Category: Blogging

Edelman Disclosure of More Fake Wal-Mart Blogs

Shel Holtz mentioned this morning (and has blogged about) the disclosure of more fake blogs produced by Edelman for Wal-Mart. His closing comment:

I applaud Edelman for introducing transparency to these blogs (yes, of course, they should have featured such transparency from the get-go) while simultaneously questioning the wisdom of PR agency account members speaking for a client. I was just listening to Inside PR on my way home from an assignment last night. Terry Fallis and David Jones zeroed in on this very topic and both agreed that it is inappropriate for agency reps to act as spokespersons on the client’s behalf. Does a blog change that dynamic or is it no different than getting up and speaking for the client at a press conference?

I think the key difference is when a blog represents itself as being just “average people” instead of paid representatives. But I agree that Edelman was smart to reveal this now instead of waiting for one of the Wal-Mart opponent groups to dig it up (which would lead to Digging, too.)

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Southwest Airlines: Nuts about Blogging

Shel introduced Southwest Airlines as a “best practice” company when it comes to blogging, and Paula Berg’s presentation was a really helpful example of an official externally facing corporate blog. The blog has been an excellent way of getting feedback from customers (on the non-assigned seating policy, for instance.) Better than a focus group.

This does take time, however. The blog is moderated to screen out vulgar and obscene content, for Spam, and also they don’t allow customer service issues comments, because those issues are handled individually and receive an individual response. They have 20 bloggers who do two posts a month, and they have a day-long approval/editing process. Legal doesn’t review anything, but Paula does a report to management every week.

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Thursdays with Morri…

…and Corinne, and Norma, and Caitlin, and Tom, and Jen (help me out with the rest of the names, dudes.) Some of you have handwriting on the sign-up sheet that indicates you may have a future in medicine.

Morri is Morri Chowaiki from San Diego, and he is working on an interesting vitamin site. He mentioned that he’s been on the web ever since Al Gore invented the internet. He has some other interesting projects in the works, and I’ve got another suggestion for him: the Chowaiki Wiki.

Our Dine-Around session at A. SaBella’s was a good time for all, I think. We discussed our airline horror stories, children and the expectation thereof, and when ingestion of contaminated seafood makes it wise to seek immediate medical attention.

Thanks to all of you for your company and conversation. And thanks to Melissa and Amy for making the reservation and offering the opportunity.

Jeanette Gibson (Cisco) Presentation

Here is Cisco’s on-line press room.

Jeanette cited a September 2006 report about the influence of blogs on purchase decisions.

Cisco provides some corporate blogs with approval of the company. Otherwise people can go to Blogger or WordPress to do their own blogs. One example of their Cisco-hosted blogs is the one on High Tech Policy. They want to have at least 3-5 members of a team to ensure that the blog won’t die on the vine. Here is the complete list of Cisco blogs.

Event blogging is an interesting concept, which they have put up for two weeks around an event. The limited time frame is appealing to the legal group, and the blog is promoted at the event. I don’t know if I like this idea. It seems like an anti-Long Tail concept, if what goes up there disappears after just a couple of weeks.

Having a blog in the newsroom, on the other hand, seems like a great idea.

Jeanette’s Key Takeaways:

    Include blogs as part of your communications strategy
    Spread workload amongst a team
    Be ready to address risks – have your policy at hand
    Inform and involve your executive team
    Add RSS feeds
    Be yourself and have fun

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CENTCOM on Engaging the Blogosphere

Captain Anthony Deiss is the Electronic Media Engagement Officer for U.S. Central Command. CENTCOM doesn’t have a blog, but is engaging with bloggers to communicate.

He highlighted the Little Green Footballs site and its role in watching the media, both in the Reuters Photoshop controversy and the Green Helmet Guy story.

Capt. Davis went through the process his three-member team uses to identify receptive bloggers and approach them to consider adding links to the CENTCOM web site.

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