Mr. Transparency himself has resurfaced with a very good post Sunday about, among other things, PR/blogging/transparency.
Then, there’s the Friday post about PR and transparency by Daniel Bernstein of BitePR.
Of course, these follow on the heels of the great Wal-Mart/Edelman-blogger conversation in early March.
Though very much appreciated, the need for Pepper’s championing of transparency for PR dealing in social media is unfortunate. In the pursuit of work, money, fame, results, etc., basic moral and ethical standards can fall by the wayside.
(Image uploaded 03/22/06)
Transparency is essentially being straight-forward, open and honest in your dealings with others, bloggers and non-bloggers. Right?
But, when should you be transparent? Always?
Total — or too much — disclosure is not always called for.
As with traditional media, PR pros should be familiar with the blogs that are pertinent to their clients, particularly if they will be “pitched” to possible outlets for information.
Does that mean you only read the blogs you are exploring, and never comment and participate in discussions? We do, afterall, have interests outside of our work. If you comment, should you add an: “Oh, by the way, I might contact you later on behalf of a client to . . . . .”
No. Why should you if you are just exploring? You should still be honest and sincere, but you don’t need to say right off the bat why you started reading those blogs.
As a vague example, I’ve been exploring a certain niche of blogs on behalf of a client. Since January, I’ve regularly read about eight to a dozen blogs of interest. And, I’ve commented on many of them where I had $0.02 to say. Granted, I’ve commented with my Yahoo! e-mail and this blog, rather than my work e-mail and my employer’s site.
Has that been wrong? Have I been only translucent? Opague, even? Only time (and maybe the comments) will tell.
I’ll only contact a few of those blogs with what we have in mind for the project. When I do contact the few bloggers, I’ll be open, honest and upfront about why I’m contacting them — and use my work information, and fully disclose that I’ve been reading and/or commenting on their blogs, listing my own blog as a point of reference.
And, honestly, I do intend to continue to read at least some of the blogs after this project is over — for personal interests as well as professional ones.
There is such a thing as too much information. But, as long as you are always acting with integrity and honesty, then you are being transparent. Is that clear enough?
– Mike
P.S. I know that by not being black-and-white on the subject of transparency I’ve opened the door for some to rationalize actual dishonest behavior. But, very few things are as simple as black-and-white.
Technorati tags: transparency, PR, public relations, Jeremy Pepper
