Time 9:30

Taking pictures on film has sure changed. Good thing Kodak is in the capturing memories and sharing in them business. You would be hard pressed to find an industry that has been impacted more than photography business. This disruption would set the average marketer on their heals. Not Jeffery Hayzlett, CMO and Vice President of Kodak, he has Kodak giving social media a big bear hug, dozens, maybe hundreds of Kodak employees are participating in social media, here is a short list thanks to Tweepz.

Hayzlett has what he calls the 4 Es of social media,

Engaging – Simply put you have to be an active participant, standing on the sidelines doesn’t get you much.

Educating – This would be mutually beneficial; it’s the exchange of information that creates the learning. You’ll hear in this Marketing Edge interview with Hayzlett, he listens really well.

Exciting – Just listen to the guy, life is a blast, share it.

Evangelizing – When you are passionate about something it’s difficult not to be an evangelist. When you get the kind of feedback that Kodak social participants have received, it’s easy to be an evangelist for the medium and for your own efforts.

Hayzlett is not a proponent of any certain tool, but certainly an advocate of a medium that engages him and Kodak with customers. That I believe is his most important driver in social media, he says anything that allows you to talk with customers is good.

Marketing Edge on Stitcher Radio

We are delighted the Marketing Edge podcast is now available on Stitcher Radio. Stitcher is a neat application available on mobile platforms for iPhone, Blackberry Curve, Storm, and Bold among others. With Stitcher can stream podcasts over your phone. View all of the compatible devices and programming at www.Stitcher.com

Integrating Social Tactics Seminar

I mentioned in the podcast I’d have this link. I’m doing a breakfast seminar with Mark Palony of SoftBrands @MarkPalony. He and I have been doing things social for a few years now, we incorporate video, audio, blogging, Twitter among other tactics in various functions pointed at specific objectives. We will share the journey, scars and successes on Wednesday August 12, from 8 AM – 10 AM at the St. Paul Pool and Yacht Club. Integrating Social Tactics Seminar details and register here.

Trust Agents – Trust me, someone will win this book, I guarantee. Email me MarketingEdge@providentpartners.Net – use the word Trust in the subject line and you’ll be included in the book drawing. We’ll have Chris on an upcoming marketing edge podcast, that should be fun.

There is a toxic formula brewing for journalism in the United States and everywhere there is the illusion of a free press. This cocktail has led to the entire industry missing stories with global impact.

I attended a panel discussion at the Media Relations Summit in May (strongly recommend attending other Bulldog Reporter event )with Hannah Clark, of Inc., Robert Lenzner, of Forbes, Stephanie Mehta, of Fortune, and Gregory Morcroft, of MarketWatch

This panel of editors and journalists was wonderfully candid about the state of journalism and the role PR has in contributing to the content and quality of press in this country. Their lament about the status quo of PR and journalism is the echo we all hear: too little time to read every email pitch.. stop sending pitches that have nothing to do with my areas of interest. The members of this panel felt social media had modest to little use as a resource.

So far, no new news here for me, until the candid Bob Lenzner painfully offered that journalists missed some of the biggest financial stories regarding AIG, the global economic crisis, and the bailout details. He acknowledged in retrospect that the media should have been more diligent, for example, in reading the “footnotes” of AIG’s financial statements. He wished those in PR would have highlighted these issues with greater vigor.

It struck me at that moment – 1) journalists or their researchers are the ones that should be digging into footnotes; however, budget cuts over the years have diminished that capability, and 2) the hurdles to get the attention of journalists and those journalists that are predisposed to trust a small circle of PR sources contributed to this failure of journalism to have seen this complex and long brewing financial crisis coming.

The toxic formula includes: a narrow circle of trusted business PR professionals, a dwindling number of resources to report the news, a faster news cycle, a shorter news story lifecycle, and an increasingly competitive news environment.

Can Twitter be an Antidote?

I have seen a wide range of uses of social media by journalists. Twitter is the most visible, with Business Week and CNN being among the leaders in using the platform for information gathering, sourcing, and distribution of news. The 140 Conference is coming up in New York this week. As one of the moderators on Tuesday, June 16, I’ll ask whether social media is a way to counter the side effects caused by reduced resources and increasing time demands on journalists, or is Twitter another potent ingredient that distracts from the business of reporting on serious and complex issues.

Will Twitter specifically and other forms of social media give journalists other trusted sources, will there be the time, tools, or other resources necessary for to take better advantage of the individuals who have a different voice, a new perspective, or a critical counter to the “conventional wisdom” of the select few?

Some of the journalists and news media representatives speaking on Tuesday include John Byrne. Editor of BusinessWeek.com @JohnAByrne – Rick Sanchez, Rick Sanchez (@ricksanchezcnn)  and Ryan Osborn (@todayshow) – Producer, NBC Today Show among many others.

Stay tuned this week for tweets, posts, and podcasts from the conference.