Yesterday I noticed this post by Mark Kobayashi-Hillary, an influential blogger and journalist, discussing the PR industry from a media point of view. In summary, he questions the role of the press release in the age of Twitter. He says that he rarely looks at releases and is more likely to pick up a story from social networks where discussions break in real time.

It’s always interesting hearing from the other side about what works and what doesn’t. As a PR, I can confirm that Twitter and social networks are something that the majority of our profession are comfortable with already.

It’s clear that maximising channels such as Twitter is the best way to strike up and maintain a relationship with a growing number of Twitter-centric media contacts. However, it’s important to remember that not all media are on Twitter and knowing their contact preferences before reaching out is best; and that press releases serve their function, too. There is room for both the press release and the Twitter pitch to co-exist and compliment each other.

Whether you are communicating on email with a press release in tow, or via Twitter with a 140 character limit, you need to capture the media’s attention and get to the point within the first few lines. Few people have time to wade through pages and pages of information to find news. When I started at Firefly, it was stressed to me how important it is to know and maintain relationships with media; I haven’t stopped gaining knowledge and building these relationship since. By the way – how are you Mark?

This post was written by Charlotte.