Former Bloomberg and Protocol reporter Joe Williams is not your typical pitch target. He does write a weekly Substack newsletter called Billable Hours, in which he writes about enterprise tech topics. But time has marched on…
When between jobs, otherwise inaccessible tech editors have the time to explain how they view their own work. When they do, tech PR must take note.
Protocol lasted nearly three years. Such a shame. It was a publication that absolutely, positively should have succeeded. Why didn’t it? The official explanation: economic headwinds. Other factors might have been at play.
One year ago Tom Krazit Tweeted: “…some personal/Protocol news: I’m now the Enterprise Editor for Protocol | Enterprise, overseeing coverage and planning for a big expansion. We are hiring for five (5!) new enterprise reporters to work with me and @JoePWilliams31…”
Each June we study Similarweb data to see which Tier 1 brands are on the march. This year, far and away, it’s Protocol and Fortune.
PR pros often wonder how to measure the influence of a particular publication. Similarweb measures audience size and that’s great. How do you measure a publication’s relationship with its readers?
Apart from the new targets, there’s much to grasp about Protocol’s new investments in enterprise tech edit. In the biggest picture, Protocol owner Axel Springer is investing in Protocol across the board.
As TechCrunch is to funding news and hot startups, Protocol is to enterprise computing. Last year you couldn’t say that, especially after go-to reporter Joe Williams departed for Bloomberg. This year you totally can. Protocol recently hired three enterprise reporters and seeks two more.
Protocol has not only hired a boatload of top journalists in its first 18 months, but also has recruited almost 200 contributors whose work appears in a thought leadership vertical called Braintrust. If you represent thought leaders, you’ll enjoy this Q&A with Protocol associate editor Kevin McAllister — your pitch contact — and Protocol president Tammy Wincup.
PR pros can learn a lot about Protocol Enterprise as a brand — and about the art of interviewing — by watching the Mar. 9 Protocol Live web event, in which senior Protocol reporters Tom Krazit and Joe Williams interview executives from Google and industrial IoT startup Webee.
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Bloomberg reporter Matthew Boyle Tweets: “Another hour lost to rooting around a startup’s ‘newsroom’ page, looking in vain through the fawning case studies and trite “thought leadership” blog posts for the name of an actual human media contact with an email address and (!) phone number.”
So 1/5 of The Verge and 1/5 of Vox, and the other titles, now belong to the publisher of Rolling Stone and Women’s Wear Daily. Interesting deal and a nice scoop from the NYT.
CNET insiders are leaking, helping Mia Sato deliver this powerful story, which alleges that CNET buckles to advertisers, and also, that editors knew about the unreliable AI-written copy, but owner Red Ventures made them use it anyway.
The latest from Futurism: ‘Leaked Messages Show How CNET’s Parent Company Really Sees AI-Generated Content…
They’re happy to spoonfeed you unlabeled AI garbage — but they’re terrified Google will take notice.’
Great scoop from the WSJ’s Alexandra Bruell (sub required).
Tweeted by Axios health tech reporter Erin Brodwin: “If you’re pitching me on a company’s credentials, no need to tell me how great the founding team is, where they’ve worked, etc. — I’ll find out. Tell me how they solve a problem, how they’re diff from rivals (and there are *always* rivals), how they track outcomes and get paid.”
AI won’t replace accountants, says ChatGPT, as published in Accounting Today.
