Interesting post from PR professional Valeria Maltoni about “braided journalism” – the “practice of traditional and citizen journalists starting to intertwine through mutual need” – asking if this is the future of public relations.
Maltoni discusses an experiment by computer manufacturer Dell, which involves freelance journalists as part of a new website. Brands embedding journalists, she says, could be extremely beneficial to consumers and businesses:
The impact of journalists and reporters would be felt in a number of ways:
- integrating the point of view of a third party lends additional credibility to the business;
- presenting a more complete version than the one quote, sometimes taken out of context, in trade press;
- bringing more customer and non-customer voices to the conversation;
- including more representatives of the whole ecosystem the business operates in;
- adding a needed perspective from researchers and domain experts.