The hunter vs the fisherman - Part 1

For over a year the Social Media Press Release has been in existence and its been gaining adoption since.

For example WebitPR in the UK have released a video explaining all about it:



Dana Theus has covered her thoughts on this very well (so I will not duplicate them) and I think that its an important step forward in online PR.

However, just as this evolution provides greater 'tracebility' or control of the article as its copied through the blogsphere and across the wider web, what I feel is also needed is a similar way to pick up when its content is quoted or analysed (or regurgitated). When, by interpretation of the original, it becomes so altered at to be unrecognisable, how do we see continue to see and understand the impact it has on companies and brands?

What you then need is a different way to monitor what's going on. Something that accepts that control is lost and as Andy Sernovitz says in his blog

When you open up to customer participation, your brand belongs to your
customers, not you.

Now this traceability comes not from trying to chase after your content as its duplicated and published, but by waiting for it to come to you.

Just like a hunter trying to track down an animal that is faster (and prone to multiplication) than himself, what he needs is a net that is cast widely enough and then to wait, adopting the fisherman's trawling approach instead....