This week, a joint research project by Kantar Media and the Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII) showed that references to Twitter across print media in Ireland have increased from 16 mentions per month in January 2008 to 2,058 references per month in March 2011. Kantar Media went on to disclose that 71% of Irish journalists use Twitter as a source of news or as supporting material for articles (a trend we are all witnessing in other developed economies).

Commenting on the results, PRII chief executive Gerry Davis, said: “The study underlines the importance of social media in a fast changing media landscape. PR professionals now have a multitude of communications channels to manage and the face of PR is changing as this phenomenon grows.”

Twitter’s prominence in mainstream media 

Dan Halliwell, Managing Director of Kantar Media Ireland, added: “The research will come as no surprise to many people in the industry, as social media has become such a large part of our everyday lives. While just 4% of the population using Twitter, its prominence in the mainstream media has made it a permanent fixture in our vocabulary and the news agenda. We see this among our own client base, who use our technology to monitor online and social media platforms for mentions of brands or an organisation.” 

Growing buzz around Storify

Kantar’s research underlines the symbiotic relationship between journalists and PRs. While both sides tend to view each other with a more than a spoonful of suspicion, there’s no question they tend to track each other’s movements. 

Against this backdrop, it’s interesting to note the growing buzz around Storify, a new content management system which helps journalists and editors make sense of the outpouring of real-time content delivered via social media. Essentially, Storify allows users to drag social media snippets from a panel into a story window. Those users can then choose to add their own text or notes. The emphasis is on live reporting and ongoing stories, with readers being advised about developments on a story already viewed. 

Real time reporting 

Storify’s explains itself as follows: “We believe there is a wealth of great content being created in real-time using tools such as Twitter. From earthquakes to elections, regular citizens with mobile phones are reporting on events happening in their communities — putting many more potential eyes on a story than any news organization could possibly have. Journalists and editors can play a valuable role in curating the best of that content, applying standards for sourcing and accuracy while highlighting the best stuff.”

At the same time, Storify sees itself as an ideas exchange: “Journalists and writers are also creating more and more real-time content, giving audiences an inside view to their work. We hope this will be a place to share and exchange ideas about this new field, bringing better content to users struggling to keep up with the flood of information”. 

PRs follow journalists 

Expanding on our opening remarks, does the presence of journalists on Storify mean PR execs need to go there too? Cece Salomon-Lee, Principal of US-based consultancy PR Meets Marketing (PMM), thinks so. In a recent blog, she says: “I am very impressed with the power that this content curation tool can provide for marketing and public relations. It’s simple and easy to use, a must for today’s busy professional. Here are five ways Storify can help…” 

1. Event Marketing: Capture the experience and excitement of an event by aggregating key comments from Twitter, video uploads on YouTube, or photos posted to Flickr. Furthermore, this creates an engaging event archive. 

2. Press Room: Leverage Storify to organise industry surveys, stats, research and infographics into one location. Organised chronologically, you can leverage this as a resource for analysts, reporters and bloggers in your space. 

3. Thought Leadership: Curate thought leadership content to highlight your company and/or executives. This includes slideshare presentations, video interviews, tweets on Twitter or interviews in the media. Going a step further, create stories for each executive for speaker proposals. 

4. Product Launch:  Create an archive around a launch, such as reviews, online comments, analyst briefs, photos, and other materials. This becomes a valuable resource for customer support, sales training, or new sales prospects. 

5. Real-Time News Collaboration: Highlighted on the Storify blog, Bo Hee Kim summarises how a reporter is using Storify to ”curate resources and liveblog the situation.” While an extreme example, consider how you or your company can provide similar collaboration around a news story or trend.