The real-time Web has opened an opportunity for anybody to inject ideas into a breaking news story and generate tons of media coverage. I’ve been a communicator for two decades now, and I have never seen a technique as powerful as newsjacking. But it has primarily come up under the radar because it relies on a new communication speed that most organizations reserve only for crisis communications. I’ve noticed corporate communicators in large organizations unwilling to understand and take advantage of real-time communications, often becoming prey to smaller more nimble players.
As journalists scramble to cover breaking news, the basic facts — who/what/when/where — are often fairly easy to find, either on a corporate website or in competitors’ copy. That’s what goes in the first paragraph of any news story.
The challenge for reporters is to get the “why” and the implications of the event (which often goes into the second and additional paragraphs). Why is the company closing its plant? The corporate website may offer some bogus excuse like “because it wants to spend more time with its family.” Competitors may quote some expert’s speculation on the real reason, but a reporter can’t cite that without adding something self-demeaning like “according to an expert quoted in the New York Times.” Journalists need original content — and fast.
If you are clever enough to react to breaking news very quickly, providing credible content in a blog post, tweet, or media alert that features the keyword of the moment, you may be rewarded with a bonanza of media attention.
Paris Hilton was arrested with her boyfriend in Las Vegas in August 2010, he on misdemeanor DUI charges, she on felony drug-possession charges.
In a tweet to fans on September 1, Hilton said: “These rumors going around are so ridiculous, untrue and cruel. I’m not going to even pay attention to them, because I know the truth.”
Whatever, Paris. I could not care less about the perils of being Paris, except for what happened soon after the story broke — which I absolutely love.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. spokeswoman Jennifer Dunne told the Associated Press that Hilton was to be barred from Wynn Resorts properties, Wynn Las Vegas and Encore.
Newsjacking.
