Andrew Lark

Blog Censorship...

The Blog censorship raises its ugly head not once but twice today.

First, from GMSV, the US military is clamping down on bloggers requiring that superiors approve of Blog posts. There are a large portion of US employers that require this if the blog is on company time and about company matters. This clearly doesn't work for the Military who have a far broader reach.

"This is the final nail in the coffin for combat blogging. No more military bloggers writing about their experiences in the combat zone. This is the best PR the military has -- its most honest voice out of the war zone. And it's being silenced." -- Retired paratrooper Matthew Burden, editor of The Blog of War anthology, on a new Army directive requiring soldiers to submit the contents of blog posts, message board comments and e-mail to their superior officer for a security review.

I read a few of these blogs and have been surprised that they have been able to post so freely. But then, isn't free speech one of the things we are fighting for?

Second, Digg removes posts with code in order to avoid legal action - and then says they'll stop doing that and bear the consequences. Some call this move to keep the site up an act of commercial imperative over community responsibility. I call it commonsense expediency. The notion that bloggers can post whatever they like, anytime they like, is nonsense.

In a post, founder Kevin Rose published the key himself and said: "We've always given site moderation (digging/burying) power to the community. Occasionally we step in to remove stories that violate our terms of use (eg. linking to pornography, illegal downloads, racial hate sites, etc.). So today was a difficult day for us. We had to decide whether to remove stories containing a single code based on a cease and desist declaration. We had to make a call, and in our desire to avoid a scenario where Digg would be interrupted or shut down, we decided to comply and remove the stories with the code. But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you've made it clear. You'd rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won't delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be. If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying."

Ray Is Wrong...

Sometimes the V in VC stands for vested. As in vested interest. For this reason, Ray Lane's comments on press releases aren't that surprising. In this BusinessWeek interview, Ray Lane of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers calls standard media and press releases "a waste of time." Instead, they should use "blogs and wikis and podcasts and videos." Ray says:

What's going to happen is, employees are going to start podcasting and blogging about what's really going on in the company. It's going to cause huge legal concerns on the company's part. But companies are not going to be able to stop it. Outside the company, you can't tell people not to talk about their products. We're not China. We can't shut it down.

The reality of how employees feel, and the reality of how customers and partners get information about your company, are going to change in the next five years from standard media and press releases - which are a waste of time now - to these other methods like blogs and wikis and podcasts and videos

He's right that companies should be using blogs, wikis and podcasts. He's wrong that press releases are a waste of time. In fact, they remain hugely valuable. That I place would place more credence on the drivel pouring out of most corporations whether in a blog or a press release is just misfounded. What is needed is better, clearer, more compelling communications - period. Whether a press release, podcast or blog - I really don't mind. What I would prefer, personally, is short blogs and podcasts on the corporate narrative - and I want a press release for all formal communications.

Ray's argument is also founded on a pretty major assumption - that employees will blog about "what is really going on" inside a company. Really? Not too sure about that Ray. First, they've got jobs that come with a fiduciary responsibility. Break that and they are out the door. Last time I looked, mortgage payments trump blogging on the list of things they are worried about.

Dana makes a point that I agree with - it would be terrific to hear directly from leading lights like Steve Jobs. I want to hear more from the thought-leaders and innovators. I don't need to hear from everyone - I'd love to here more from the people that matter.

Technorati : PR, Press Releases

The Power Of Recommendation...

Sun CEO Schwartz points to a terrific move they are making:

"Which is why you'll see something very interesting next week start to appear on Sun's web pages and throughout our our on-line store. You'll start to see product reviews written by users. You'll see user defined ratings, right on our products. Just like book or product reviews as Amazon.com..."

They are starting with a few products and going from there. Brilliant!

This got me thinking about the need for a system for recommenders to be authenticated. Some kind of opt-in registry so those of us reading the reviews get even more transparency into who is recommending. As much as I would like it though, I'm not sure it is needed.

The very act of participating and the inherent transparency of the act turns blogs and the web into one big "transparency engine". Sunlight is indeed the best disinfectant.

Technorati : PR, Sun

When Employees Blog...

Interesting look at the ethical issues associated with employees blogging... Brad Rawlins also has some interesting research looking at how much attention stakeholders deserve. More to come...

Edelman Gobbles Up A&R Partners

A&R are one of the most highly regarded independent PR agencies in the Valley. At least one part of that statement stands, but not the independent bit. Edelman is the new owner, completing a much needed strengthening their tech capabilities that makes them a real force now in the Nth American tech market. Bizarrely the story is running on PRWeek and on Steve's blog, nothing on Edelman or A&R.

Edelman's tech footprint also includes Zeno with long-term clients like Oracle. So it's now Next Fifteen with brands like Bite, Outcast and Text 100 pitted against Edelman with Zeno and A&R. Are we looking at the two break-away holding company brands in tech worldwide?

While Edelman will have to deal with the inevitable integration issues that come with any merger(retaining clients and staff, and dealing with conflicts - the big three), what it looks like they are going to do is similar to Next Fifteen - that is, keep the brands independent and fuel their growth. Merging Edelman's tech group into A&R solves another issue - the conflict with Microsoft.

More than anything though, this looks to be about fueling growth through talent acquisition. I meet with plenty of agency heads and they are all saying the same thing. Can't find great talent, can barely find good talent. This is a talent starved market.

Good move by Edelman.

Shai on Community...

Great quote (thanks for the pointer Ross!) on the power of community - not just to build momentum but also lower operating costs and improve customer experience. Shai is talking about their Software Developer Network:

"...500,000 visitors per month. Aggregation of knowledge that is second to none. slashdot for SAP. SIs in India are hiring them 500 people at a time and saying for their first three months they are supposed to participate in SDN. Aggregation and knowledge and self-categorization has created an environment where you know the guy who is giving advice may have a point ranking that shows they don't have a life, but a lot of knowledge. We are contributing perhaps 20% of the content. Average time from Q&A is less than 30 minutes, I wish our support channels were that effective."

Taking Time

One of the side benefits of a good blog reader and sites like popurls is they introduce you to material you might not have bumped into. Some are just good refreshers - like this piece today on Flow. Others flag tips and techniques that are worth remembering or implementing - like this one on time mapping. Articles like this remind me why it is worth taking time each day for a stroll through the blogosphere.

Marketers Not Rushing To Blog

A new report from Forrester suggests marketers are not rushing to blogs and the like, preferring to stick with more traditional forms of interactive:

Mobile, RSS and advergaming may get lots of media attention, but many marketers are looking the other way. A new Forrester Research report shows that a wide spectrum of interactive marketers is continuing to bank on proven methods such as e-mail and search, and experiment with rich media and new forms of targeting. Yet most are hesitant to try RSS, blogs, social networking, mobile and in-game ads. - ClickZ News

I'm driving more into blogs, wikis, and search than I ever expected. Executing comes with a mountain of challenges - the greatest of which is getting broad organizational engagement in participatory mediums. Thanks to Steve for the pointer...

Cingularly Bizzare

According to AdAge, the Cingular name will be dropped in 2007 in favor of, wait for it, AT&T Wireless. It was totally baffling to me when they dropped SBC - which resonated as a more contemporary brand than AT&T. But dumping the Cingular brand just strikes me as nuts! So, you build a brand that is a magnet for youth; reflects hi-tech, and attracts a real market - and then you kill it. This pretty much says it:

Karl Barnhart, managing director, CoreBrand, New York, a former AT&T agency, agreed that changing the Cingular name "doesn't make sense." Cingular's brand is "relevant for the younger audience; it's a fun, hip, interesting, dynamic -- everything you don't think about AT&T."

I get that if they start doing bundling then then a core brand for all services might resonate. Frankly, I am more likely to buy that brand from Cingular who I don't associate with slow moving service and years gone by. They should take every dollar they might have spent on this brand transition and put it towards getting consistent billing systems in place, launching new VOIP services and driving the cost of DSL down.

Participation Power Laws

Ross has a fascinating post on Participation Power Laws - along with an interesting diagram. What Ross is getting at is what so many companies miss in creating blogs. It isn't about the posts and publishing as much as it is about engagement with the community.

When users participate in high enagement activities, connecting with one another, a different kind of value is being created. But my core point isn't just the difference between these forms of group intelligence -- but actually how the co-exist in the best communities.