displayed in crystal clear video, statistics and key figures come to life when clicked, diagrams and charts are smoothly plotted across your screen, the CEO of the company gives you a quick tour of the company’s upcoming priorities etc.
This vision might seem to be a simple attempt at daring to be bold, but, it could still be rather more effective when it comes to communicating with stakeholders in Brussels, than the traditional two-pager in black and white with a few logos in the header…
We’re curious to know what people think, both inside and outside of the institutions. Is the digital position paper part of the missing link? Could it improve communication in Brussels (and D.C. for that matter)?
- Emil
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4 comments
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April 13, 2010 at 16:31
Anonymous
Again, a typical “It depends” answer must be given to your question, but overall I don’t think that a digital position paper would add much value for the following reasons:
- a position paper, contrary to a press release, does not always aim at achieving maximum visibility. Making it digital destroys ones’ ability to control/steer the position paper to the most relevant targets.
- a position paper, to be effective, needs to be short and to the point, adding “add ons” such as videos and links may dilute its impact.
- finally, MEPs are still for the most part paper-based individuals and even though they are on twitter and facebook (for electoral purposes mostly), I very much doubt that they would be keen to watch a CEO’s video explaining its strategy.
Now you can always send regular digital press releases to EU decision makers and update them individually with position papers when needed.
April 13, 2010 at 16:50
The Lobby
Thanks for the constructive comment. On that note, old-school vs. new school so to speak, I recently stumbled upon an interesting article in the Guardian, about Google’s latest initiative aimed at persuading more British people to go online. They’re going to print a booklet…rather than engaging in a fancy digital extravaganza. Clearly digital is not always the way to go, at least not all the way!
/Emil
April 14, 2010 at 14:23
Patrick
A very good article Emil, and one that illustrates the difference between the Communications and “Political” functions in the Brussels scene. While as Communications advisor, I would love to develop shiny attractive and readable digital position papers, there would be a strong fight with people from the polticial or technical side of the house who would feel that video, images, links, etc would detract from the serious statements they are trying to make.
In addition, as anonymous says in their post above, the targets of our position papers are not consumers, journalists or other media savvy types. They are rather MEPs and EC officials who numerous surveys show are not 100% new media literate. Furthermore, MEPs will not delve deep into even a traditional position paper, prefering to rely on executive summaries or lists of proposed amendments. Thus the efforts in digitising position papers would be wasted I am afraid.
However, I think lobbyists could make use of new media when trying to generate public support for campaigns, or to generate media interest. Journalists and activists are far more likely to be attracted to the rich content you describe. However, position papers are not the tool to be used here, but rather social media releases. So, to return to your original point, I think the social media position paper is not likely to blossom in the near future, but the social media news release (and other innovative tactics aimed at the public) will play an ever increasing role.
April 21, 2010 at 14:31
The Lobby
Hi Patrick,
Apologies for the belated reply to your excellent comment. Hope to see you soon at S. for a drink and a chat about how we can revolutionise communications in Brussels.
Regards,
Emil