Getting Media Attention through Social Media

Posted on September 5th, 2007
By Steve Petersen in Media, Social Networks, Tools, Web 2.0

Marketing and grassroots activity on social media sites like Facebook is a burgeoning field. More and more people are recognizing the power and the variety of ways an organization can harness or benefit (or suffer, for that matter) from social media action.

The news today provides an example about why this trend is important. According to The New York Times, Time Warner is closing its new economy magazine Business 2.0.

What I find most interesting in the article is that it states: "A report in The New York Times in July that Time Inc. executives were considering closing the magazine mobilized some support among readers, who started a group on the social networking Web site Facebook."

The Huffington Post's media page linked to an Adage article with the headline: "Facebook Group Not Enough To Save 'Business 2.0'." While this headline is true, it is very imprtant to note that one of the most read newspapers in the country, the Times, mentioned the Facebook group supporting the magazine.

The moral of the story is that the mainstream media organizations pay attention to social media — particularly the larger and better known sites. Creative efforts, embarked by organizations or their supporters and detractors, may get significant media attention. Therefore, it is important for organizations to pay attention to this part of the web as well.

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Comments

Lee Aase

September 5th, 2007 at 7:47 pm

Very good points. Social media efforts do get noticed, and will do so increasingly, at least until they have been effective so often that they aren’t considered “news” any more.

But then, when it’s no longer news that a Facebook group is forming as in this story, it will be a sign that the tactic has become mainstream.

So be aware of it now because of the potential newsmaking implications, and when it’s no longer newsworthy the social networks will be big enough to have significant impact even without the amplification of the mainstream media.