(UPDATED 1/19/2007 approx. 9 a.m.: Some quick reading and the lack of reading of comments on Paul McEnany’s post means I rushed to judgement below. I’ve since I apologized, left a main point, and one final one about how we at times treat others behind our keyboard.)
Original post:
The ease and quickness offered by self-publishing (that is, blogging) has been both a boom and the bane of existence for corporations.
There are plenty examples of corporations successfully reaching out to and working with bloggers.
Then, there are times when companies just hate the power that some bloggers seem to have. And, like most things, that power can be used for bad or good.
Let’s look at what I’d call the bad use of blogger power.
Paul McEnany/Hee-Haw Marketing made a trip to Dallas Kohl’s store around Christmas and found much of the store in disarray. And, from those photos, that store did look pretty bad – at that moment.
But, for all we know, that may have been an extremely busy day, and atypical for that Kohl’s or any Kohl’s store. So, did McEnany go back later to see if the mess was a one-day deal or a pattern?
It doesn’t look like it to me.
And, while he may have received some great traffic, Kohl’s got a bit of a black eye. All because of McEnany’s jumping to conclusions.
If you are going to blog, no matter what letter you are, you have a responsibility for fairness and accuracy. It’s your personal integrity on the line. Now, I’ve jumped to a false conclusion in the past — and I apologized for it. But, that was a one-time deal.
Has McEnany learned anything — even after being contacted by Kohl’s? (Granted, Kohl’s response was pretty routine and didn’t do any good.)
Let’s jump to San Francisco and KSFO’s run-in with a blogger called Spocko.
Spocko didn’t like what some of KSFO-AM’s local talk show hosts were saying on air. So, he used the power of blogging to post some clips on his blog, contacted advertisers and encouraged them to stop advertising on KSFO.
From what I read, the “extreme comments” made by the hosts were not a one-time thing. So, Spocko voiced concerns and objections. He not only wrote letters, but he used his blog to post proof.
He seems to have a legit argument. The radio show host’s comments are not one-time events — like it seems the Kohl’s incident was. (Or, at least, McEnany hasn’t shown any proof that the sloppy stores are a pattern.)
Blogging in and of itself is neither good nor bad. It’s the level of self-responsibility and the integrity of the blogger that makes it so.
And, corporations are just going to have to deal with it.
But, that’s another post topic.
– Mike
My wife found this cup (see left and below) and, after some ‘net research, the only conclusion is that it is a prop from one of the Indiana Jones movies. 
) is to have any credibility for advertisers, blog readers and others in promotion/marketing, it does need a reputation of transparency.