Last week, while at the PRSA International conference, Richard posted on the Christian Science Monitor's decision to publish online only from April 2009.  This is an exciting move within the media industry as there is an increasing amount of evidence that audiences are looking to the internet for their daily news fix.  Paul Hender will be sharing some of that data on Metrica's Measurement Matters in the next couple of days so watch this space.

From an evaluation perspective, Metrica has been helping its clients to adapt to this shift for some time now.  We have been working with them as their PR plans have incorporated online media outlets and social media.  

We would love to know your views on the subject.  Let us know what you think about the CSM's decision.  Is it the beginning of an inevitable trend which will spell the end of blackened fingers, as the good ol' fashioned paper gets phased out?  Or will the big national papers always retain a hard copy?  Does the same hold true for regional papers?  Or will declining ad revenue force the smaller regional publications to rein in costs by going online only? And will the proliferation of web technology and online interaction change the entire way which we find our news?

Place your votes below and please feel free to add a comment explaining why.  We will post the results at the end of the month.

Here at Metrica we are always eager to recommend to our clients, effective alternatives to AVE as a way to measure their PR activity. As Richard pointed out previously, we don’t take much notice of AVE for our own press coverage, so why would we promote it to others?

Taking this a step further, Claire recently wrote about how PR can move out of the shadow of advertising to take a more prominent position in the marketing sphere. With that in mind, isn’t it another timely reminder that PR ought to stop measuring itself against advertising?

PRs often cite AVE being a measure their board understands, which is all well and good, but how do you explain what a drop in AVE means in relation to your PR?  As Peter Preston points out, in yesterday’s Observer, “ads cost what you feel like paying” and advertising rates are subject to the “mysterious world of the 'rate card’”.

During an economic slowdown – such as the one we are in now – editorial is the cost-effective alternative to advertising. Good work by PR teams is going to help companies to thrive during these challenging times, so why devalue that hard graft with falling ad value equivalents.

Look at the good work you are conducting in terms of message penetration, ownership of coverage and increasing brand awareness. Examine how these metrics relate to your sales trends, customer enquiries and website traffic.

These are the outcomes which will have a real impact on your bottom line and with minimal effort in terms of input, we can help show you how they correlate to your PR efforts.

There’s so much value in PR at this stage of the economic cycle, so let’s prove it. 

There has been plenty of discussion on Measurement Matters in recent months, much of which has explored the ever-changing media landscape and the emergence of consumer generated media. Jeff Jarvis at Buzz Machine has recently undertaken the task of summing up of these shifts in attitude and behaviour. Particularly useful is his use of simple, direct charts to show the evolution of the 'news' from the traditional press to what he describes as the "press-sphere".

There are a number of graphs in his article but two of them resonated strongly. They illustrate the shift from a 'top down' press model, in which we the reader were told things and that was it (save for those eager souls who insited on writing letters to the editor, which then may or may not have been printed). 

In his summation Jarvis hits on the key point as it relates to the world of media analysis and PR. There are "fundamental shifts in how news and the world around it is constructed. It’s bigger now. It’s more complex. It moves over time. It’s more about process than product. It has no limit of sources and handlers and distributors and curators and perspectives...When we rethink this ecology of news, we’ll be in a better position to plan for what’s next".  And therein lie the golden rules: Think and Plan.

Interesting piece in today's Guardian, which gives us yet another example of MSM stalwarts seeking to expand their influence through social media channels. The BBC are teaming up with LiveJournal to engage the users of "Russia's biggest blogging platform as it attempts to increase its audience base in the face of media restriction". BBC Radio has been dropped by FM broadcasters, leaving it available on MW only in Russia. 

With a potential 9 million Russian bloggers to contribute, it will be interesting to see how this develops and whether the BBC gets suitable input to feed bbcrussian.com.

The Telegraph reported today that prominent internet personality Matt Drudge is the world's most powerful journalist. This comes in the wake of his picture of Obama in Muslim garb and his leak of Prince Harry's tour of duty in Afghanistan.

While some may challenge his journalistic credentials - his former employers include McDonalds and 7-Eleven - he is the epitome of the power and influence achievable through the internet and social media. TIME Magazine, in 1996, described the Drudge Report as: "A ludicrous combination of gossip, political intrigue and extreme weather reports ... still put together mostly by the guy who started out as a convenience-store clerk."

Of course, that didn't stop TIME reporting on Drudge's revelation last week, even name-checking the "ludicrous ... convenience store clerk". 

And the circle of influence between CGM and mainstream media continues.