The first talk I attended after lunch was given by Katie Paine from KDPaine & Partners, which focused on how to measure social media.  Katie offered a pretty complete framework for measurement of social media that included:

1. Defining goals
2. Prioritizing audiences and needs within those goals
3. Determining indicators of success
4. Picking an analytical ‘tool’ - I would say ‘methodology’ would be more appropriate
5. Analyzing results
6. Act on your results

Nothing earth shattering, but the overall point that measurement needs to fit into an over-arching framework is one that often gets lost in the shuffle.  Katie’s presentation offered some good points/stats on social media:

1. Information distributed to bloggers generated 3.4 times more traffic than information distributed to ABC News (Christian Science Monitor)
2. Bloggers can be considered as ‘influentials’
3. 51% of journalists read Web logs on a regular basis
4. The measurement should match the investment: in other words, if your investment is negligible, then it doesn’t make any sense to spend loads on measuring it (Katie used the phrase “don’t measure the ROI of your trousers,” which I found amusing and clever).

The final session I attended during the New Communications Forum was a panel focusing on the topic of how to optimize the social media press release, with Todd Defren from Shift Communications, George Vazquez from PR Newswire, Laura Sturaitis from Business Wire, Brian Solis from FutureWorks PR, and Tom Foremski from Silicon Valley Watcher.  The panel was moderated by Chris Heur from Social Media Club.  Later on, Adam Zand from Topaz got involved and basically contributed as much as anyone else. 

It was a bit heated, to say the least.

Tom Foremski, who achieved a great deal of recognition in the space for his extremist views on the topic, basically questioned the need for press releases in light of the emergence of RSS.  Foremski’s general argument doesn’t really hold water in my opinion, and contains a fundamental shortcoming that echoed throughout the day: a lack of consideration for the user. 

Take a moment and breath that in…in an event focused on social media, which is supposed to embrace participation from the ordinary user, one of the main oversights was the role that the ordinary user can play.

Does the ordinary user subscribe to RSS feeds? Does the ordinary user know what RSS is? 

Time and time again, I’ve seen questions asked in reference to why an ‘old’ media technologies continues to exist when more sophisticated options are available.  But just because a new technology has more potential than an older technology does not mean it will achieve widescale adoption. 

Secondly, just because you put some news on an RSS feed, does not mean that it is going to achieve any visibility.  If the different wires are players in a poker game, then their distribution network is like their stack of chips.  An RSS feed with no distribution is like a sharply dressed player who no one knows (or respects), coming to a poker game with no chips.

The final issue I would cite involves the importance of brand.  Their brand of newswire is like the reputation of the poker player - some players you are more likely to be intimidated by than others - a news release passed through Business Wire or PR Newswire gains credibility because of the brand it is associated with.  And credibility is everything - perception is reality.

Okay, okay - not a perfect analogy but its the best analogy I can offer that is apropos to being in Vegas. 

My experience at the New Communications Forum wrapped up with the cocktail party, where I met a guy who had come up to attend the forum who was from Brazil, and managed to chat a bit with Brian Solis and Laura Sturaitis, two really great people who are active in the space.

Anyway, on that note, I’ll end this belated blog posting…