Facebook

First there was "A/B testing," where a publisher would float two different headlines on their own site and go with the better one. That's still around, but nowadays it's all about "dark testing" on Facebook. TechCrunch does this, as do Refinery29, Fusion and many other titles that publish directly to the FB platform.

Tech PR pros don't need something else to do, but it's probably time to keep an eye on Facebook Live (FBL). Launched last August, FB's live video portal has come of age. Brands, celebrities, tech journalists and mere mortals are broadcasting live every day to large and growing audiences.

In simpler times, consumer titles, business titles, trades and verticals comprised the entirety of media. Editors and publishers researched their audience and served it. Today a subtler framework is emerging that over time will change how PR shapes pitches and woos influencers. Successful publishers today produce either attention products or engagement products -- or both in tandem.

PR pros, read carefully: does this sound like reality to you? People visit web sites to read what interests them. Realizing this, you pitch stories these visitors might read. When they do, the visitors might buy a product or service mentioned, or share the article with others. This indeed may be reality but is less so every day.

FT west coast editor Richard Waters and correspondent Hannah Kuchler collaborated this week on a 2,000-word news analysis you and your clients absolutely have to read. Why? Because it's a model for the contributed content that gatekeepers want to receive from you. The topic, as Richard described it for us: "how collaboration/productivity services are evolving and converging... and what some of the big players and some of the more interesting start-ups are up to."

Have you been watching the Wall Street Journal lately?

Outtakes from last week’s SWMS Analysis: Zuckerberg's Q&A Comeback