Industry Watcher Takes a Look at the Massachusetts Tech Scene

A few weeks ago, I commented on the tech media drop-off in Massachusetts -- a decline that doesn't seem to align with promising developments around technology in this region.  Well, one of the industry-watchers keeping an eye trained on Boston just weighed in on the strength of the region's tech community.  In this article, Mashable spotlights 15 of the region's behind-the-scenes influencers and got their perspective on what makes Boston and surrounding communities a tech hot-bed.  The list is an impressive one, and while I don't disagree with their choices -- or with the thoughts these influencers shared on makes our region special -- I can think of may more folks who are contributing to our tech scene.  More than anything, I'm pleased to see yet another positive viewpoint on the innovation and entrepreneurship that continues to define the region.

Massachusetts Tech Sector is Looking Up -- But What About Tech Media

A few days ago, the Mass Technology Leadership Council released a “State of Technology” report benchmarking the tech sector’s impact on the Massachusetts economy – and the story was a positive one.  There was data detailing the jobs and wages created by tech – in that sector, in businesses technology helped to create (like clean energy and biopharma), in those industries increasingly enabled by technology (healthcare and financial services), and finally in those business that support tech companies (restaurants and delivery services).  There were anecdotes from those who are helping to advance the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship that makes the state a “global gateway” for tech companies. And there were snapshots of the Massachusetts firms creating the broad spectrum of technologies that are changing our world.

Fortune.com didn’t paint as positive a picture in their report on the technology community in Massachusetts that appeared a few weeks earlier.

Actually, there some commonalities. The MassTLC report emphasized the need to business, government and the state’s unmatched academic community to work together to help tech reach its potential and attract more companies and create more jobs in Massachusetts.   The report also show us how the state matched up against other tech hot-spots.

The Fortune.com article made an interesting point about some of the reasons behind the challenge they saw for Massachusetts as the state battles for tech leadership with other regions:  the dearth of local tech reporters.

As a PR professional who has worked with tech media for many years, I can understand this point.  There are clearly fewer tech publications based here and far fewer reporters assigned to cover technology.  Some of this can be traced to the media consolidation that is taking place industry-wide.

But as Fortune.com reporter Dan Primack points out:

 “TechCrunch does not have a single Boston-based reporter. Neither does Re/Code, Pando. The Verge, nor VentureBeat. And the same goes for more mainstream business outlets like The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg or Reuters. As for Fortune, I'm one of just two local reporters -- and neither of us primarily cover technology.”

There are some bright spots – and in some cases, the work being done today surpasses what we saw in the boom days for tech media in the region. 

Primack talks about the tech community in NY benefiting from the concentration of media in the Big Apple, and the positive buzz in Silicon Valley that results from that region’s “incestuous tech scene” which includes an unparalleled cluster of technology media.

In his conclusion, Primack suggests that if more tech reporters return to region, Massachusetts we would see a resurgence of tech industry activity.

Perhaps that’s true, but I believe that if the MassTLC report is on the mark – and I think it is – the tech media will return to the region because of what’s happening in a rejuvenated and increasing influential and impactful Massachusetts technology community.

A Promising Start to the New Year for Followers of Technology

I took a break from blogging over the holidays and now plan to go quiet for another few days while on vacation.  But one recent news item bears mention here -- a Boston Globe report on the nearly $1 billion in venture capital Massachusetts received in 2013.  As a communications professional who stumbled into the technology world many years ago, this is welcome news as we look ahead to 2014.  I feel fortunate to live and work in a region where so much of the technology that impacts our lives today is created -- technology that designs the products we use, enables us to better communicate with one another, entertains us when we're bored, informs us when we're curious, aids us when we're sick.  Now its true we're not alone as a technology hub, but no other region has the history and the resilience that our state can claim.  I look forward to continuing to tell those stories of those companies that make up the Massachusetts tech community.  And there will be many stories -- as this Globe story reports, while this level of investment made for a positive 2013, technology companies have a lot to look forward to in the year ahead.

Even on Vacation, There's No Escaping the Media....and That's A Good Thing

I'm just a few hours away from the first vacation in years that'll take us outside the US (assuming Key West and the Conch Republic don't qualify as foreign lands...some might disagree).  And for the first time, I'm not packing my laptop (I'm even leaving the tablet behind).  Nonetheless, I feel as connected as ever -- thanks to a smartphone with access to the Internet.  With email, Facebook, Twitter, chat groups, and my favorite blogs, websites and newsfeeds, I'll be as connected to my family, friends and colleagues as  if I were in my living room.  And through those family, friends and colleagues, I'm far more connected to happenings around the world than the days when we were solely dependent on traditional media.  I'll learn of breaking news via Twitter and Facebook.  I'll see insights and opinions on these developments from those I follow.  And I'll still be able to turn to the traditional media's websites to learn even more about what's happening -- in my hometown, with my sports team, with the businesses I'm interested in.  It's another example -- one we're all very familiar with -- of how media has evolved.  There are those who view vacation as an opportunity to step away from work, from day-to-day life back home.  That's not so easy today...and I'm not unhappy about this.  Now, I enjoy a vacation with the best of them, but I welcome the fact that  I have this connection to work and home.  Instead of  sitting in my hotel room searching for CNN or looking for a day-old USA Today at an airport newsstand, all the media I want and need will be in the palm of my hand.

Kennedy Assassination: Turning Point for Our Nation...and the Media

This week marks the 50 anniversary of the Kennedy assassination, and while this -- along with JFK's meteoric rise to the Presidency -- had a tremendous impact on our nation, there's one aspect to this chapter in US history that bears a closer look.  We'll likely never forget the role of media -- how it changed that week in November 1963 and how it has evolved since then.  Kennedy had already been part of a turning point for the media with the televised Presidential debates, which played a huge part in his victory over Richard Nixon.  But in 1963, we saw viewers waiting by their televisions for an update after news of the shooting spread across the country.  We saw Walter Cronkite delivering this news, a moment that established him as the nation's preeminent face of the media -- and TV as its powerful new delivery vehicle.  And many watched live on TV as Kennedy's assassin was himself shot and killed.  Until that time, one might argue we were still primarily dependent on newspapers -- and the Boston Globe is recalling those days this week with reprints of the front pages around the Kennedy assassination.  Today, network news and their anchors don't carry the weight that Cronkite did in the aftermath of November 1963, and newspapers are struggling to survive.  Today, we'd be more likely to learn about events like this on Twitter or Facebook -- from citizen journalists rather than the professionals.  I hope there's room for both traditional media and social media...and whatever comes next.  And I wonder what the media landscape will look like in 2063, when we reflect one of this year's watershed media moments -- the Boston Marathon bombing -- and Twitter's role in days reporting on unfolding developments.  One thing is certain -- there will be changes, and that's what makes watching the media's evolution so interesting.

Selfies (2013 "Word of the Year") Expand Our View of the World

"Selfie" was just announced by Oxford Dictionaries as their word of the year for 2013, and it's a significant one for followers of the media.  Years ago, we began to hear the term self-publishing tossed about, and since that time it's far more prevelant in our lives.  Where once we were dependent upon traditional media for news updates, today blogs, tweets, Facebook posts and other forms of social media -- including selfies shared online -- are a way we learn about happenings not only in our families, but in our hometowns and around the world.  I'm still a believer in traditional media and the advantage of having the perspective of media professionals -- international correspodents, investigative reporters, colmunists, etc. -- and that goes for professional news photographers as well.  But selfies -- like other forms of self-publishing -- add an exciting new dimension to our view of the world.  Check out this link that reimagines famous photos as selfies -- it makes you wonder what scenes we would have witnessed if selfies were possible in decades past. 

Guiding and Protecting: PR and a Coastal Landmark Have Something in Common

There's a special place in my new hometown of Gloucester, Massachusetts, that has meaning for the work I do in communications and public relations.

The historic Dog Bar breakwater is a particularly long jetty -- 2,250 feet -- the extends into Gloucester Harbor.  For more than 100 years, the Dog Bar and its beacons have protected and guided -- protected the boats and business in and along Gloucester Harbor from storm surges and pounding waves, and guided ships passing by the rocky coastline and into our busy port.

Guiding and protecting is a important part of work done by PR and communications professionals.

We guide companies, organizations and individuals through the increasingly complex and evolving world of the media -- traditional and social, online and print, self-published and reported, earned and owned.  We guide them toward the tools, technologies and strategies to deliver their stories through this world -- much like the captains deliver the cargo and passengers aboard their ships.

And we protect those companies, organizations and individuals from potential hazards -- from misdirected messages or from adversaries who might attempt to use the media to attack.

Now, there's much more communications and PR professionals do -- and many other analogies we could use to describe our work.  But for me, this Gloucester landmark is an apt reflection -- and it's a beautiful spot to visit next time you visit our area (if you do come, let me know -- I'll bring you to the Dog Bar myself).