Moderator: Cathy Brooks, Founder & Host, The Conversation

Panelists:
Adam Rose, Standards Editor
Taylor Gray, SVP Marketing
Cindy Murphy, Director Sales
Victoria Fine, Impact Editor
Ryan McCarthy, Business Editor

So, What’s Changed?

TG: The merger is tremendously exciting. We have access to more tools that we can use to help our clients with content creation. But, the most exciting thing is our new ability to dramatically amplify the implementation of HuffPost’s vision. We’re doing what we wanted to do, but we’re doing it all at once with a higher level of quality.

CM: The merger has added a whole new contingent of offices and colleagues on the West Coast. And, AOL’s expertise helps tremendous in explaining the value of socialization of content to prospective clients.

AR: Think about it like this: We went from driving a really fast car to piloting a jet. Our destination is the same; our speed is greater. The ability to report news in real time is a practical reality. We have more talent, more expertise, more technologies, and more boots on the ground, which allow us to empower people in ways we could not have done before the merger.

Is HuffPost at Risk of Falling Victim to Profit over Purpose?

TG: This has not been an uncommon thought among people throughout the merger, but HuffPost will always be driven by purpose. At huffpost we are free to do our work. We have entrepreneurial reporters and editors who all want to make the news better.

VF: Purpose is front and center with impact and education sections. Not only do we link impact and education stories to ways that people can take action but we are able to put the idea of taking action into the minds of readers–the merger has only expanded our ability to do that.

Should Bloggers Be Paid?
HuffPost is a unique organization being a hybrid of staff reporters and editors with an army of freelance bloggers—some of whom feel they should get a fair share monetarily speaking.

AR: The blog team is handled separately from the news team. Reporters and editors are staff—they are tied to being in the office regularly and at other times as needed, they have meetings, they must meet deadlines, and they are responsible for providing comprehensive news coverage. The majority of content at HuffPost is paid content, produced by staff, from AP, etc. Bloggers are a fantastic and critical aspect of who we are and how we do what we do, and the vast majority of bloggers love huffpost. Our bloggers provide opinions, perspectives, and commentary on the news we report—a highly valuable contribution that stimulates dialogue about the news.

VF: Not everyone who blogs wants to become a journalist. Most of the people who blog for impact and education due so because they have a passion that they want to share and would not otherwise be heard in mainstream media.

AR/RM: Every large site within AOL will be interacting with huffpost in some significant way at some point—some things will take longer than others to figure out—still early in the process.

CM: Easy share features of huffpost will be available across AOL outlets—great opportunity to expand communities.

TG: AOL is a different company now. On the inside, it really looks like the huffpost bought AOL. AOL has given Ariana the keys to build the editorial team.

Content
A question was asked as to why HuffPost had a divorce section but not a jobs section.

CM: Actually my question was why we have a divorce section and not a family section. Regardless, the verticals at HuffPost have develop out of passions expressed by staff, readers, social communities, etc. We currently have entertainment, food, divorce, and many others. We will likely have a section on jobs. HuffPost will always be focused on helping people express themselves about the topics they are most passionate about.

Politics

TG: AOL is more conservative than huffpost. The two pieces of the business do target different audiences, and will continue to have different home pages with different styles of entry. But, there is more diversity in both of those audiences than people realize. HuffPost has many conservative banks as advertisers, and they are happy advertising with HuffPost.

AR: HuffPost is trying to move beyond left and right. For example, we do not view unemployment as left or right; it’s an issue that affects the ability of people to put a roof over their family’s heads and that’s what matters. HuffPost embraces and welcomes different political viewpoints and will continue to do so.

Working with Brand & Social Media Experts

CM: The Univ. of Phoenix did a social media program with HuffPost last year that deliberately elicited comments on the content they posted. When negative comments to their content showed up, they were prepared to respond at the brand level; however, they did not have to. An individual who participated in the program at the Univ. of Phoenix responded in a post that described the positive experience that individual had with the program and the benefit they obtained from it. The negative comments were addressed in the natural course of the conversation that the Univ. of Phoenix stimulated.

CM: HuffPost is often the party that brings the brand experts and social media experts at a client together.

TG: Often, clients don’t put specific money aside to engage in social media programs. Often we can combine a brand/media buy with the social marketing programs we put together. Our goal is to evolve beyond that—to get to a point where we are publishing client content and messaging across HuffPost as well as other sites.

RM/AR: One way to integrate social media with reporting the news about corporate brands is to allow people to comment on the news via a blog account so that all who read the news will see the comment.

TG: The traditional media way was to report the news and require people to come to you to get it. The new media way is to report the news and allow people to comment on it, become part of it, and/or take action as a result of it—to participate in the news wherever it is.

What About Patch & Localization

AR: We have locals for New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Denver.

RM: We are using Patch now and it will continue to be rolled out over the next couple years. We’re actually doing a Patch integrated story next week on the job crisis, which is a good example of how the AOL merger is turbo charging what HuffPost has always wanted to do.

Will You Follow the NYT and Have Paid Subscriptions?
HuffPost will always be free.

Tips for PR Professionals Who Want to Work with HuffPost

• Don’t pitch. Just talk with us about trends, new developments, etc.; share interesting information that our readers will want/need to know.
• Be authentic, be honest.
• Tell stories: Stories that depicts one moment that illustrates your message—the how of what happened and the effect it had on people you are trying to help; or stories that illustrate successes and failures within your initiatives with the intent to support the success of others.
• When news about your organization breaks, HuffPost will fix it quickly—our goal is 100% correction rate. Just hit the “Report a Correction” button at the bottom of the page.

In Brief: With the merger, HuffPost has access to new technologies, new resources for clients, more boots on the ground, broader and deeper expertise which means that we will be able to achieve our original vision much more quickly. We can report more comprehensively, enable more integration with social to stimulate dialogues, encourage people to take action, allow people to express their passions—and continue to put purpose over profit, providing content free to anyone with an Internet connection. It’s all good, and it’s likely to get even better. Stay tuned.

Contributed by Lisa B. English, PhD, APR; Silicon Valley PRSA Board of Directors; Vice President HiveMind Marketing, Inc. (lbenglish@hivemindinc.com).

Following the $315 million pay check, AOL has also poached an army of talented new writers. These are senior editors from The New York Times, New York Daily News, and The Daily. AOL is also adopting the new publishing model that the Huffington Post represents.

We are so fascinated that we’ve invited a panel of editors covering a myriad of topics including media, entertainment, technology, politics, causes, education. We also have the social media editor, social marketing and ad sales leads who will give us the scoop on what life is like at the ‘new Huffington Post’. Tickets are available NOW on the PRSA website.

We know you’ve got questions so don’t miss your chance to ask them! Full details below:

Four Seasons Palo Alto | 2050 University Avenue, East Palo Alto, CA

Date: Friday, April 15, 2011

Time: 4:00pm – 5:00pm Panel Discussion | 5:00pm – 7:30pm Networking/Reception

Cost:

Early Bird (before 4/10) - $50 PRSA Member, $55 Partner, $60 Non-PRSA Member, $30 Student (limited quantity available)

After 4/10/Door price - $60 PRSA Member, $65 Partner, $70 Non-PRSA Member

$750 per table of 10  – Proceeds go to the non-profit to further the PR community in Silicon Valley.

Who’s Participating on the Huffington Post Panel?

·       Rob Fishman, Social Media Editor

·       Adam Rose, Media, Entertainment, Technology and Politics

·       Victoria Fine, Impact (cause related initiatives) and Education verticals editor

·       Taylor Gray, SVP Social Marketing

·       Cindy Murphy, Director of Sales

Among those in attendance were senior writers Jon Fortt and Michael Copeland and video producers Mason Cohn and Michal Lev-Ram. Senior editor Adam Lashinksy, also made a surprise appearance.

Fortt noted that cloud computing, portable devices, IT as a means for increased organizational efficiency and changes in the data center are top of mind for him these days and likely topics for the Tech Talk video series and Fortune’s Techmate column. Fortt and Copeland co-develop Techmate, where the two argue with one another on topics including “tech at work” and appears in both video and in the print magazine. According to Copeland, topics he’s interested in covering include hardware and software as commodities, the data center and where technology and science intersect.

On the video front, Cohn & Lev-Ram work anywhere from two to four weeks out and are looking to PR to help them visually tell stories. Sorry software companies…Cohn noted that shots of a computer screen are boring! It’s important to note that video Q&A shot for the web can and do appear on any CNN properties in some instances.

Mason and Lashinsky have recently launched “Connected” a video Q&A series with CEOs that’s broken into two to three short videos and discuss business strategies and the industry trends impacting them. Recent interviews have included the CEOs from Adobe and Nvidia.

Additionally, Fortune recently appointed Dan Roth to be managing editor of Fortune.com. Before joining Fortune, he was a senior writer at WIRED magazine. Panelists noted that there will be new opportunities with changes on the web-site and new by-lines as the site expands. Stay tuned!

The Fortune panel was the second installment of “Inside the Newsroom,” with the first held at Bloomberg’s San Francisco hub. To view upcoming PRSA Silicon Valley events visit our events page. Last week PRSA Silicon Valley hosted Fortune editorial and video staff as a part of the “Inside the Newsroom” series at AxiCom’s San Francisco offices. This standing room only event featured a panel of notable Fortune staff discussing top technology trends, updates on Fortune magazine and its online site, CNNMoney.com. The discussion centered around questions from PR pros on editorial insights and advice on how to pitch and secure stories with Fortune.

Among those in attendance were senior writers Jon Fortt and Michael Copeland and video producers Mason Cohn and Michal Lev-Ram. Senior editor Adam Lashinksy, also made a surprise appearance.

Fortt noted that cloud computing, portable devices, IT as a means for increased organizational efficiency and changes in the data center are top of mind for him these days and likely topics for the Tech Talk video series and Fortune’s Techmate column. Fortt and Copeland co-develop Techmate, where the two argue with one another on topics including “tech at work” and appears in both video and in the print magazine. According to Copeland, topics he’s interested in covering include hardware and software as commodities, the data center and where technology and science intersect.

On the video front, Cohn & Lev-Ram work anywhere from two to four weeks out and are looking to PR to help them visually tell stories. Sorry software companies…Cohn noted that shots of a computer screen are boring! It’s important to note that video Q&A shot for the web can and do appear on any CNN properties in some instances.

Mason and Lashinsky have recently launched “Connected” a video Q&A series with CEOs that’s broken into two to three short videos and discuss business strategies and the industry trends impacting them. Recent interviews have included the CEOs from Adobe and Nvidia.

Additionally, Fortune recently appointed Dan Roth to be managing editor of Fortune.com. Before joining Fortune, he was a senior writer at WIRED magazine. Panelists noted that there will be new opportunities with changes on the web-site and new by-lines as the site expands. Stay tuned!

The Fortune panel was the second installment of “Inside the Newsroom,” with the first held at Bloomberg’s San Francisco hub. To view upcoming PRSA Silicon Valley events visit our events page. http://www.prsasiliconvalley.com/Events

This Blog was contributed by the following:
PRSASV Professional Development Team Member
Jillian Fisher, AxiCom (http://www.axicom.com/)

PRSA & Commonwealth Club of California Present: “News 2.0: Predicting the Future of Media”

Wednesday, August 19, 2009 | Doors open at 11:30 a.m.
Michael’s at Shoreline, Mountain View

REGISTER NOW!

Today, as traditional media struggle to assert their place in the new media conversation and maintain a position of influence, they’re seeking to reinvent their business and distribution models to keep pace with today’s “instant communication” channels. Will they succeed in maintaining relevance amongst the chaos of the new media revolution? And what will emerge as the new media model?

Join PRSA Silicon Valley and The Commonwealth Club of California for a discussion with leading visionaries from both sides of the media spectrum — traditional and new — to debate the future of the media industry.

Hear from a prominent line-up of speakers as they discuss who will impact, influence and own the news cycle in the coming years:

	John Raess, Bureau Chief Northern California, The Associated Press
	Lisa Stone, Co-Founder, BlogHer
	Jon Fine, “Media Centric” Columnist, BusinessWeek
	Louis Freedberg Director of California Watch
	Quentin Hardy, National Editor, Forbes Magazine
	Kevin A. Yen, Director of Strategic Partnerships, YouTube

Event will be moderated by…

Register today! Seating is limited.

COST: Admission is $65 for PRSA and Commonwealth Club members; $70 for partners (WIC, IABC, AMA, BMA, PRSA-SF, PRSA-EB); and $75 for non members. Student pricing: $35 for the first 15 students to register, non-member pricing for others.

LOCATION:
Michael’s at Shoreline
2960 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View, CA 94043
Map

Special thanks to PRSA Silicon Valley’s 2009 Annual Chapter Sponsors:

PRSA Silicon Valley’s networking events provide a good opportunity to connect with peers, clients and friends. And, as always, we include a forum for job seekers to learn about job opportunities and for employers to discuss job openings with active PR professionals.

All are invited and attire is work-casual. Come straight from the office and bring a co-worker or friend. We look forward to seeing you!

DETAILS
One free glass of wine or beer to the first 20 to arrive. Light refreshements included.
Date & Time: Thursday, February 26, 2009, 6 to 8 p.m.
Cost: $15 for PRSA Silicon Valley members, $20 for non-members
Location: Blue Chalk is located at 630 Ramona Street in Palo Alto across from City Hall.

Register Now!

Watch as the San Jose Giants (the San Francisco Giants’ farm team) knock down the Visalia Oaks from the Martinelli’s VIP deck, located on the third base line. A full BBQ meal from the famous Turkey Mike’s, two drinks (alcoholic or non), scorecard and full waitservice are included with your ticket. Come hungry – the portions are generous!

Thanks to the generous sponsorship of Business Wire, tickets are available at a discounted rate: PRSA and IABC members: $20; Non-members: $25

Family and friends are welcome! Kids under the age of four (4) get into the park for free, but food and drink are not included with this special event and must be purchased separately at the ball park.

A limited number of tickets are available, so purchase yours today! Here’s the link to the reg page!

REGISTER NOW: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?binid=1&bevaID=153305

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS:

First Half: Panel Discussion: Segmenting the Blogosphere

* The Social Media Club of Silicon Valley will help you identify key players in the blogosphere. They will offer case studies and proven tips on how to work with these influencers to generate positive, mainstream media coverage for your company or clients. Panel members include:
* Mike McGrath, VP of New Media, McGrath/Power (Moderator)
* Joel Postman, Founding Principal, Socialized PR
* Tony Obregon, Social Media Director, Cohn & Wolfe
* Valerie Combs, PR Director, BuzzLogic
* Brian Solis, Principal, FutureWorks
* David Alstrom, Vice President, Radian6

Second Half: Training in the Effective Use of Social Media

* Jon Greer will show you how to use blogs, wikis and social networks to plan and execute campaigns, evaluate results to measure success, and optimize your press center with RSS feeds.
* Jeff Braun will train you in the use of audio and visual social media as a business opportunity, also addressing crisis communications and reputation management, strategies and tactics used in real-world case studies.
* Additional content of value, tips and techniques, will be provided at this workshop as well; for example, how to optimize press releases for search engine optimization.

When: Friday, May 30, 2008 — 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM
Where: Microsoft
Price: $49 for PRSA Silicon Valley members ($69 non-members).
$59 for partners of the PRSA Silicon Valley (IABC, AMA, BMA, PRSA-SF, PRSA-EB)

Conference description:

Joel Stein, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times and a regular contributor to TIME and VH1, will open this year’s conference with a humorous keynote on intergenerational differences — from Twittering to texting, nothing is sacred. For information on our other fabulous speakers, please click on the speaker menu to view their bio and link to their sites.

The closing keynote speaker is Ronald J. Alsop, a columnist at The Wall Street Journal and author of the books The Wall Street Journal Guide to the Top Business Schools and The 18 Immutable Laws of Corporate Reputation: Creating, Protecting, and Repairing Your Most Valuable Asset. He also has served as editor of the Journal’s Marketplace page and works closely with leading research firms that measure corporate brands and reputations.

OCIABC and PRSA Portland have formed a partnership with the North Pacific District Chapter of PRSA to include communications professionals from Alaska, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington. The event will take place over two days — May 7-8 — at the Holiday Inn (soon to be Crowne Plaza Hotel) just across the river from picturesque downtown Portland.

The theme this year is “From Typewriter to iPhone: Being Heard by Multiple Generations.” Attendees will benefit from the latest insights on communicating with and working alongside people from different age groups.

Bonus: The regional conference of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) will be held the day before the main conference kicks off. This is an excellent opportunity for networking and professional development for college juniors and seniors.

Registration here.

PRSA Silicon Valley board member Jon Greer blogged about Steve’s tips for PR people on his blog, Catching Flack:

1. Steve Yoder Explains How To Be A Good Wall Street Journal Source
2. Steve Yoder’s Top Nine Reasons Why Journalists Need PR People

Executive spokespeople can always use more practice and training for media interviews. This event gives busy executives access to an easy and informative mid-day training session where their media mettle will be put to the test in a two-hour, hands-on workshop led by some of the sharpest minds in the news business. LUNCH IS INCLUDED.

Speakers:

Steve Yoder, SF Bureau Chief, Wall Street Journal
Jeff Braun, Principal, Crucial Communications Group, Former broadcast journalist: CBS News
Jon Greer, Principal, Jon Greer Consulting, Former print journalist: SF Chronicle and SJ Mercury News

An Opportunity to Learn:

• Interview do’s and don’ts
• Handling the really tough questions
• Tips for effective phone, in-person and video interviews
• Transparency — or how much to reveal and when to stop talking
• How to prepare messages, drive the interview and stay on message
• Making yourself “quotable” without sounding scripted
• Building relationships and becoming a valued industry source
• What to do and say in a crisis situation
• What to do if you are misquoted or misrepresented

Location:
The Cooley Cafe, Cooley Godward Kronish LLP
3175 Hanover Street
Palo Alto, CA 94304

Click here to register