In a world of Twitter, YouTube and instant upload it’s rare to not see coverage of something so huge as the killing of Osama Bin Laden have so few pictures. You could go so far to say that it’s a masterpiece in controlled communications.

What do we have? A video of Obama, US revelers and not much else. The rest is footage that people have long-seen and that serves to remind them of the activities of the deceased. Hats off. It’s a genius, controlled execution (excuse the pun) in response to a new, modern world. New footage is surfacing slowly but if you compare this to media surrounding Sadam Hussein’s death you see a very different use of the media. Less is most definitely more. Why?  Control.

In the aforementioned world of Twitter, YouTube and instant upload the larger networks seeking to cover the story have none so they use what little you put out. Nice. Also, you never know how the images and videos will travel, be mashed up and regurgitated (by either side) so put none out other than what you approve of et voila – on message, all of the time. Yet this non-visual strategy is not without a clear downside – the lack of “proof” does allow the possibility for the crackpots and the conspiracy theorists to have a field day.

Either way this is a great example of a highly controlled roll-out of news that could have gone horribly wrong (and quickly) considering the emotion from both sides.

Related articles:

• The World Responds to Osama Bin Laden’s Death (mashable.com)
• World reacts on Twitter to Osama Bin Laden’s death (news-briefs.ew.com)
• Online revelry at Osama bin Laden’s death (physorg.com)
• How Did You Hear About Osama Bin Laden’s Death? [POLL] (mashable.com)
• Osama bin Laden Has Been Killed; President Obama Announces Osama bin Laden has be Killed (sugarslam.com)
• Osama Bin Laden Dead – Top Search On Google (seroundtable.com)
• Follow live tweets about death of Osama bin Laden (pennlive.com)
• Some Thoughts on the death of Osama Bin Laden (discomaulvi.wordpress.com)

Been reading a lot (more) lately (likely to do with the iPad 2 I snagged myself from Curry’s on TC Road – top tip btw!) but a few things stuck out over the past few days that I recommend you read – lots of interesting stuff going on that will have ramifications down the lines…

Facebook sidesteps ‘the great wall’ in China by partnering with Baidu.

Interesting rift on whether the iPad will become the Sunday Paper.  Kind of is already for some…

Augmented Reality makes further steps to becoming really useful.

Analysts lining up to sign the praises of iPad 2 until 2015 it seems.

Facebook is pushing for more and more relevancy - changing page types is now possible.  Better for you, better for users – win!

Trade pubs are merging.

8-18 yos talk about their media habits – some will shock you.

More debate on UGC and copyright – this time it’s Twitpic.

New Photoshop apps could change everything for PR – is it not THE device to own if you’re a pro?

Most people are unaware of the CAP code yet it impacts everyone’s lives +5,000 times a day – they are a set of rules that advertising and marketing messages must adhere to and on March 1st it’s changing to include social media within it’s remit. Huzzah!  More to do!! Here’s what you need to know…

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I penned an article for PaidContent about the changing face of media in 2011 and beyond.

“The brutal truth, rightly or wrongly is this: consuming news remains laborious and a significant time/space commitment, whatever your age or situation.”

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Subtle branding, good narrative, soundtrack, “heart” and general ‘don’t dumb down’ look/feel.  Masterful.  Sure it’s not right for every brief but most could take a whopping few chapters from this book.  Kudos Intel. [via] Read the rest of this entry »