Scoble and Israel adamantly support blogging throughout the first eight chapters of their book Naked Conversations. Not until chapter nine do the authors provide a hint of blogging’s dark side. The authors assert that some companies and individuals should not blog due to the nature of their business. In fact, the first few paragraphs of the ninth chapter contradict the entire rest of the book. Perhaps the authors could have stated earlier that there are a few exceptions to the blogging rules. They claim that “certain material is not bloggable” (p. 137). Undoubtedly many companies deal with such material; therefore, those companies should not blog. Then the authors claim that there are companies for which blogging is not a necessity. I would have liked Scoble and Israel to elaborate on this point, instead of assigning only companies with so few customers to this category. Surely there are many more types of companies that do not need to blog. CVS, for example, has absolutely no need to blog, but serves thousands of customers daily throughout the country. What do the authors have to say about that?
Fear, uncertainty, and doubt exist as deterrents to blogging (p. 140). Blogs should not be used to disclose confidential information, of course, which eliminates several more companies from becoming part of the blogosphere.
The authors briefly discuss blogging-gone-bad type cases, including companies—such as Mazda—that were involved in deceiving their readers. Employees have also gotten fired for the content of their blogs. But the authors sugar-coat blogging when they claim, “The point is that the risk of employee misbehavior is so remote, based on what has actually occurred so far, that it seems safe to assume blogging’s benefits outweigh its risks” (p. 145). This weak argument makes little sense. How can past statistics accurately predict future behavior? According to what the authors have already said, one person is capable of leaking confidential information or making a single negative comment that could ruin a company. Shouldn’t, therefore, companies be extremely reluctant to let their employees blog if their demise is a possibility? The benefits of blogging are great, but the risks are great as well. While the risks may be outnumbered, they are certainly not outweighed.
Scoble and Israel discuss poor blogs—those that did not survive in the blogosphere due to their use of deception. The authors make a valid point: those who want to lie to their customers should not choose to do so through blogging. The deceit (and customer response) travels fast on the Internet, and one does not want to be branded as a liar forever.
Another major fault that may occur in blogging is prolonged silence. If an issue arises and a company does not respond to its public quickly, the company will not likely be well regarded by the public for some time. Attempting to hide information is equally detrimental to a company, considering the public will find out anyway.
The authors provide eleven tips for creating and keeping a blog. The importance they assign to the blog name surprised me at first. It does make a lot of sense, however. I didn’t stop to think that my blog might not show up on a Google search if I didn’t title it to match what I thought others would be searching. I would have thought more about my blog name had I read chapter 11 prior to beginning the blog (maybe it should have been called A Time To Blog About Blogging). The authors’ passion for linking becomes clear as well. They seem to be saying: Link to others and they will link to you. That way, everyone gets a little Google juice.
Responding quickly to questions and comments is highly recommended by the authors. In the blogosphere, there is really no excuse not to do this. Unlike writing, clearing, and releasing a press statement, blogging takes minutes. Even a post explaining that a company is acting upon an issue is enough to prove to the readers that their interests are a company priority and that the comments and questions from the readers are being heard. Ignoring one’s readers can certainly backfire.
For the sake of further exploring the validity of the authors’ thoughts, one might wonder how an author like Dan Gillmor would react to the statements made in Naked Conversations. My thought is that the authors would agree in many aspects, but Gillmor would not go so far as to write an entire book on blogging. Rather, he explores the changing era for all media and the effects technology has on the future of journalism. Gillmor offers a wide range of topics upon which to ponder, while Scoble and Israel become repetitive half-way through the book.
Putting Naked Conversations into motion…
Reflecting on a post from GigaOm.
Om Malik blogs about what he deems a mistake of a cell phone company and its offer of a cheaper plan with unlimited minutes. Om Malik argues that he ends up spending roughly $150 per month for the phone, overages, and extras anyway. Therefore, AT&T is just losing money by offering a $99 deal to customers. What an excellent example of a point discussed in Naked Conversations. Here’s a loyal customer calling the company he uses as a cell phone provider “dumb.” In this case, should AT&T link to his post on their blog? (They don’t have one.) According to Scoble and Israel, yes! The company should start a blog, link to the post, and offer up an explanation—something along the lines of how they intend to attract more customers and keep their loyal customers happy. After all, GigaOm is widely read on the blogosphere and people are going to start talking. Well, the post drew in 37 comments, most of which disagree with Om Malik. But the readers were civil and provided thoughtful explanations for their disagreement.
Obviously, Om is a well-liked blogger, since comments can be quite brutal.
