Media & Communications Corner: Channel the Information Deluge into Knowledge You Can Use

Feel like you're drowning in a flood of information? Join the club. More than ever before, we're incessantly being showered with information. It flows through our personal and professional lives, threatening to overwhelm our ability to access and evaluate. And it seems to be getting worse. In fact, there are entire companies and organizations whose sole mission is helping people keep their information organized and actionable.

Communications professionals are adding to this relentless torrent as they constantly put out messages about their firm, attorneys, and subjects their clients care about through stories, press releases, alerts, blogs, and tweets. Take press releases. They're a valuable source of information, and they can help you keep abreast of your competition, stay on top of industry news and spot trends that you can leverage to create your own buzz. But with so many swirling through cyberspace, how do you efficiently snare the valuable material? Fortunately, we can tap the same tools and skills we use to promote ideas to transform the glut of information into valuable, actionable knowledge and perhaps even competitive intelligence with only a modest investment of time or capital.

Here are some proven shortcuts that will help you channel the flood of information:

On the Trail of Big Law

If you're looking to keep abreast of Big Law, PinHawk http://www.pinhawk.com is a great solution. The company monitors thousands of Web pages, including worldwide and local news sources; corporate, law firm, and association sites; commentary and working papers from international banks and universities; federal, state, and local governments and blogs. For an annual subscription of $199, you will get a daily e-newsletter containing top-level links sorted into categories you've selected.

Across the Information Universe

Alternatively, if you invest a small amount of time to WatchThatPage http://www.watchthatpage.com, you can create your own newsletter customized with information vital to your clients, your business or even your hobbies, culled from the sources of your choice. This site watches any Internet page you select, from competitors, partners, online news and magazines, reports or events. The service is free, and it lets you decide how you'd like to be alerted to content changes. The information can be collected in one e-mail, or several sorted according to topic or importance, delivered daily or on weekdays of your choice.

Now that you're successfully monitoring press releases and relevant Web sites, you can move on to tracking the news. With so many sources of information, this can feel overwhelming. But remember that it's not the quantity of information that's important; it's the quality and how you use it. Thankfully, there are numerous online tools to help you focus, refine and filter information so you can best serve your clients, firm and attorneys.

Find, Sort and Send

Subscribing to RSS feeds by using a service such as Newz Crawler, http://www.newzcrawler.com, allows you to funnel news tailored to your needs to your in-box. One valuable feature of this service is that it will check for updates on pages of sites that do not provide their content in syndicate-able format, which includes most law firms' Web sites.

Simplify your efforts by creating smart folders that will search for news by specified criteria and keep it organized for you. You can then use the WYSIWYG editor to turn the information around perhaps in the form of a direct post to your blog or an e-mail to your clients, colleagues, or network.

Tweet Repeats

Twitter is one of the hottest communication sites because it allows you to tap into myriad conversations and follow news that you might otherwise miss. But the sheer volume of Twitter posts (called “tweets”) can quickly overwhelm even the most dedicated followers. Again, turn to tools to help. Tweetdeck http://www.tweetdeck.com beta is invaluable for managing Twitter feeds. By organizing your contacts into groups, you can quickly determine what's important as you keep an eye on top trends and build your network. Consider a three-pronged organizational approach: Set up one group for people you regularly converse with, another for people you're just getting to know, and one more for influencers you'd like to know better.

Suggest to your colleagues that they link up with coTweet https://CoTweet.com, which allows several people at the same firm to manage their Twitter business accounts together.
CoTweet allows people to communicate through Twitter accounts and stay in sync. TwitterFriends, http://twitterfriends.com, is another useful Twitter metrics tool. You can use it to find the hidden network of Twitter contacts that are relevant to you.

Likewise, Tweet Trending Stats, http://www.tweetstats.com, provides the day's Twitter Trend Cloud and lets you know what issues are triggering the most discussion. Another interesting way people are using Twitter is to follow journalists and publications looking to save time when gathering the news they need.

But Use Caution

The first reports of the terrorist massacre last November in Mumbai, India, came not from TV stations but from tweeting bystanders and witnesses. Information spread at lightning speed, but the unfiltered, chaotic reports turned out to be highly inaccurate. So if you're following newsmakers on Twitter, temper your craving for breaking news with caution. Touch base with a reliable source to verify what you've heard so you don't disseminate or react to potentially incorrect information.

Tap Your Network

Perhaps one of the most creative ways to manage “news” is by leveraging personal networks of trusted contacts on sites such as LinkedIn, MySpace or Facebook. You choose the right networks, they can help you indentify the information you really need, with little effort. LinkedIn and others can provide trusted sources of useful, timely and reliable news and information. Consider joining groups with passionate members who do lot of reading and news vetting that will save others the effort finding information. This aspect of social networking is priceless. As Twitter illustrates, social networks can also deliver potentially useful information faster than the traditional media.

Use LinkedIn's “status update” to keep your profile fresh and establish yourself as a go-getter and expert in specific areas. Answer others' questions and join in discussions. And use the site to find and get introduced to potential clients, service providers and subject experts.

Conclusion

With a small investment of time and effort, you can not only stem the flood of information constantly lapping at your door, but you can make it work for you. Turning the information overload into news you can leverage puts you where you need to be professionally: back in control.

Nicholas Gaffney, a member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, is a lawyer and former journalist. Nick manages Infinite Public Relations' San Francisco office and can be reached at [email protected] or 415-732-7801.

Feel like you're drowning in a flood of information? Join the club. More than ever before, we're incessantly being showered with information. It flows through our personal and professional lives, threatening to overwhelm our ability to access and evaluate. And it seems to be getting worse. In fact, there are entire companies and organizations whose sole mission is helping people keep their information organized and actionable.

Communications professionals are adding to this relentless torrent as they constantly put out messages about their firm, attorneys, and subjects their clients care about through stories, press releases, alerts, blogs, and tweets. Take press releases. They're a valuable source of information, and they can help you keep abreast of your competition, stay on top of industry news and spot trends that you can leverage to create your own buzz. But with so many swirling through cyberspace, how do you efficiently snare the valuable material? Fortunately, we can tap the same tools and skills we use to promote ideas to transform the glut of information into valuable, actionable knowledge and perhaps even competitive intelligence with only a modest investment of time or capital.

Here are some proven shortcuts that will help you channel the flood of information:

On the Trail of Big Law

If you're looking to keep abreast of Big Law, PinHawk http://www.pinhawk.com is a great solution. The company monitors thousands of Web pages, including worldwide and local news sources; corporate, law firm, and association sites; commentary and working papers from international banks and universities; federal, state, and local governments and blogs. For an annual subscription of $199, you will get a daily e-newsletter containing top-level links sorted into categories you've selected.

Across the Information Universe

Alternatively, if you invest a small amount of time to WatchThatPage http://www.watchthatpage.com, you can create your own newsletter customized with information vital to your clients, your business or even your hobbies, culled from the sources of your choice. This site watches any Internet page you select, from competitors, partners, online news and magazines, reports or events. The service is free, and it lets you decide how you'd like to be alerted to content changes. The information can be collected in one e-mail, or several sorted according to topic or importance, delivered daily or on weekdays of your choice.

Now that you're successfully monitoring press releases and relevant Web sites, you can move on to tracking the news. With so many sources of information, this can feel overwhelming. But remember that it's not the quantity of information that's important; it's the quality and how you use it. Thankfully, there are numerous online tools to help you focus, refine and filter information so you can best serve your clients, firm and attorneys.

Find, Sort and Send

Subscribing to RSS feeds by using a service such as Newz Crawler, http://www.newzcrawler.com, allows you to funnel news tailored to your needs to your in-box. One valuable feature of this service is that it will check for updates on pages of sites that do not provide their content in syndicate-able format, which includes most law firms' Web sites.

Simplify your efforts by creating smart folders that will search for news by specified criteria and keep it organized for you. You can then use the WYSIWYG editor to turn the information around perhaps in the form of a direct post to your blog or an e-mail to your clients, colleagues, or network.

Tweet Repeats

Twitter is one of the hottest communication sites because it allows you to tap into myriad conversations and follow news that you might otherwise miss. But the sheer volume of Twitter posts (called “tweets”) can quickly overwhelm even the most dedicated followers. Again, turn to tools to help. Tweetdeck http://www.tweetdeck.com beta is invaluable for managing Twitter feeds. By organizing your contacts into groups, you can quickly determine what's important as you keep an eye on top trends and build your network. Consider a three-pronged organizational approach: Set up one group for people you regularly converse with, another for people you're just getting to know, and one more for influencers you'd like to know better.

Suggest to your colleagues that they link up with coTweet https://CoTweet.com, which allows several people at the same firm to manage their Twitter business accounts together.
CoTweet allows people to communicate through Twitter accounts and stay in sync. TwitterFriends, http://twitterfriends.com, is another useful Twitter metrics tool. You can use it to find the hidden network of Twitter contacts that are relevant to you.

Likewise, Tweet Trending Stats, http://www.tweetstats.com, provides the day's Twitter Trend Cloud and lets you know what issues are triggering the most discussion. Another interesting way people are using Twitter is to follow journalists and publications looking to save time when gathering the news they need.

But Use Caution

The first reports of the terrorist massacre last November in Mumbai, India, came not from TV stations but from tweeting bystanders and witnesses. Information spread at lightning speed, but the unfiltered, chaotic reports turned out to be highly inaccurate. So if you're following newsmakers on Twitter, temper your craving for breaking news with caution. Touch base with a reliable source to verify what you've heard so you don't disseminate or react to potentially incorrect information.

Tap Your Network

Perhaps one of the most creative ways to manage “news” is by leveraging personal networks of trusted contacts on sites such as LinkedIn, MySpace or Facebook. You choose the right networks, they can help you indentify the information you really need, with little effort. LinkedIn and others can provide trusted sources of useful, timely and reliable news and information. Consider joining groups with passionate members who do lot of reading and news vetting that will save others the effort finding information. This aspect of social networking is priceless. As Twitter illustrates, social networks can also deliver potentially useful information faster than the traditional media.

Use LinkedIn's “status update” to keep your profile fresh and establish yourself as a go-getter and expert in specific areas. Answer others' questions and join in discussions. And use the site to find and get introduced to potential clients, service providers and subject experts.

Conclusion

With a small investment of time and effort, you can not only stem the flood of information constantly lapping at your door, but you can make it work for you. Turning the information overload into news you can leverage puts you where you need to be professionally: back in control.

Nicholas Gaffney, a member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, is a lawyer and former journalist. Nick manages Infinite Public Relations' San Francisco office and can be reached at [email protected] or 415-732-7801.