If, like me, you just finished watching the live Derren Brown Lottery 'event' (and are suitably stunned, weirded out...whatever) you no-doubt realise how impossible (hmmm... maybe just difficult) an event like that would have been say five or ten years ago. Couple this with the myriad of real-time apps, sites, mediums etc we're seeing emerge (and morph) and you get the real sense that things are on the verge of changing to become 'as-they-happen' not 'if-and-when' (some may argue we/they have already plunged over this cliff). What that shift means to you probably depends on your perspective. Agency vs. boutique, AE vs. Director etc.
The thing is... are you REALLY ready? Are your clients? Will you have (need?) an army of people ready to stare at screens and respond (if necessary), is that even necessary for your clients/product? Recently meeting up with a group of folks who specialise in doing just that it seems the answer is clear... some sure do.
What's interesting to see is if new monetisation models will emerge out of necessity or market-led. Let's look at the facts. PR is time intensive. Check. Client budgets are changing/being squeezed. Check. Check.
With any labour-intensive discipline, even with all the efficiencies in the world and smart technologies, success will be down to careful evaluation, setup briefs and likely keeping within specific remits etc. Whether community management becomes one of or the future of PR, or whether it simply only has the potential to be a clients worst nightmare is, largely, up to us.
What's your take? Opportunity? Cost? Missed the point? Lost the plot?
@munkyfonkey / @themediaisdying / @kindredagency
LINKBAIT:
FASCINATING : Google is developing a micropayments platform for newspapers. [Nieman Journalism Lab]
CONTENT GAME CHANGER? : Tesco and Microsoft snuggle up for 'Virtual DVD experience'. [PRelease]
TECH/MEDIA CONVERGE...AGAIN : Apple announces Social Media upgrade for iTunes and video/cameras for iPods. Swwwwwweet. [Gizmodo]
