Fake blogs, bribing bloggers, and corp speak. Can companies think of any more ways to screw up their public image?

In an article in iMedia connection, B.L. Ochman, one of my fave PR bloggers, gives us an overview of the social media campaigns that failed, and the ones that didn’t.

She profiles campaigns by companies like Ford, Wal-Mart, Microsoft and Sony, that got brickbats from the blogosphere, and those by Dell, Netflix and Lego, that led the way to a more enlightened handling of social media campaigns.

Ultimately the message that comes through strongly is:

• Be Authentic
• Build a Community
• Think Out of the Box

Read her excellent analysis of What Kills a Social Media Campaign.

The funky guys at WebProNews have an interesting take on social marketing and your online reputation. They believe that

Social marketing is quickly becoming an integral part of generating business online. While search is the on-ramp, social networks are the destination. And just like any social setting, your rep is important.

Just in time for Mother’s Day, Jason Lee Miller writes, in his article titled, “Mom’s Guide To Social Marketing”, how following your mother’s advice can keep you out of hot water in the tricky, new Web 2.0 world.

Here’s Jason’s list of “Mom’s Top 10 Steps To A Good Online Reputation”, paraphrased for brevity.

1. Create visibility. Show up.

2. Don’t be a wallflower. Participate.

3. Do the work and keep your nose clean.

4. Use everything you’ve got, and then some more.

5. Understand your audience. Be interesting and linkable.

6. Keep your friends close.

7. Think before you speak. Words have a much longer lifespan (and greater reach) online.

8. Be real. Be authentic.

9. Mind your manners. Do unto others…

10. Stay on the ball. Stay updated.

And, last but not least, don’t forget to send your Mom that mother’s day gift.

It’s about time bloggers set a code of conduct, not only for writing, but also for tolerating what sort of comments they will tolerate on their blogs. Arecent New York Times’ article notes:

A few high-profile figures in high-tech are proposing a blogger code of conduct to clean up the quality of online discourse. Last week, Tim O’Reilly, a conference promoter and book publisher who is credited with coining the term Web 2.0, began working with Jimmy Wales, creator of the communal online encyclopedia Wikipedia, to create a set of guidelines to shape online discussion and debate. Chief among the recommendations is that bloggers consider banning anonymous comments left by visitors to their pages and be able to delete threatening or libelous comments without facing cries of censorship.

Having been at the receiving end of nasty comments myself, I think it’s is a good start to cleaning up the blogosphere. It’s not about restricting freedom of speech. It’s about making the blogosphere safer for people who want to express themselves freely without being subjected to cyber-bullying and hate attacks. Besides I believe that my blog is my home online. And it’s up to me to decide who I want to allow on my turf.

My personal policy for blogging and commenting is just that it should follow the rules of common human decency. I don’t mind the comments, just the sentiment behind them. I don’t write anything on my blogs that I would not say to someone in real life. Nor would I tolerate comments that I would not tolerate in actual conversation. And that is what blogs are - a conversation.

I do, however, make an exception for critical comments posted with good intention, and reply to these with like intention. Honest criticism is always welcome, because it’s what makes blogs so valuable as a medium for marketers to communicate with their audiences.

It’s the comments posted solely for the purpose of being nasty, that I delete, and advise you to delete them too. Not because I give a damn for what the “trolls” think, but because I simply choose not to allow negativity into my life. As the Blogger’s Code Of Conduct states,

We believe that feeding the trolls only encourages them — “I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it. (George Bernard Shaw)” Ignoring public attacks is often the best way to contain them.

The Blogger’s Code Of Conduct guidelines, that were based onTim O’Reilly’s post, are excellent and I agree with them, to a large extent.

1. We take responsibility for our own words and reserve the right to restrict comments on our blog that do not conform to basic civility standards.

2. We won’t say anything online that we wouldn’t say in person.

3. If tensions escalate, we will connect privately before we respond publicly.

4. When we believe someone is unfairly attacking another, we take action.

5. We do not allow anonymous comments.

6. We ignore the trolls.

7. We encourage blog hosts to enforce more vigorously their terms of service.

Another issue raised by the NYT article was that of vandalism and misuse of photos posted by well-read bloggers like Heather Armstrong. As a mother, I have (what I believe are) valid concerns for my family’s privacy. Because of the likelihood of photographs being copied and vandalised, morphed or misused, I avoid posting any that identify any member of my family clearly, and rarely share anything that’s very personal (except my opinions, and some travel photos) on my blogs. Email is, and will always be, my preferred medium for sharing personal photos. But that’s me.

I think it’s the well-read and/or controversial bloggers who are more likely to be targeted by vandals and cyber-bullies (Ah, the price of fame and book deals!). So the ordinary blogger, like you and me, will, hopefully, not have to worry about being targets, except for the occasional troll who wanders along.

The NYT article also mentions attempts to get bloggers to adhere more strictly to a journalistic code of conduct, which I believe, will go a long way in making blogs a more credible source of information and eliminate the objections that some critics have to the “dark side of blogs.”

Talk about creating several sets of guidelines for conduct and seals of approval represented by logos. For example, anonymous writing might be acceptable in one set; in another, it would be discouraged. Under a third set of guidelines, bloggers would pledge to get a second source for any gossip or breaking news they write about.

I think anonymous blogging might be valid in countries where political freedom is suppressed, or where certain views might be considered to go against religious sentiment. Bloggers weild wield a great deal of power in the wired world, and increasingly, in the mainstream media. It would be wise for the blogging community to remember that “with great power, comes great responsibility” and weild wield their pens with humility and respect for others.

Now will someone please come up with a solution to zap those spam comment posters?!!

If you want to learn more about how social media is going to influence the future of internet business, check out this podcast of Dave Fish, CEO of IMN, interviewing Paul Gillin, founding Editor-in-Chief at Tech Target, who is currently working on a book titled “The New Influencers: A Marketer’s Guide to Social Media.”

Some takeaways from the interview:

Small is the New Big (that’s the title of Seth Godin’s new book). The future of media is in small markets. Small communities, engaged people who are really interested and who want to interact with other people who have similar interests and those are very good people to get your message in front of.

Smart marketers will target communities either by demographics or by interest and identify the areas where they can reach those people. For example, MySpace is dominated by teenagers, and the MySpace model is going to be taken into many other smaller special interest communities in the coming years, and marketers should really be tuned into where that’s happening in their area.

It is important to be direct. Deception is considered uncool in blogging and in social networking. Fake blogs and false communities are bad for business. It’s better to be open about your commercial role as a sponsor rather than infiltrate a community under the guise of a participant. It’s best not to try to deceive people because once they find you out, your name will be mud forever.

There are communities developing in many B-to-B areas; marketing is one example. Companies are interacting with each other using social media tools, but they’re doing it out of public sight, through extranets and intranets.

Web 3.0 will be the Video Web. YouTube is the poster child in that area, but there are many other sites coming about. Web 4.0, or whatever follows the video, is going to be driven by this small community trend - a devolution of the MySpace model into hundreds of small, special-interest communities.

youtube; Myspace; social networking; web 2.0; web 2.0; Blogging; Marketing; social media; Blogs;

Adotas has a nice article by veteran PR executive,David Parmet, on why advertisers should bet their money on social media, as opposed to traditional media.

Besides the usual reason that the internet, and social media in particular, provide you with a targeted and engaged audience, one that you know is relevant and paying attention, he also discusses some interesting ways to pitch bloggers, and how you can support a traditional media campaign by targeted social media outreach.

Especially, if you have a limited advertising budget, you might want to try diving into social media to spread your message, he notes. Check out the article “Sock it to ˜Em Socially” here.

A new report “Retail Marketing: Driving Sales Through Consumer-Created Content,” released by JupiterResearch shows that blogs, wikis, forums sway consumer opinion. Content created through the voice of the consumer is reinventing advertising, notes the article on TechWeb.

The research found that:

• 77 percent of online shoppers read consumer product reviews and ratings.
• Viewers were increasingly loyal to stores that featured product feedback.
• 22 percent of online consumers who posted feedback on forums tend to purchase more online.

The JupiterResearch report finds user-generated reviews and ratings increase loyalty and purchased frequency and reduce returns for online retailers.

JupiterResearch views consumer-created content as user-generated feedback disseminated via blogs, reviews, user groups and forums and is posted in such a public way that it can be viewed and influenced by other consumers.

Recently published consumer-created content research includes:

– “Online Retail: Driving Sales Through Consumer-Created Content,” by Patti Freeman Evans, which found that 77 percent of online shoppers use consumer generated product reviews/ratings and those who find them useful are more loyal to stores with reviews/ratings featured.

– “Travel Consumer-Created Content” by Diane Clarkson discusses the growing influence of online reviews and recommendations and provides to travel websites on how they can employ them to enhance their relevancy.

– “Online Support Forums,” by Zachary McGeary, which reveals that consumers who post feedback on forums, positive or negative, spend 22 percent more online than do consumers who have not posted on forums.

– “Managing Word of Mouth Online, Leveraging Internal Resources,” by Emily Riley, which reveals that more than 90 percent of large companies believe that consumer recommendations are important in influencing other consumers’ purchase decisions.

Riley said word of mouth, defined as online conversations, between two people that know each other is the most trustworthy method to gain information, but it’s losing trust because many strangers are entering the conversation.

I’ve just reached home by the Central Railway, which fortunately was untouched by the serial blasts in trains on the Western Railway in Mumbai during peak hours. And yes, I’m safe and sound, but over 100 people who were killed and 300 injured weren’t as lucky.

I was in the Times of India building attending a Tai Chi class when we heard about the blasts. The phone lines were jammed and the only thing I could think of was getting in touch with my family to let them know I was safe.

I’d planned on staying over with a friend so I could avoid the trip home, but the phone lines were jammed. Because services had stopped on the Western Line I thought the commuters left stranded would make a beeline for the Central Line, so I decided to wait out the rush at the Cafe Coffee Day outlet opposite CST station. I learned later that there was no rush, as most commuters avoided the trains altogether, expecting more blasts.

As I sat at CCD waiting for my cappucino, I was shocked by the attitude of the staff, when they were unwilling to keep the television on so we could watch the news. Their argument was that people were gathering outside the cafe to watch and their “rules” did not “allow” them to let that happen.

I was almost yelling when I explained to them that at a time like this, no one gave a damn about their stupid rules and told them they were behaving like a government office. And what was wrong, I asked them, if people did gather outside to find out what was happening on a day like today?

Disgusted by my experience with CCD, I headed for the nearest Barista, where the atmosphere was definitely less elitist and I could watch the news in peace.

Just like adversity brings out the best (or worst) in people, disaster brings out the best or worst in a brand. If CCD were my brand, here’s what I would have done in a situation like this.

I would have opened up the cafe to the public, allow them to watch the news, charge their cellphones and even offered refreshments on the house. And I would give my managers a lesson in treating people more humanely.

It’s better to be kind than to be right, and if you want people to love your brand, a little charity in times like these would not be out of place. In fact, any smart business house would take this opportunity to display a little humanity and to show they have a heart.

But why target CCD alone? Although Mumbai is the country’s financial capital, with some of it’s richest and most influential citizens, the fat cats with their fat purses seem to lack basic charity at a time like this.

I mean, would it have be so hard for cellular service providers like to provide free SMS, calls and increase their capacity to transmit calls at a time like this? Reliance, Hutch, Airtel, are you listening?

It was good that the BEST came to the rescue of stranded commuters, but it would have taken very little for BPOs or other business houses to provide additional transport. Do they even care?

After today’s disaster, I truly believe that business leaders in Mumbai have very little heart, and even less desire to make a difference to the city that helps them thrive.

Shame on you, CCD! Shame on the business leaders who completely failed to demonstrate true leadership at a time like this.

And shame on the politicians who are more concerned about statues being defaced, and disrupting our lives with threats of protest if the culprits of the blasts are not caught. As if the harrassed citizens of Mumbai don’t have enough to deal with already!

In the midst of all this chaos and gloom, it’s still the ordinary citizens who are the biggest heroes, and Mumbai’s saviours. I salute them and all those brave and kind souls who stopped to help the dying and injured.

Too bad I can’t say the same for our business and political leaders.

Tags: mumbai blasts

There are 60 times more blogs than there were three years ago, says Technorati’s David Sifry as the latest “State of the Blogosphere” report upped the number to 35.3 million blogs.

Now you can read the latest gossip on your favourite celeb - straight from the horse’s mouth - because they’re blogging at Blogstar , a service that connects rich and famous stars with their fans worldwide using cellphones.

The service will soon feature celebrities like Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, blogging about their lifestyles using camera phones and post pictures, text and even video to their personalized mobile blogs hosted on Blogstar. Hey, if Pierce Brosnan starts blogging there, I might subscribe
Via Amit Agarwal

“Are men more RSS savvy?”, was the question that poped into my mind as I read in AdAge’s 2006 Interactive Fact Pack data that 78% of RSS feed users are male.

It also notes that 70 per cent of media & communications companies are going to include blogs and social networks into their marketing efforts whereas 35 per cent are likely to spend marketing budgets to develop in-house blogs. Google’s Blogger.com has been found to be the most popular tool used for blogging. Via AlooTechie and PRMachine

Forrester reports that just 1% of online households in North America use podcasts. And they strongly favor listening to existing content like Internet radio or broadcast radio, not necessarily new content. Researcher, Charlene Li, notes that content that already exists such as earning calls, training updates, and executive presentations are all excellent fodder for podcasts. But she also recommends that companies shouldn’t be dashing out to create expensive original content for a small audience unless they gain value from being seen as innovative.

Adam Schultz reports on PubCon, with blogging advice from Jeremy Zawodny, Matt Cutts and Robert Scoble , on how A-list bloggers manage blog, work and home life. Scoble confessed that his wife lets him know when he’s slacking around the house because of work or the blog by flaming him on her own blog. Well, angry wives, there’s another way to communicate with your spouse…

David Utter profiles the agony of the the high-profile blogger, for whom sometimes the prospect of posting an entry can cause personal misgivings. ‘Be smart’ applies all the time, to any of the corporate bloggers.

A number of prominent bloggers are retiring, to pursue other avenues, reports News.com, including blogging pioneers, Dave Winer and Dan Gillmor. Winer, who popularised RSS technology, indicated that he intends to free up time and become less of a public figure — temporarily. His new projects include getting the students and faculty blogging at Harvard University. Gillmor wrote that he’d be ending his San Francisco Bay Area-focused blog, Bayosphere, to explore new projects. Via Lockergnome

Blogging curbs corporate excesses, notes Joy McCann, because consumers have more power now — via the Web — than they ever did before. Keeping up with online chatter is becoming paramount for companies that want to remain profitable.

Companies like McDonald’s, lock manufacturer Kryptonite, and computer firm Dell have all fallen foul of internet buzz in recent years. Because search engines like Google can allow grassroots campaigns to become highly visible, industry insiders agree decisions can be shaped by a small number of activists.

Martin Lynch observes how bloggers are influencing buying choices as the ˜blogosphere’ becomes more important than traditional marketing. A report from Jupiter Research warns that marketers need to be aware of just how influential the opinions of certain blogs are and how fast they can circulate in the blogosphere.

Takeaway: If your customers are blogging about you, you need to participate in the conversation.

Blogging can be good for your career notes C|Net News and The Boston Globe, which carried articles on how a well-executed blog sets you apart as an expert in your field.

Can blogging make you a full-time income? MoneyControl India says it can and so sure are they that blogs are where the money is, that they’ve begun a new series on ‘Professional Blogging as a Career’, promising to reveal how to make money out of blogging. At the Wall Street journal, the debate is still on. Via Om Malik

Learn all about Del.icio.us , the free service where thousands of people store their bookmarks, enabling you to see what’s trendy and popular, in this post by Andy Wibbels, author of BlogWild!.

And finally, here’s an excellent list of the Top Bloggers Essential Research Tools compiled by B. L. Ochman, with whom I share a love for salsa dancing (besides blogging, of course).

Yes, they do, says Jim Edwards in his new article, The Dark Side Of Blogs, posted on his I Gotta Tell You Blog.

In many ways, I consider Jim my mentor. He’s the one responsible for my coming out with my own information product, for which he even wrote the foreword. But as a committed blogger (or blogger who should be committed, depending on your point of view), I disagree with him on the points he makes here. Here’s my take on Jim’s article.

With all the hoopla around blogs, people forget that blogs, by their very nature, represent opinions, and opinions don’t necessarily represent the facts.

Too many people take the written word as Gospel Truth. Its not! Remember that behind those words are people, and people, by nature are opinionated, judgemental and subjective. Use common sense to reach your own conclusions about what you read online… and off.

People can and do post whatever they want because no “hall monitor” can call them down for blatant intellectual hooliganism.

This is true to some extent. But remember that the internet is self-regulated. Calls for curbing the freedom to write what we wish have been roundly condemned, especially by bloggers who view regulation on blogs as a violation of their freedom of expression.

In fact, in some countries where freedom of expression is minimal or non-existent, blogs have provided an outlet for people to reach beyond their country’s borders and share their views with the rest of the world.

And then why single out blogs for being hotbeds of opinion? You can say the same about books, newspapers or any media you come across today.

This diversity of opinion is, in fact what makes the human race so fascinating. Imagine how boring it would be if everyone had the same opinion about everything! Indeed there would be no scientific progress, no new discoveries…

Significant progress in human society is made by people who think (and opine) differently, who don’t follow the herd. Differences in opinion should be appreciated, not condemned.

But make no mistake, every person publishing a blog with any level of readership (not junk blogs used for search engine promotion) takes a stance on the issues, whether political, social, religious or business.

Less scrupulous blog publishers often exploit the social and psychological power of blogs to spread disinformation (intentionally wrong information) to further their agenda. This tactic rates quite popular on political blogs and has started creeping into business blogs too.

Again this applies to any media. Do you think newspaper publishers, TV moghuls and radio producers, don’t have an agenda? Of course, they do! And that agenda is to attract more advertising. Anything that keeps advertisers away is silently censored or never aired at all. It’s all about the money, honey! You’d be naive to think otherwise.

If blog publishers have an agenda (which they clearly do, because that is the purpose of publishing a blog in the first place), at least most of them are upfront and open about it. And bloggers are the first ones to “out” any poser or fake blogs. In that case I believe they’re more well-regulated than mainstream media, don’t you think?

Jim does outline some valid guidelines you should follow when reading blogs. But I would extrapolate this to any other source of information (newspapers, TV, radio, books, seminars) as well.

1. What is my purpose in searching for information on this subject?
2. Is this a credible source of information?
3. What ulterior motive, conscious or otherwise, do they have in publishing this information?
4. What alternative sources of information can I find to confirm / dispute the information on this blog?

The blog publishing phenomenon is already forcing MSM (mainstream media) to take blogs and bloggers seriously. Bloggers have broken stories, covered disasters, been sued and lauded for publishing news that MSM wouldn’t touch.

If you think that blogs are scary, evil things that mislead innocent readers, then be afraid, be very afraid…

I was completely shocked by the images of death and destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. It was an eerie reminder of the Mumbai’s Terrible Tuesday, when we faced a communications meltdown for almost a week after the flooding.

Katrina’s destruction was on a much larger scale, no doubt, but what shocked me even more was the images that seemed to come out of some hellhole in Africa, were actually taken in the most developed nation in the world. As this post by a girl from India caught in the storm seems to note, Nature is truly the great leveller!

As a jazz lover, I feel a special connection to the Jazz capital of the USA, so it was upsetting to learn how many musicians were affected by the storm, including Fats Domino. It was good, however, to learn that the Indian government pledged 5 million dollars for Katrina relief operations.

Just as bloggers stepped in to fill the void in Mumbai, Wired compiled a list of the best online resources for information about hurricane relief efforts, and reported that

Local community websites have sprung into action to assist hurricane Katrina survivors with everything from blankets to offers of shelter in their homes.

With cell and land-line phones mostly down, the web has emerged as a champion amid the wreckage. E-mail, instant messenger and blogs have proven lifelines for communication.

Sites like craigslist allow people to meet up with victims for face-to-face aid. Craigslist users have flooded the New Orleans site with offers of shelter and comfort.

I just received this message from marketer, Ken McCarthy, who included a very useful list of places to focus relief and donation efforts for the victims of this tragedy.

The Reuters Foundation ‘Alertnet’ just has referred me to a very helpful resource for small business owners and entrepreneurs who want to provide help to hurricane survivors.

It’s a comprehensive web site that not only details what relief organizations are currently engaged in the Gulf coast region, but also describes the scope and scale of their activities.

InterAction Members Respond to the Victims of Hurricane Katrina

If you’re an online marketer, check out SystemFundraiser.com - a comprehensive source of fundraising advice for small business owners and entrepreneurs interested in helping hurricane relief efforts.

If you’re a blogger, webmaster or online publisher, you can also donate some of your ad inventory to the Red Cross so they can provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Click here to access the online banner codes to add to your website or blog.

More links:
Photos of the killer hurricane
Hurricane Katrina at Wikipedia.