Coinbase CEO Actively Sidesteps “Mean” and “Snarky” Media

Brian Armstrong, the chief executive officer of Coinbase, gave a statement to the public. This statement was made directly to the public, as always. He explained that leaders of various companies are taking increasing steps in order to avoid mainstream journalists. The most popular method of doing so is by speaking directly to their audiences, using unmediated social media platforms.

Trend I'm noticing: most execs/CEOs don't want to speak with mainstream media as much as they did even a few years ago. Our customers are on YouTube/podcasts/social media – not reading mainstream media. And companies are able to control their own distribution channels.

— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) May 21, 2020

Going Public About Public Media

Armstrong, through a tweet he did on the 22nd of May, explained that these leaders’ customers are on social media, podcasts, and places like Youtube, not out and about reading mainstream media. With this, Armstrong stated that companies now hold the ability to control their own distribution channels, due to how the media landscape had evolved.

He went further, explaining that the modern media era allows the executives to say what’s on their minds directly to their customers. In the past, all these executives were given was one quote, or sometimes even an unbalanced, snarky, or even mean article about them.

The Mandatory Disclaimer

However, Armstrong was quick to try and mitigate the tone of his stance. He added the disclaimer that there are many journalists out there that operate on a very high standard of quality. Furthermore, he asserted that journalism, as a whole, serves an important role in modern society.

Even so, Armstrong reaffirmed his belief that the best strategy a company leader has, is to establish a relationship with three or five “traditional” journalists, ones that are “respected.” After that, Armstrong said, one should then spend the significant segment of one’s public time within the modern channels.

Gaining Significant Traction

As a reason, Armstrong cited that an appearance on a national TV program might net a hundred or so new visitors to a business leader’s website. By contrast, he could gain 10,000 hits if he operated through tech publications. This, in turn, suggests that Armstrong hasn’t given up on specialist reporters, at least not entirely.

The post Armstrong had made, had brought out responses from various executives of the crypto industry, each offering their own form of advice in navigating traditional media.

Catherine Coley stands as the CEO of Binance.US, gave her own opinion about the matter, in contrast. According to Coley, the press is an important facet, citing how important it is to reveal the news to the public through “amazing storytellers.” Highly flattering, but Binance is rather PR-capable, as is.