While the press release has always been the staple for most successful PR campaigns, over the last few years, it is no longer necessarily viewed as the bread and butter of media relations. Is the press release no longer effective because it is outdated the minute it becomes published? Is it because editors are simply overloaded by too many messages that clutter their real and virtual inboxes? Or is it because the press release today actually has the flexibility to become an ever-evolving communication that effectively lends itself to various outlets? The press release’s role remains to create and disseminate an actual newsworthy item to the public it speaks to. However, its structure and formality is slowly fading. With the arrival of web 3.0 and social media becoming mainstream, updates, announcements and news items become far more interpersonal, viral, and casual. All you need to do is become a fan of something on Facebook and you get all the updates you need. You don’t always need the press release to mediate the process anymore. At the same time it is still one of the most formal methods to credibly inform the public. So, nostalgically, it sounds like the press release is an old but wise communications tool, that will stick around in some form.
So, while I think the content of a well-written press release will continue remain very much viable in the PR process, the vehicles that create the structured message continue to evolve… from the days of handwritten news, to those of the typewriter, to the keyboard, and onto whatever is next.