15-year old Tom Vandetta recently posted a fake news release on I-Newswire telling the story (disguised as an official release from Google) of how had become the youngest person ever hired by the tech giant. In no time, the release appeared on Google News, Digg.com and a host of other sites. Tom had become -- much to his surprise and eventual regret -- a celebrity.
Ooops.
He did aplogize, but we'd actually like to thank Tom -- seriously. What started as a joke gone bad ended up shining a light on questions we should all be asking. What is news? What sources can I trust? How do I know what I read on Google News (or any other site) is real?
Metzger Associates is working on a study to determine just what the level of awareness is regarding news releases -- which used to be almost private correspondence between PR professionals and journalists -- vs. news stories. 20 years ago, not much of anyone saw a company-issued news release but the company, it's attorneys and the journalists who received a copy of the release. Today, anyone with a browser can read nearly any publicly issued release. We're learning that many people don't clearly understand the difference between a news release and a news story.
It's always been important to receive news from more than just one source. Today, it's easy to receive news from hundreds of sources -- the key is to find the credible sources. Is that to say a company news release isn't credible? Not at all -- we work with our clients to issue truthful, well-written releases. But it is important, as a reader, to understand the source of the material. While a company news release should be factual, it's not going to tell the story of a competitor's product, for example, and a reporter covering the story should.
And one other note: we'd be happy if free news release services just went away. There's no "sniff test" for postings like you'll find with credible organizations like PR Newswire. While we often post releases on free services for the search engine optimization benefits they offer, we think the downside isn't worth it, and we'd be happy to see them join 8-track tapes.
We'll be posting more on our progress on this research project. We hope you'll stay tuned and even weigh in on this important subject.
Thanks, Tom.
Haha, wow. Your welcome, I geuss :P
Posted by: Tom Vendetta | May 17, 2006 at 01:23 PM