Most press releases suck. They’re frigging awful. And those hacks that right them should be ashamed of themselves. Note I say most, but not all.

The trouble is, a good press release is often awash in a sea of crap. If a press release cries in the sea and a journalist doesn’t hear it, does it actually make a sound?

Press release fatigue is an all too common condition. Journalists don’t want to read them, PR pros are tired of writing them, and companies are demanding more be sent out the door.
'There's too much text, and not enough news," says Todd Defren, principal of SHIFT Communication, in his interview with Ragan (see Is the press release dead? Ragan.com).

To counter the information glut spawned by many thousands of press releases every day, a new press release format was recently introduced by Todd and his colleagues at SHIFT Communication, a high tech agency based in Boston and San Francisco.

The new press release format is called the "social media press release template".

Maybe it's the Leopard hype, or maybe it's the TV ads. Who knows. But I'm seriously considering jumping from my IBM PC to a MacBook Pro. It might be time.

“There is no evidence that online networking sites are producing anything of real economic value,” said Theresa Wise, global director at Accenture’s digital media practice at a Broadband World Forum session in Paris entitled “The Emergence of Convergent Media” (as quoted by Ken Wieldand in BBWF: Accenture sees little financial value in Web 2.0 for Telecommnications Online).

It is still the Hollywood “big hits” that consumers are willing to pay for, argued Wise, with only a very small percentage of user-generated material being popular. “Big brands do not always lend themselves to social networking websites, as Web 2.0 users aren’t always receptive to them,” she added. “There is no evidence that these sites are monetizeable.”

As for producing measurable statistics, Wise argued that while there was indeed much data available, very few companies made complete use of it.

Traditional economic models assume either that consumers and/or advertisers pay for a service. With online social networking sites, Wise is not convinced that this will happen and, what’s more, there are no alternative workable economic models available to compensate for that fact.

Well, I take issue with Ms. Wise...

Tonight, you can watch the premiere of a new show -- on your computer. Maybe you've heard of this new online-only series called "quarterlife" developed by the creators of that hit TV show from yesteryear: "thirtysomething."

Now I found "thirtysomething" mostly annoying, built on the premise of who could whine the loudest.

But I'm intrigued that its producers -- Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick -- have decided to take their new show to MySpace. com and bypass network TV, which rejected the show several years ago.

If you've been following my posts regarding Facebook, you get my point. But don't take it from me, take it from Forrester Analyst Charlene Li:

"As an analyst, I’m often asked by people why they should bother with services like LinkedIn, Facebook, and MySpace, both from a personal as well as corporate perspective. Let’s start with a fundamental premise – that all business is social and personal. Business involves people and communications and we all prize “networking” skills and opportunities. Businesses don’t strike deals with each other – people do. And we build bonds by talking about everything from sports teams and the weather to our families and hobbies.

"So we as business people already engage in social networking every day, primarily through phone calls, emails, meetings, and events. The same activities take place on social networking sites – people share tidbits and moments that build relationships.

Ever have a great conversation that gets you jazzed about where things are headed in terms of technology? I did a few weeks back and I want to share that discussion here.

John Seely Brown, the former chief scientist at Xerox who writes extensively about the digital world and collective innovation, was on the Colgate campus to formally dedicate our newly expanded library and technology center. He stopped by our audio studio for a podcast interview about technology's role in enhancing collaborative learning. He was amazing.