Welcome to this week’s Influence Report, Eastwick’s way of keeping you up to date on the changing communications landscape.

This issue’s feature is on the changing role of press releases, a hotly debated topic in the PR and media worlds. The name press release is even outdated since these documents are used to communicate with many more audiences than just the press. Our view is that companies and PR pros need to take a fresh look at when and how they distribute news and information. News releases are an important way to communicate directly (the ultimate vendor-generated content says my friend Barbara Krause, Krause-Taylor Associates) and there are now many other ways to push that content out. A few things that may change your thinking about news releases:

Traditional releases vs. social media releases: We’ve learned a lot about the effectiveness of these two approaches and thanks to the brilliant folks at HubSpot, we just got a little smarter. What they learned in a recent comparison test is that traditional releases performed better than social media releases because of some basic flaws with some SMNR templates. Formatting such as bolding and bullets hurts pick up. How you include links and what type of links really matters. It’s important to remember that releases can really impact search results. Experts agree that the newer formats of the social media releases are best if adjustments are made to make them more compatible with the news portals and sites that pick them up.

Are wire services still necessary?: Yes and no. For major news, most experts agree using a wire service is still best, at least for now. For public companies, it’s a fool-proof way to ensure disclosure requirements are met. However, for routine news, companies may get just as much visibility pushing this information out through social media channels like their own blogs, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Or by sending their news directly to the news portals that matter to them most like Yahoo, Earthlink, etc.

Media Merry Go Round

As one of our regular features, we’ll provide updates on reporter moves and changes. This month’s list includes general trends and specific notes about key publications:

• Newsroom employment has plunged to its lowest level in three decades: According to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, newspapers shed 5,900 jobs in 2008, more than double the number of losses reported in 2007.

• The Washington Post announced sweeping newsroom changes as the paper prepares to integrate its print and digital news operations.

• The Wall Street Journal, one of the only newspapers to successfully maintain a pay wall for its Web site, released an iPhone app that allows users to read the content for free.

• PC World/Macworld has laid off an undisclosed number of employees in editorial and sales.  Departing is PC World senior editor Denny Arar. According to her LinkedIn bio, she’s been with PC World since November 1996.  PC World also lost staff in community and reviews.

• Joe Wilcox and Larry Seltzer have left Ziff Davis Enterprise. Both were veterans of the old and new ZD - and casualties of the recession.

The New Twitterati

The other regular feature will be updating the list of influencers now on Twitter. As this becomes an increasingly effective way to push company and market info out to a broader audience, we’ll keep you posted on who is joining the party. Here’s the latest list of followers:

• Independent Writer & Editor Deborah Cohen, who writes weekly small business columns for Reuters.com, is on Twitter at www.twitter.com/dlcohenwrites

• Gregg Early, Executive Editor of www.AtTheseLevels.com and www.KciInvesting.com is tweeting at www.twitter.com/gsearly

• Daniel Macht, News Editor at NBC Local Media, tweets at www.twitter.com/danmacht

• Ismat Sarah Mangla, Personal Finance Reporter at Money, is tweeting at www.twitter.com/Money_Ismat

• Sasha Nagy, Web Editor at globeandmail.com, is on Twitter at www.twitter.com/sashaglobe

• SourceMedia investment advisor publications are on Twitter:
  Financial Planning is at www.twitter.com/finplan

• Bank Investment Consultant is at www.twitter.com/BIConline

• On Wall Street is at www.twitter.com/onwallstreet

• Michael Harvey, Technology Correspondent of The Times (London) who is based in San Francisco, is on Twitter at www.twitter.com/mikeharvey

• Journalist Joseph Treaster is tweeting at www.twitter.com/JosephBTreaster

• MainStreet.com can be found on Twitter at www.twitter.com/mainstr. The site is managed by MainStreet.com’s Community Editor Stephen Dalton

• Spencer Ante, Associate Editor at BusinessWeek, can be found tweeting at www.twitter.com/Spencerante

• Hiawatha Bray, Technology Reporter at The Boston Globe, is tweeting at www.twitter.com/watha

• Digits, a technology blog of The Wall Street Journal, can be found on Twitter at www.twitter.com/wsjdigits

• John Friedman, Media Editor at Marketwatch.com, is on Twitter at www.twitter.com/JonMediaWeb

• Senior Editor Mary Kathleen Flynn, who tracks deal developments in the tech sector and interacts with technology entrepreneurs and investors profiled in The Deal’s award-winning Behind the Money online video show, is tweeting at www.twitter.com/MKFlynn

• Laurianne McLaughlin, Senior News Editor at CIO.com, is on Twitter at www.twitter.com/lmclaughlin

• Dan Fost, a San Francisco-based freelance writer who currently covers the Internet for the Los Angeles Times business section, tweets at www.twitter.com/sanfrandan

• Del Jones, Corporate Leadership Reporter at USA Today, is on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jonesdel

For a list of analysts on Twitter go to www.sagecircle.wordpress.com/directories/analyst-twitter-directory/.

Links:

• Eastwick Communications Influence Report, Volume I, Issue 1