Corporates – social media will kick your arses!
Feb 16th, 2008 by handolio
Web 2.0 is great. No, really.
Here’s the kind of awkward PR run-in that I’m sure has been happening for donkey’s years. Off-message Channel 4 News reporter Ben Cohen dares ask an iTunes question on an iPhone day, and Apple’s PRs move in for the kill.
Admittedly we don’t see the context, and the Apple interviewee does say that he’s already answered the question, but do you think so?
This kind of clip used to end up unused. But just as a blog lets journalists set down and explore suspicions or backstories that won’t fit in the final article, YouTube plays home to outtakes and other material which might not belong in a balanced final report.
But here’s the thing: through YouTube, blogs and so-on, we’re all getting used to content that’s a little rough around the edges, and it’s changed the language and approach of mainstream news.
To the extent that I can’t confidently guess whether the clip above was craftily published by a C4 News insider, or whether it was simply broadcast.
Brilliant – the whole idea of what constitutes ‘proper’ publication of material is dissolving before our very eyes. I love the way one of them says that they’re “really excited” about the iPhone. Like, “I’m so excited about this thing, I haven’t got any room in my head to be excited about anything else”.
PR folks are going to have to equip themselves with electronics-jamming equipment if they want to carry on with this style of media management.
Go YouTube – hammer of the hacks.