SWMS Tech Edit Spotlight: Tech Edit 2010 Preview
Submitted by Sam Whitmore on Wed, 2009-12-09 19:43
SWMS Tech Edit Spotlight: Tech Edit 2010 Preview
As a new year and new decade begin, tech media has never looked crazier. Few see print surviving, yet digital editions, e-readers and iTunes-style distribution models may return MSM publishers to prosperity. The web is turning into a broadcast medium. For better or worse, "blog values" now rule. Meanwhile, social media threatens to outflank branded media altogether.
How will tech PR change in the midst of all this? Join us for a 30-minute glimpse into 2010 tech edit. We'll outline the trends you'll need to know in business and trade media: the story types, the edit themes, and the pitching techniques that will keep you productive.
Be sure to check out the video presentation below for a complete 2010 overview (click on the image):
Highlights:
Business, Technology, Society
Every single high-impact story that will be told next year in any of the outlets you care about will have to do with business, technology and society.
Examples:
Damon Darlin points to cell phones as a number-one tech trend with an “explosion of products and services next year, and they will change the way we run our lives.”
Stephanie Mehta: “Intel’s trying to create a chip for the next generation of wireless devices. They’re not quite phones, they’re not quite netbooks. Everybody’s trying to get in on the game.”
Eric Hellweg: “The generational issues of the workforce changing, older people retiring, and the technology preferences that they’ve come to expect as consumers.”
Idea-generating sources
The Week: synthesizes what’s going on out there primarily in business, but also technology and society, and it allows you to see the connections and the interrelationships between those two things.
National Bureau of Economic Research: the editors of The Economist and Wired and really high three-digit IQ titles like that care a lot about NBER
FORA.tv — because it’s not always about words. FORA is the “thinking person’s YouTube.”
The bigger picture – Today’s stories are:
either long & thematic – or – short, micro publishing.
Say goodbye to the disappearing 500-600 word story
Visuals and video continues to rise
Whether your client likes it or not, business storytelling is moving toward more visual storytelling techniques, usually through video.
Life after print:
Beyond the obvious “survival of media” story, look to the confluence of new hardware and new ways to experience editorial.
Meet Nick Bilton, new lead writer for New York Times’ Bits section:
“I don’t believe storytelling is an art form of words alone. It’s ocular, auditory, interactive and asynchronous. As I settle in and take off my training wheels, you can expect more graphics, audio slide shows, videos and data visualization on Bits.”