Comments on: Press Releases Disguised as News?

By: sellsius

sellsius — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:59:23 +0000

Good idea Freddie– a simple solution.

By: Freddie

Freddie — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 14:24:56 +0000

It is frustrating that newspapers are allowing large content add-ins that are really just marketing. It would help a lot if they would tell up front “Marketing section” and leave the decision as to when you read it up to the reader.

By: sellsius

sellsius — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 23:26:32 +0000

true that Obeoman

By: Obeoman

Obeoman — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 22:49:27 +0000

Even in newspapers, if it’s an ad, it says “Advertisement” if it looks like news.

Just put Press or Media release on it and ignore the aggra-vation.

Real information always rises, you know, like good cigar smoke…or cream…or at least above the fray.

Obeoman

steven.stearns@obeo.com

By: sellsius

sellsius — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 22:26:22 +0000

Thanks Drew and David.

No, I was not trying to imply that the press releases mentioned were prepared by the companies or their PR firms, only that press releases are being distributed by the news aggregators as news. I added a Note to the post to clear up any misimplication. Thanks.

Source is not disclosed in the Yahoo news search results.
http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/search?p=redfin&c=
(Yes, it is revealed if you click to the actual page)

By: David G from Zillow.com

David G from Zillow.com — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 20:28:01 +0000

I’m typing too fast:

“do not” should be “are not”
“overdue it” should be “overdo it”

By: David G from Zillow.com

David G from Zillow.com — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 19:21:58 +0000

That’s totally lame on Yahoo’s part. Press releases, by definition are intended for a press audience, not “as” press.

But … your research is also lacking:
1) The source of the press releases on Y! is disclosed. See “source” in the footer of every article.
2) You seem to imply that these releases were put out by Redfin and Zillow and I just want to point out that they do not. These publicized releases come from smaller companies that are announcing partnerships with the sites. When you have a popular brand, this is a common discussion with vendors. And big brands have to ensure that vendors don’t overdue it when making their announcements.

Full disclosure: I own stock in Y!

By: Drew Meyers

Drew Meyers — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 18:22:31 +0000

If you’re interested in reading an interesting perspective on new media and press releases, you should read Brian Solis’ “PR 2.0″ blog - http://www.briansolis.com/index.htm