Earlier this week I posted my version of the press release of the future. You can see that here. In response to it, seasoned public relations professional Kyle Flaherty responded by noting where he disagreed with my assertions. Mr. Flaherty works for the Horn Group. You can see his bio here. And here you can see his blog and the post he wrote commenting about my version of the future press release.

I guess this paragraph from Mr. Flaherty does about as good a job as any to sum up his general view:

–If you have PR folks not writing with the correct level of believability, content and tone you should get rid of them, immediately. Those are the people that journalists and companies are already sick of and it is why press releases are dying anyhow. The SMNR completely shelves the marketing-speak press release and gives readers the ability to quickly travel to a place that has the information they want and the ability to interact with the owner of the SMNR. That being said, if you are a poor writer and communicator, find a different field.

That's interesting. Note in the above Mr. Flaherty is talking about press releases and news releases, implying I'm certain we're talking about things that are for the press and which contain news? I hope that's true. But I figured if it were true I'd find ample evidence of it at The Horn Group. So I went there, went to their current client list, picked the very first one, and opened a recent news release. The client's name is Archer Technologies.

The "press" release (as in for the media) or "news" release (as in it contains news) reads like the same old pant load of hooey I wrote for tech clients for better than a quarter of a century. But in the end, the proof's in the pudding as they say, right? Just how "news" worthy is this; just how eager has the press been to cover this… better yet… cover this client at all?

Here's what I found on a Google News search for Archer Technologies. My Yahoo news search for Archer Technologies proved no more fruitful.

Now that's interesting, don't you think? To be fair, if you're a typical potential customer of a product like the kind Archer Technologies sells, I suppose it's possible you might stumble onto their website although everything I read these days confirms that people go to corporate websites last, if at all. Neverthessless, if you go there you'll see that Archer Technlogies has actually had six legitimate pieces of coverage this year. Of the six so-called "news" or "press" releases issued so far this year by Archer Technologies, one was about an award they won and another was about an award they gave to a company I presume is a customer of theirs. If that doesn't speak volumes to how far off center PR people are who write this sort of nonsense, nothing does.

I did find this in the blogosphere, however. See if you think this looks, sounds, and smells a little different than the news release. In reference to Archer Technologies Blogger Mark Curphey writes:

Another “Sanctum type product”,  meaning everyones got it but most want rid of it if they could find a good alternative.

Obviously he's not reading the "news" releases.

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Think social media holds nothing for you? Don't tell that to Harvard. That would be veritasteless. Judging by their blogging, as evidenced by the first link below, they're on to something they value.

Consider this: If establishment law schools and tradition-bound legal professionals are adopting the new Web 2.0 technology for community building at this rate, could it mean there's something worthwhile going on… that if these risk wary types have decided this is not only a savvy way to go, but safe as well, shouldn't you? Check these out:

The Harvard Law School Corporate Governance Blog

UCLA Law School Blog

The Law School Innovation Blog

Law Professor on the Loose

Brian Leiter’s Law School Reports

Lewis and Clark Law School Blog

The Law Career Blog

Univ. of Oregon School of Law Blog

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