Social Media Release leadership
March 5th, 2008 by Lloyd Gofton
As you may have seen, the IABC (International Association of Business Communicators) has assumed leadership of the social media release. Todd Defren’s post gives an insiders viewpoint and more background.
My first reaction to this news was one of trepidation, why do we need leadership of what should essentially be an open platform to evolve and build using input from the masses? Will ‘leadership’ mean ‘ownership’ and lead to a single locked format, which is slow to evolve and quick to fall into the ‘good idea but couldn’t deliver’ file.
However, my trepidation quickly turned to hope when i realised the calibre of people that were behind this leadership movement. Basically the very same individuals that have been driving the SMR since day one: Chris Heuer, Tom Foremski, Shannon Whitley, Brian Solis, Shel Holtz and the aforementioned SMR template originator - Todd Defren.
On reading the IABC’s own announcement SMR it confirmed that the focus of the working group was to coordinate the development of standards and combine flexible formatting options with a tagging standard. It also promised to consolidate social media release resources, of which there are many, with the goal of making business news usable for online reporters and bloggers.
This changed the situation for me. If i’m honest i think the SMR movement does need focus and coordination, perhaps leadership wasn’t the best choice of term, but the sentiment behind the message is correct. If the working group helps to educate the masses, build an inclusive platform and drive home the potential of the SMR, it certainly has my support.
At Liberate Media we’re also looking into SMR formats, so we’ll be monitoring the developments with much anticipation.
Tags: IABC, leadership, smr, social media release
