Thanks for weighing in and for sharing the news about being asked to speak at the publishers’ conference about the CommsNetwork. Although we can make some assumptions regarding how
TCN and MyR will move communications forward as a profession, the short history of social media tells me that we’re in for some exciting and unexpected changes, as people find innovative ways to use these tools in ways that we aren’t anticipating today. Makes it exciting to go to work every day!

Thanks for the critique and for highlighting the differences between the two sites. And you are right, they are fundamentally different. As the two sites develop, these differences will become clearer.

I am in Washington for a publishers’ conference where one of the key themes has been: ‘What does social networking and user-generated content mean for paid content models?’ There are no clear-cut answers, but the disruption is significant and is causing a lot of people to figure out how these new free services can support and complement, rather than replace, existing paid services.

In fact, on the mere mention of having launched the CommsNetwork site last week, I have been roped into speaking about it at short notice. What’s it they say? In the world of the blind, the one-eyed man is king? Now I know what they mean.

And contrary to public perception, Ragan and Melcrum get along fine. I had drinks with the Ragan gang only yesterday and we can still all laugh about it. There may have been a little banter, but friendly rivalry for sure.

Robin.

I am very interested in checking out the “fun sister site” when it debuts; thanks for the advanced notice. The “Submit Your Own Feature section” sounds promising–so long as the topics and writing remain at a good level of quality. Nice idea for a social networking site!

Thanks for advising me about the audio/video chat. I tried to access it at work, and may have been blocked by the internal firewall.

You have found value in the ability to instant message anyone who is online. I can see that, although the couple of people whom I tried to IM on MyRagan ignored me. I can’t hold that against the site; my reputation must have preceded me (or they took a look at my picture on the profile page-yikes).

The statement that you and Melcrum serve different audiences will blur because of these sites. It isn’t only top-level communicators signing up on The Communicators’ Network, and MyRagan members represent every level of the communication profession. But while each site will serve an increasingly similar blended membership over time (my prediction), the members will spend their time on one or the other sites based on the value they receive and their attraction to each site.

You continue to develop MyRagan, and it shows–in the content and in the participation of your members. I don’t see that MyRagan is alone in seeing the “importance in empathy–in understanding the frustrations, the joys and the despair of our audience.” You will, as you said, do so with a flair for entertainment and irreverent copy that is part of the Ragan DNA.

For the reasons we’ve all stated, I’ll repeat my comment that I’ll continue to participate in both MyRagan and The Communicators’ Network. I believe that I will be better for it, and I do thank Ragan and Melcrum for launching these sites.

Mark, remind me to ask you something about that 4 a.m. IMing session with the PR pro from South Africa.

I agree largely with your conclusions, and I second the comment made by Dave Murray above.

Ragan is indeed “in your face”with content that we believe not only teaches but amuses, questions, ponders and sometimes condemns. As you pointed out to TCN users during its opening week, you prefer TCN because it is less “Las Vegas” than MyRagan. I guess that is an accurate statement.

In other words, we confess to a desire to entertain, to be fun and exciting–as well as informative. In fact, we get in trouble from time to time because we are the antithesis of mush-mouthed stategery-speak. And we put a lot of importance in empathy–in understanding the frustrations, the joys and the despair of our audience. And sometimes that lends itself to explosive and irreverant copy–and perhaps a showy persona.

Couple of other major points:

–AUdio/Video chat does work. I use it daily. Ask Murray. He often wakes to the sound of my voice and the sight of my bleary -eyed face in the morning. However the use of it is not intuitive, and that IS a problem.

–We haven’t announced upgrades but we have many coming down the road, including one that is so fun that I am tempted to mention it here (but won’t for competitive reasons). Let’s just say that you’ll know it when you see it. I’ll send you an e-mail when it debuts in two weeks (it’s actually more than an upgrade–it’s a sister site).

– Another upgrade that I can mention today is a Submit Your Own Feature section. Here readers can write their own stories and upload them onto the landing page. Of course, we will vet these piece to ensure quality. This should be live in a week or two.

– I am surprised you didn’t mention a huge difference between TCN and MyR: With MyRagan you can click on People Browse and see hundreds of faces of members, and you can Instant Message those people who are online. To me, this is the most exciting part of the site (though others would disagree.) A few weeks ago, I logged onto the site at 4 a.m. and had a great IM discussion with a PR professional from South Africa.

– Another big difference between Melcrum and Ragan is the content. We are not only providing a social networking site, we are offering stories, news and commentary every week, and much of this editorial mix is mulitmedia. Some of it is interesting video, and some is purely entertainment. For example, Ragan will carry a dozen or more video news stories beginning in mid-June on the Media Relations Summit in Washington D.C.

There is one other point that never really gets mentioned in discussions about Melcrum and Ragan; namely, we serve completely different audiences. Melrcum is a company that has carved out a niche in research and caters almost exclusively to internal communication directors and VPs.

Ragan’s audience runs the gamut from the entry level communication specialist at the church down the street to the VP of Corporate Communications at SouthWest Airlines; from the PR pro banging out press releases at a 500-employee company, to the director of NASDAQ’s internal comms department. We serve speechwriters, crisis communication specialists, public relations practitioners, web content developers, Intranet Managers, corporate writers and editors and even administrative assistants. So yes, it can get congested.

Thanks for the attention–and keep watch for that fun sister site, which will debut (with a little luck) by the end of the month.

Mark Ragan
CEO
Ragan Communications

You can meet a librarian in a barroom, but you can’t drink a beer in the library.

As any journalism student or practioneer should know, the taverns were (and maybe still are) the places where you learned what REALLY was happening. However, those librarians could teach a thing or two!