3 Big Ideas on the Merging of Social Media, Journalism, Advertising and PR

commPRO.biz ran a news story about a woman who was on a plane, snapped a picture of the last shuttle flight from her seat with her iPhone, posted the picture on Twitter (with subsequent pictures and short video) and became an overnight celebrity. In what other ways can the different channels merge a little and be more hip and cool? Here are some ideas for you to consider:

Big Idea #1: Relax your boundaries about vetting, authority citing, credentials
Traditional journalism calls for very restrictive vetting, authority citing, and credentials. The “average Joe” in the right place at the right time is not the preferred eye witness. Anyone who’s watched an alien close encounter movie knows how bad it can be when the uneducated hick farmer in the fields claims to have seen little green men….awkward!
We say, encourage it! We're not suggesting that you toss out fluff of low quality but rather that you get over yourself and get ahead of a story no matter who is telling it. Respect the idea that it’s less important to cite experts as the only option and let stories take on a life of their own. Truthfully, we’re kind of tired of seeing the same old parade of experts anyway….just saying…

Big Idea #2: Integrate the Crowd
Leverage the concept of paraprofessional research. Weather predictors do it. Bird watchers do it. Astronomers do it. You should too.
Here’s the general idea, say in astronomy: To discover new planets, stars, and other astronomy phenomenon, it takes long hours of tedious work watching the sky. If you happen to have your multi-million dollar telescope aimed the wrong place at the wrong time, you miss out on historical discoveries. By using a network of professionals and highly educated amateurs (read “geek”) to work together in a coordinated network, you cover more of the sky and science (read “all of us”) are better off for it. Many celestial bodies have been discovered by hard core hobbyists working this way. That is what we mean by integrating the crowd. Is there a way to do this in your channel?

Big Idea #3: Become stewards not owners of information
Instead of sending a cease and desist letter to people “stealing” your information, how about partnering with them? (Wink, wink Social Media Examiner.) When Threadless, through the power of their geek network, was making t-shirts by graphic designers submitting designs inspired by Tron, Disney reached out. NO, not the Disney’s lawyers but Disney’s licensing marketers. They worked together to sponsor contests and extend their brand by realizing that in today’s market place the power lies in the sharing of information not the owning of it.

Walk Toward the Cool
Expand on these ideas and extend them into your marketing campaigns, your Social, and your advertising. Find ways to create street teams of rabid fans, reach out to unlikely partners, arm your customers with video cams, find ways to cooperate, and make more rather than just make yours. It works. It’s the new way. It will SO make you more cool!