The online newsroom isn’t just for corporations; a New Communications Initiative report links to the newsroom of Greenpeace as a good example of how to make a successful social media newsroom. Greenpeace is a non-governmental organization known for their extreme measures to help save animals and the environment. Their newsroom is a great place for media representatives and publics to come to understand their organization and mission.
With only a glace the user will see their newsroom offers everything. The Greenpeace pressroom looks exactly like their Web site. The two sites are complementary of each other. In the newsroom, the viewer first sees the logo and how to donate or take action. Below this is the media center, numerous public relations contacts that have specified regions of expertise such as video or photos and are also organized by geographic region of the United States are listed with phone numbers and e-mail addresses. In the center of the page there are snippets from their latest press releases where there is an option to click, and read more. On the left side of the page they have links to Greenpeace news releases, press contacts, experts, pictures, reports, and a specified center for bloggers. There is also a box showcasing their Twitter feed and a corresponding link to follow them on Twitter. On her blog, Save the Media, Gina Chen talks about how when designing your company’s newsroom your first concern should be thinking about the web. Greenpeace’s newsroom is a prime example of this
The blogger center is the most interesting and innovative section. It perfectly illustrates the need for and attention to blogger relations in Web 2.0. Greenpeace wants to provide an area for people blogging about them. In the blogger center you can register your blog and see the latest stories, video, and images. Greenpeace understand that bloggers have become a huge influence. An article titled, How to Master Corporate Blogging stresses the importance of the blogger relating to the audience member and the corporate identity. The article also mentions that blogging is all about creating an identity and connecting. Greenpeace wants bloggers to relate and connect to their organization. According to a study from Arketi Group, blogs are not only important because consumers and other bloggers are reading them but also 72% of journalists are reading blogs and finding story ideas and facts from them. Blogging has become the new platform for news and information, Greenpeace is embracing this platform.
Kait Sutherland 