Publicists Learn that “New Media is not new” and “Social Media is the user experience” at EPPS Workshop in Hollywood, CA

"And if content truly was the king, how did Steve Jobs corner the record industry without owning a single copyright? He made it easier to get music through iTunes," Social Media Consultant Eric Schwartzman

By George S. Mc Quade III
West Coast Bureau Chief
O’Dwyer Publications, NY
www.odwyepr.com


“Everything is merging, and it’s about the experience, it’s not about shoving it down your throat, that doesn’t work any more and new media is not new,” Creative Director Dror Mohar, Fuzeit.com told Entertainment Publicists Professional Society (EPPS) crowd at a media workshop Thursday (May 20, 2010) on “A discussion on new terminology and how to overcome the fear of this new media” It was sponsored by the International Cinematographers Union Local 600.
“Everything is merging, and it’s about the experience, it’s not about shoving it down your throat, that doesn’t work any more and new media is not new,” Creative Director Dror Mohar, Fuzeit.com told Entertainment Publicists Professional Society (EPPS) crowd at a media workshop Thursday (May 20, 2010) on “A discussion on new terminology and how to overcome the fear of this new media” It was sponsored by the International Cinematographers Union Local 600.

“If you’re not relevant on Google, you won’t found,” said James Hipkin, Red 8 Studios, a leading global interactive and broadcast design agency with offices in Los Angeles, Toronto and Shanghai. “The consumer is taking more and more control on how they want to receive information, and when they want to receive it.  And that’s a key fundamental shift.  It’s no longer about shouting at consumers. It’s now about having the consumer listen to what you say based on when and how they want it.”

Publicists learned that “exclusives” are a thing of the past, and unless media assets like videos, audio and images are tagged and cataloged, they have no value.   

“You need to start thinking more sophisticated about platforms,” said Eric, Schwartzman, Online specialists and author of a new book coming out on social media. “How are you going to post your social media on your own site when you do control the data? There used to be a clique that said, ‘content is king. And the idea was if you owned a copyright, you were ultimately in control of the marketplace, because you could withhold access to it if you’d like to. But we know that’s not possible anymore. And if content truly was the king, how did Steve Jobs corner the record industry without owning a single copyright? He made it easier to get music through iTunes than anyone else could provide. Although compelling content is critical, it’s got to be easy to get.”  
Scwartzman says “New Media” is not new anymore. “What you should be thinking about is Social Media, and you have to think less like Warren Cowen (prominent American film industry publicist –Rogers & Cowan, who died May 14, 2008), may he rest in peace, and more like ‘Julie’ the cruise director of the ‘Love Boat’, because you’re making a community helping others communicate amongst themselves.” 
Social Media Expert Erick Schwartzman talks about the use of key words like President Obama used in his speech recently:

“We all know everything, the information is out there,” said Mohar, fuseit.com. “It’s easy to get access to make the same (media) pitch that any one else does. It’s even easier to get that context, and resurface it, but it’s how it feels, and how it feels on so many levels, not how it feels to just your customer, your consumer, your client, but how it feels to you.”“Social media has not changed the way we gather news,” said President Doug Faigin, of City News Service (CNS) , the largest metro wires service in the country serving southern California, which 90 percent of the media subscribe to. “Because of the economic difficulty the region is undergoing, whenever we have a rare opening, we get far more resumes and the quality of journalists applying for jobs at CNS are rated higher.”

The difficulty Faigin sees with new media is fact checking. “How do you know it’s credible, just because it’s out there is it right? The old media has the credibility of some expertise regardless how controversial the piece (story) may be suspect. Never the less, it’s a starting point, and not some blogger out their spouting off his or her ideas that may or may not be based on fact.”

Panelists also warn to not overlook traditional media, TV, radio and newspaper. “We still have AM and FM radio,” said Account Manger Richard Knafelc, PR Newswire.” “There’s some content that works better down different pipes. The definition of New Media is like an awkward teenager. He makes a lot of noise, but doesn’t do much.

It doesn’t matter what service or distribution you use, but it comes down to content. We can throw everything under the sun out there for our clients, but if the content is crap in and crap out, it doesn’t matter how you get it out there. That’s something I’ve come across quite a bit. We try to educate our clients that just because there’s a new toy out there to play with, it doesn’t mean it’s going to cost you more than if you distribute it traditionally going wide.”

“You should think about all mixes of media, but distributing it in a private label fashion,” said Wylie Stateman, co-founder and CEO of fuzeit.com. “You’re not sending out your important information through YouTube, Twitter or whatever. We think there’s a future in multimedia, if you have control in delivery of it.  You should be able to analyze who receive it, how they use it, and if they shared it. But the most important thing is to develop compelling content.”
Fuszeit.com, which produces 10 percent of the multimedia film market Online has earned six Oscars over last 15 years. Stateman has been personally nominated for five Academy awards and several British Academy awards. 
“I need a publicist, because no one really knows who I am,” said Stateman. “It’s important to understand not only the need for content, but the production of content. What we have done at fuzeit.com is develop tools to allow people to express themselves with video, with audio, with images and texts.”

To reach the panelists all prefer email:

James Hipkin: james@red8studios.com

Richard Knafelc: Richard.knafelc@prnewswire.com

Dror Mohar: dmohar@fuzeit.com

Erick Schwartzman: ericbennettschwartzman@gmail.com

Wylie Stateman: wstateman@fuzeit.com

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