The Storage Anarchist asks if corporate blogs are just so much marketing collateral. Well, to me, I always take them with a grain of salt. And not just those that directly emanate from a corporate domain name, either. Remember that Mr. Burke works for EMC and has blogged much more favorably about that company’s recent announcements than the jaded industry insiders I talked to… And then there’s EMC’s new Oracle Storage Guy…
Let’s back up (metaphorically speaking)… I’ve been writing and speaking on the topic of enterprise storage for most of this decade, and I’ve learned a few things. First is that you always have to take the things that industry insiders say with a grain of salt. I’m really good friends with a lot of these guys, and am not trying to impugn their personal integrity. But when the existence of your paycheck, and thus your house, food, car, family, etc, hangs in the balance you tend not to shake the trees too hard.
Most people find an easy middle ground by simply easing off their invective on topics that will get them in trouble. Let’s say you worked for EMC and had your own blog. Would you go around saying that the DMX-4 announcment was unimpressive? Or if you worked for Hitachi, would you go out of your way to point out that thin provisioning isn’t widely available yet? No, you’d simply point out the parts of the announcements that you did approve of, and skip the rest.
The same happens in the analyst world. These guys are really good folks, but when the time comes to respond to a question about some newfangled technology which just happens to be from a client company, you’re going to figure out a way to phrase your answer positively. It’s cynical, and really not entirely truthful, to say they’re coin-operated. Really, they’re just non-stupid…
But folks outside the industry have to understand where their information is coming from. What’s the slant of the person talking to you? Are they trying to promote a product? A client? A service? Say what you want about Jon Toigo, but at least he’s just trying to promote himself…
Seriously, though, another thing I’ve learned is that all of these people wouldn’t exist without the end-user community. And they are the ones that really know what works and what doesn’t, a point I tried to make back in the August 2004 issue of Storage magazine… Oops, there I go, promoting myself!
Personally I don’t think it’s that bad a thing that bloggers who work for EMC (There’s a difference between those and EMC bloggers. Bloggers who work for EMC are more likely to be blasted by the company for one, I still have some buckshot in my behind from being shot by corporate), are exuberant about what they’ve been working on.
Known bias does add context to information. And if you read something written by someone who knows something about what it is you’re reading about and both they and you think it’s awesome afterwards, well then maybe it is actually awesome.
Or not.
I think you may have missed my point. I’m not really talking about censoring bloggers opinions and biases…
If you track back to my previous discussions on blogketing (entries 14, 15 & 17 on my blog at http://thestorageanarchist.com), you’ll see I’m really asking whether Corporate bloggers have the same truth-in-advertising responsibilities as the other more formal marketing communications vehicles, or can they get away with making misrepresentions and unverifiable assertions simply because they’re “blogging” and not “copy writing?”
Every Corporate Blog I’ve seen is governed by a Code of Conduct and/or a Business Conduct Guide, and in most cases, the CoC/BCG also applies to employees who blog outside the shadow of the corporate logo (EMC’s blogging policy indeed covers my blog).
It’s one thing for industry analysts to make outrageous assertions about a vendors’ products – it’s how they make a living. And if the vendor doesn’t like it, they have every right to persue correction or retraction (although this works better with some analysts than others).
But I think it is very different when a Corporate Blogger crosses over the line into the land of fiction or omission. In my book, if you couldn’t print the assertion in the front page of your company’s web site, it probably doesn’t belong in your blog.
Despite all the CoC/BCG’s, I’ve seen many misrepresentations posted as fact on corporate blogs. Some of these wouldn’t have been appropraite for even internal “Company Confidential” communications back in the pre-blog days. And I for one don’t think it’s right – I’m not sure what’s to be done about it, though…
Personally I don’t think it’s that bad a thing that bloggers who work for EMC (There’s a difference between those and EMC bloggers. Bloggers who work for EMC are more likely to be blasted by the company for one, I still have some buckshot in my behind from being shot by corporate), are exuberant about what they’ve been working on.
Known bias does add context to information. And if you read something written by someone who knows something about what it is you’re reading about and both they and you think it’s awesome afterwards, well then maybe it is actually awesome.
Or not.
I think you may have missed my point. I’m not really talking about censoring bloggers opinions and biases…
If you track back to my previous discussions on blogketing (entries 14, 15 & 17 on my blog at http://thestorageanarchist.com), you’ll see I’m really asking whether Corporate bloggers have the same truth-in-advertising responsibilities as the other more formal marketing communications vehicles, or can they get away with making misrepresentions and unverifiable assertions simply because they’re “blogging” and not “copy writing?”
Every Corporate Blog I’ve seen is governed by a Code of Conduct and/or a Business Conduct Guide, and in most cases, the CoC/BCG also applies to employees who blog outside the shadow of the corporate logo (EMC’s blogging policy indeed covers my blog).
It’s one thing for industry analysts to make outrageous assertions about a vendors’ products – it’s how they make a living. And if the vendor doesn’t like it, they have every right to persue correction or retraction (although this works better with some analysts than others).
But I think it is very different when a Corporate Blogger crosses over the line into the land of fiction or omission. In my book, if you couldn’t print the assertion in the front page of your company’s web site, it probably doesn’t belong in your blog.
Despite all the CoC/BCG’s, I’ve seen many misrepresentations posted as fact on corporate blogs. Some of these wouldn’t have been appropraite for even internal “Company Confidential” communications back in the pre-blog days. And I for one don’t think it’s right – I’m not sure what’s to be done about it, though…