The Sounding Board

You say Wiki, I say SHwiki

BusinessWeek has an interesting article on the rise of the corporate wiki and its use in Fortune 1,000 companies. Andrew McAfee, a tech-specializing Harvard Business School professor, asserts that there is “some sort of wiki” in all Fortune 1,000 companies. SpeakerBox may not be a Fortune 1,000 company but we’ve joined the wiki revolution with our own wiki, affectionately named “the SHwiki” as a tribute to our ole SheaHedges Group days. Our SHwiki – hosted by JotSpot , now owned by our friends at Google - was developed out of internal frustration with the vast amounts of email sent and received daily. There’s no doubt that email is one of my favorite things in the world (kinda sad, I know) but by the nature of our work, the volume can get pretty high. Email conversations with journalists, internal emails from teammates brainstorming new angles and projects for clients, and industry newsletters/market reading -- it quickly adds up.

Enter the SHwiki – a great tool for collaboration and an easy way to cut down on email. Instead of using email to review, edit and discuss account work, we post things to the SHwiki where all team members can easily access and search them. We use the wiki for upcoming opportunities and deadlines, to capture proactive pitch ideas and to bounce ideas off one another. Of course, there is a downside to the SHwiki – getting people used to a wiki culture. I’ll be the first to admit that, despite my love affair with Wikipedia (they have everything on there!), I was initially guilty of being a little slow to jump on the SHwiki bandwagon. But I’m forcing myself to use it more in my daily collaboration with teammates and I think there will be a time in the not-too-distant future where I won’t be able to imagine life without it. Kinda like I can’t imagine life without email now.

Jennifer Becker
Account Executive

State of the Media

While watching my NCAA bracket self-combust over the weekend (Wisconsin Badgers, you let me down…. BIG time) I took the opportunity to look over the Project for Excellence in Journalism’s annual report on American journalism, “The State of the News Media.” Interesting reading if you haven’t had a chance, but at 160,000 words, I’d advise a strong dose of caffeine before trying to digest the whole report in one sitting.

The report includes quantitative research on newspapers, online, TV, magazines, radio and ethnic media, and not shockingly, one of the biggest takeaways was that "the news industry must become more aggressive about developing a new economic model” with the shift to online audiences. As the report begins, “the pace of change has accelerated. In the last year, the trends shaping journalism didn't just quicken, they seemed to be nearing a pivot point.”

Findings like this reinforce a lot of what we’ve been talking about internally and with our clients. The media landscape is changing – and quickly. As a result, the rules for the communications profession continue to change, with an ever-increasing focus on real-time conversations and dialog. To me, the biggest take-aways from the PEJ report is that our team is applying our skills in the right way for our clients, and that its an exciting time to be in our industry. We’re deciding which conversations are worth participating in, starting the dialog on those that haven’t (but should have) and creating the relationships that keep those conversations going.

Stephanie Stadler
Account Supervisor

R.I.P. InfoWorld

Steve continues, making some important points that speak to my last post on the changing face of media:

So this is publishing's immediate future, and I expect other trade publications will be following InfoWorld's lead soon enough. Some things shouldn't change, however: The basic principle of separation of church and state -- that advertisers must not influence what editors say, write, or cover -- is still sacrosanct. We remain committed to holding that line and serving our audience, whether they are readers, video viewers, podcast listeners, or conference attendees.

Congratulations to InfoWorld for making the plunge and recognizing the shift. The news mirrors the announcement from Intelligent Enterprise in January, and I anticipate that Steve is correct when he predicts that we’ll see many more tech pubs follow suit in coming months.

Stephanie Stadler
Account Supervisor