We do our own finger-pointing around here
I think my greatest weakness in conjunction with blogging is probably writing pieces of epic proportions, instead of breaking down issues into smaller units. But alas, I promise to work on that and I’ll start with this post.
John Cass shares his thoughts regarding transparency and the blogger-reader relationship and points to a very interesting interview he recently conducted with a reader of Tim Jackson’s Masi Guy blog (Masi is a famous bicycle brand -just in case, like me, you’re not a cycling afficinado).
I’d like to quote a few of John’s insights here because I think he’s dead on:
If a company dares to be transparent, and even conduct self constructive-criticism in public, there are definite benefits to be gained. The success in blogging with Microsoft comes in part from being to talk about issues and problems warts and all.
Absolutely, and I think the level of participation in blogs such as McDonald’s Open for Discussion and Dell’s Direct2Dell is directly related to how they react to criticism. They are being held to the same standards you’d hold another person. Does X listen to me? Is he receptive to arguments? Can he deal with criticism or does he ignore it? Failing to perform favorably in this context has serious implications.
Scoble is special is this regard because it’s actually him voicing the criticism, instead of leaving that purely to the readers. By pre-empting criticism he has established himself as an unbiased and trustworthy expert. That kind of role is only open to those who have a special place in the corporate hierarchy, however. A CEO can probably not afford the same degree of candor – at least not without stepping on a few toes. But having an autonomous “evangelist” blogger in addition to other blogs authored by executives and subject-matter experts has numerous advantages anyway. Readers are more likely to accept criticism when it’s coming from someone who isn’t at the top of the company ladder and a diversity of perpectives is a good thing.
Masi Guy is an excellent example for the dynamicity of an open exchange among enthusiasts. A brand is what happens in people’s heads when they think about a company or product. If you read the Masi blog, you get a dynamic and evolving understanding of the Masi brand, that is, who builds these bikes, who buys them and what makes them special.
We don’t know if the relationship between the reader and the blogger has little effect on the relationship between customers and the company. To answer that question we’d have to ask the customer, or find some way to measure blog readers’ actions and compare the reader’s perception of the relationship they have with the blogger.
Precisely. Determining what readers think of a blogger and then examining whether or not a positive impression benefits the company is a difficult yet crucial task. Blogging is mostly a soft return activity, but that doesn’t mean we can’t (eventually) find a way of better describing its effects.
Once again, thanks for weighing in John!
