Zeno Group Blog

Do you remember the notable platinum social media milestones of the past few years?  The Social 7 takes a closer look at the magic million for Digg, Facebook, Ning, Second Life, Twitter, Wikipedia and YouTube:

7) Ashton Kutcher vs. CNN for One Million Followers on Twitter – Twitter has captured the imagination and interest of companies, celebrities and everyday citizens fascinated with the limitations and possibilities of communicating in 140 characters. The pop culture frenzy took an epic turn when Ashton Kutcher challenged CNN to see who could be the first to a million followers. While Ashton edged out CNN to the throne and proclaimed “a media revolution,” the real impact will be felt by the recipients of mosquito nets in Africa through Malaria No More. Kutcher, Larry King, Ryan Seacrest, Oprah Winfrey and Demi Moore pledged to buy thousands of nets to help prevent the spread of malaria. Hey guys, how about a race to a million nets that challenges the entire Twittersphere?

View the other six milestones on The Social 7.

Here are some articles the Zeno team has been reading from March 30th through April 2nd:

• Venture Chronicles: Is Twitter Killing RSS?
• Brandweek: Why Brands Love Mommy Bloggers
• Crain’s Chicago Business: Would NBC Channel 5 Outource Sports to Comcast?

Last month I had an opportunity to serve as a panelist at the Publicity Club of Chicago’s monthly luncheon where the topic was “Updating Your Social Media Toolkit.” Beyond using social media to build programs for clients, I raised the point that social media has created new ways for public relations practitioners to interact with journalists. The rising popularity of Twitter has made it a preferred tool of many journalists to the point where we now have comprehensive directories of journalists on Twitter.

The first rule of pitching a reporter is to gather information on the journalist before you send out your pitch. While reading their stories will always be the best way to do this, Twitter gives you a snapshot into a reporter’s interests, since you can follow the people they’re following. Sounds a bit creepy, but it could offer some valuable insights. And rather than fighting through the clutter of e-mail, many journalists are using Twitter as a streamlined way to communicate with sources. As this medium evolves, the relationship between PR pros and journalists many evolve with as well.