When Traditional Media Outlets Fail, Web 2.0 Becomes Reactionary Tactic
The closure of The Rocky Mountain News in Denver and rumblings of closures at papers in San Francisco, Seattle and other cities across the country, proves that traditional media is ailing in the face of Web technologies, namely Web 2.0.
In the wake of these closings, it seems that organizations that relied heavily on these traditional outlets to spread their news are being forced into the world of Web 2.0. Forced is an unfortunate but accurate term here. Media relations managers within such organizations have been forced to modify their media placement goals since there are fewer outlets to gobble up their story pitches. In recent months, they've been forced to turn to tools like Twitter to spread their messages.
This hasn't been an easy transition for organizations stuck on the traditional media path. IT departments have been forced to face their Web 2.0 fear and stop blocking social media sites so that employees can more effectively do their jobs in the marketing and media relations arenas in particular.
You might consider that progress and it is, in a short-sighted, reactionary way. True progress in moving away from a dependency on traditional media wouldn't be forced by market conditions (literally) but rather spurred by market conditions. Spurred in such a way that the move to Web 2.0 was a strategic maneuver, part of an overall strategic Web plan done with great alacrity, rather than a disinterested, one-off panacea.
As we've pointed out before, organizations must strategically manage their Web infrastructure to fully leverage the power of Web 2.0 tools. In such a case, change would not be forced or born out of fear but calculated and planned. A governance structure paired with detailed policies and standards would be put in place to mitigate risk and alleviate perceived fear. But all that takes more work then simply opening up access to Web 2.0 tools and keeping fingers crossed that the organization achieves its goals (like more stories in more places) and nothing too risky happens in the process.
I'll keep my fingers crossed on that one while I continue to espouse the benefits of governance and strategy and the power of planning and the definition of true progress and...
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