In ClickZ today Sean Carton talks about the manipulaiton of news on social media sites and the pros an cons of paying bloggers and posters. His conclusion: For us marketers, the lesson is this: we're not in control of our messages anymore. Sure, we can pay bloggers, bankroll folks to post to social news sites, pay people to post to forums, or try other tactics, but these can only serve to influence, not control, the message.
He makes the point that on sites like digg the stories that get noticed are pushed up by a small group of people - and they would be called opinion leaders. Reaching opinon leaders and influencing public opeion is what PR is all about, so participating in social media sites makes good PR sense. The point of using a format like the social media news release is to be a part of the conversation. Get your message out onto these social news sites, so that you have access to this interactive and influential audience. However, it is true that you are no longer in control of the conversation or the message. All the fancy formating in the world won't disguise poor content or shabby products. If you're lame, you're lame. If your brand stinks, people will tell you.
Reputation monitoring is one of the primary goals of PR. Never before have you had access to so much information about your brand, your products, your service and your industry in general. Make sure your PR department is listening to the conversations. Listen to your advocates and detractors. What you learn could change your business. | 
