Search platform TechNews last month introduced features that let users spot trends deep within tech editorial. Launched as IT Database in 2007, TechNews is widely used within tech PR to learn who is writing what.
We’ve decided to go ahead and publish selected slides from a presentation we made to a subscriber several weeks ago. We hesitated because some of the slides leaned toward “preachy”; subscribers typically like it when SWMS stays in its lane, delivering cheat sheets and tech media analysis.
Bloomberg reporter Matthew Boyle Tweets: “Another hour lost to rooting around a startup’s ‘newsroom’ page, looking in vain through the fawning case studies and trite
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A recent edition of the new Axios Communicators newsletter offered pitch advice from five Axios reporters and a co-founder. Newsletter author Eleanor Hawkins polled her colleagues on what PR folks need to be told.
On Feb. 28 we received an inquiry from a subscriber (vendor, not agency) asking whether journalists were bristling at being pitched in light of the crisis in Ukraine. The subscriber said “proactive pitching” had been paused. Here was our response…
SWMS contributor Bob Scheier writes: A company’s Wikipedia entry is often one of the first to come up in response to a Web search, and might get more exposure than its Twitter, Facebook or other social media account.
With 2022 a month away, it’s time to imagine next year’s trends, in a way that lets our subscribers take action whenever possible. Here’s our list.
I’m finding that a surprising number of vendors have removed or hidden the “media contact” links on their sites. They’ve been replaced by lead-snagging “bots” asking if I’d like a demo or what “digital transformation” challenges I’m facing, and generic “Contact Us” pages that may or may not lead to someone who can respond to a media request.
Tired of writing pitches and press releases? AI writes copy these days. This month we used Copy.ai to promote the fictitious Wazoolie Pro, “a hypnotizer that convinces prospects to buy products and services they don’t need.”
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From today’s TC+ Newsletter: “No one I met said they were looking for ‘thought leadership’ or scorching hot takes,” wrote TC’s contributed content gatekeeper. “Almost everyone wanted actionable advice that would help them fundraise, build and scale.”
Good guidance indeed.
Somewhere along the line, Cambridge, Mass.-based Devo Technology rebranded as Devo. Warner Music Group apparently has no objection.
Here’s how Mike Isaac presents himself. A single perfunctory paragraph doesn’t cut it anymore in a world of disinformation and synthetic, AI-generated content where no one really knows the agenda. The NYT wants to get out in front of that, especially before the 2024 elections heat up. Read the background behind this in Vanity Fair.
Legendary journalist Louise Story reveals how the smartest edit shops are using AI. Here come the flexicles.
Sara Fischer of Axios nails another scoop: Time is merging its Time Ideas section into a new one, called Time100 Voices. It doesn’t promise big opportunity for tech PR — it aims so high that only the Benioffs and Nadellas stand a chance.
Recent research from Semrush, a data partner of ours, reveals the most searched societal issues based on average monthly Google searches between January 2019 and June 2023, and how they rank across 35 countries. Searches related to mental health are skyrocketing.
