Laboratory Informatics Media Partners
Written by Gloria Metrick on . Published as written. It may not reflect how these systems work today.
As I occasionally like to do, today, I’m blogging based on some search terms that found my blog. Today, I combine two search phrases that brought readers to my blog. They are “what does a media partner do” and “what does it mean to be a media partner.” In the same set of search terms, someone searched for “gloria metrick smartlabs” and I’ll comment on that, as well.
Media Partner
Media partners are media outlets that form a partnership with some entity. For example, conferences in our laboratory informatics industry usually have media partners. The idea is that those media partners will help promote the conference and will probably get something in return, possibly more exposure to themselves.
This blog and my newsletter are “media” and I do sometimes use them to promote conferences with which I create a media partnership. When I do that, I state that that is the case, so that people know I have a vested interest in promoting those specific events. However, I should add that I only promote events that I truly believe in and have some previous link to (I mean that I don't want the event managers contacting me to promote their events in my blog because that's not how it works...).
One example would be the 2010 SmartLabs Exchange, where my blog was featured on their web-site and, in return, I promoted their conference in my blog. Being a member of the 2010 SmartLabs Exchange Advisory Board, I would have promoted the conference, regardless.
What is Media?
Yesterday, I happened to mention in this blog that many industry experts are creating their own media with which to share their knowledge with others and to promote their businesses. "Media" is what we use to communicate with multiple others. For example, if you write a note to someone, that's not usually what we'd call "media" but if you write it as an article to be published and shared with the public, then it would be "media." “Media” is no longer the formal thing it used to be where someone paid advertising dollars or waited for opportunities to be featured in a magazine or on television. Today, there are many opportunities to make our own media, through blogs, newsletters, YouTube and other such tools. It doesn’t improve the quality of the information readers get ("more" doesn't equal "better"), but it improves the ability of anyone who has something to say to get their words out into the world.
Gloria Metrick
GeoMetrick Enterprises
http://www.GeoMetrick.com/