DISQUS

Community Guy: Industry maturity brings different challenges

  • Colin McKay · 2 years ago
    Good points, Jake.

    But would you like to join me in my paranoia?

    http://canuckflack.com/2007/12/07/a-blog-counci...
  • Kevin Makice · 2 years ago
    Perhaps the collective reaction was a bit over the top, but you can at least understand the basis for that reaction: a basic distrust of the manipulative nature of corporate marketing. The assumption generated by announcing a cooperative, private council dedicated to sharing strategy and setting standards is that the outcome will be a collusive technique to persuade consumers that won't work if the consumer know about it. Even if that outcome proves to be something different, the blog council now has to reality of that perception.

    On the one hand, keeping the conversation protected from public scrutiny is wise - Dan Greenberg is the poster child for that argument. On the other hand, the fact that what Greenberg describes is possibly common practice is reason to be more transparent and authentic.

    Perhaps the biggest mistake is in announcing the council in the first place. What was to be gained from that unless the point was to make it transparent?
  • Jake McKee · 2 years ago
    Kevin- first off, thanks for the comment. But let me point out that, unfortunately, you've fallen victim to either incomplete attention to the details or have gotten suckered into the rumors going around. From their site:

    ---
    8. Are you trying to 'regulate' or 'police' the blogosphere?
    Absolutely not. The Blog Council is a peer community where we learn from each other. We have no intention of creating policy or regulating anyone. The opposite is actually the case ... we help companies learn to work with the existing standards of blog ethics set by the free and open blogosphere.
    ---

    So they're not trying to *define* standards, they're trying to *understand how to implement* them. This really isn't any different than the group of industry buddies I sometimes get together with to discuss my business, work/life balance, problem clients/vendors, etc.

    But as far as Dan Greenburg being an example... I'd wholeheartedly disagree. Dan is a shill, a hack, and borderline immoral. Whether he shared his tactics or not, they were out of line. Assuming that anything that goes on behind closed doors equates to "Dan Greenburgism"is far too cynical an approach to life, at least for me.

    Thanks again for the discussion!