The Blog Council, a group of executives of major firms who get together to plot nefarious deeds how to maintain control of how the great unwashed public perceive their firms (and, by simple extension, their bosses), is undermining exploring the idea of honest interaction with their customers. What I don't get is: Why?!?
Are they afraid the truth may out? Or are they afraid some trade secrets may make their way to the Great Nebulii? (Aka the Internet.) That I can understand - and can only suggest that plain, old fashioned corporate policy works quite well. If they want to prevent secrets getting out - I wish them luck. They will, but what happens after that? I fear the Blog Council will look to the RIAA as a role model.
(Why announce a private organization? That bit I don't get.)
I found out about this abominable group on Valeria's blog. I'm rather glad she mentioned it!
Something else I discovered there, is that some people comment on RSS feeds. Why, I can only assume, but the technology apparently exists (why wouldn't it?) for readers to leave comments on things they see in their RSS feed. (Full disclosure: I have absolutely no idea if this blog has an RSS feed, or not. I've never set one up, but Google might have been "kind" enough to do the honors for me. And I don't read RSS feeds; although I do read Jessica's Google Feed. Some neat stuff appears there; and if I want to comment on it, I head over to the blog, and spout. Some people want to cut out the "head over to the blog" bit; c'est la vie.
My initial reaction was "good grief!" But I thought about it, and decided it was actually more like the newspaper - the reporter doesn't get a say in how we, the readers, perceive the story. We comment on it to our hearts' content, and the reporter is none the wiser. I mentioned this on Louis Gray's very interesting blog; he being the chap referenced, by Valeria, for this topic.
I see Windows XP users are lobbying for Microsoft to continue selling the product. Why, I have no idea. Well, I do - Vista is supposed to be quite awful, and not very compatible with the rest of the world. May I suggest that the frustrated XP users get a Mac, instead? (Somehow, I just know that comment will come back and bite me in the ass.) XP is a good OS - I was actually quite impressed with it. Vista? I can't even figure out which version I should buy. So I did buy a Mac. (Well, not really, but it sure makes for a good statement! :-) )
This Mac, on the other hand, seems to have suddenly developed a problem with its touchpad. The button isn't responding as it should be.
Sometimes it's easier, better and infinitely more satisfying to pick up the work of a poet, and read that. All these blogs, RSS feeds, OS diatribes and so on. At least with poetry, and even much prose, you either like it, or you don't. A good poet is certainly more romantic than any blogger I've come across. On the other hand, a good poet can be more romantic than a bottle of wine and a plate of oysters. :-)
Carolyn Ann
6 comments:
Well, thank you for calling a Director like me executive, Carolyn Ann. I think you are jumping to conclusions - I was asking to keep an open mind in my post, wasn't I? So far I participated in one session, and I found the group extremely helpful to me.
Day in day out, I get sales calls and solicitations from consultants, agencies and vendors to buy their solutions. Many of those vendors turn out to be most unhelpful.
This group is made up of professionals who face my same reality at work. They are working to engage with their companies in social media on behalf of customers and communities. I know I can learn a lot from them.
Okay, I'm going to try this again. I started sans coffee, and I really shouldn't do that.
Hi, Valeria! I feel quite honored - thank you for brightening my doorstep with your graceful presence! It's always a delightful occasion when you drop by. :-)
(I'd offer you a cup of tea, but virtual tea leaves [sic...] quite a bit to be desired...)
I well remember the problems with vendors, and consultants and so on. So many would tell me what my problems are, and that they have the perfect solution. Meanwhile, I'm sitting there wondering why I've never heard of the problem, if it's so dire to Western Civilization that I need to immediately implement their, often poorly thought out, solution.
And all those consultants! Oh, I do remember them - some were quite memorable, indeed!
It goes with the territory of management; it's also likely to be quite a crescendo at the moment. So many people have been laid off, outsourced and so on that they're simply seizing the moment, and doing what they want - start their own business, and see if they can realize the other side of the American Dream. Good luck to 'em! They need it.
Learning to filter these demands is a big part of learning to be an effective manager; may I suggest that coordinated responses are the antithesis of this idea? The "proposed" solution is ersatz, and quite worrying.
If so many are coordinated, even loosely, then how is the vendor or consultant with the really new and brazen idea going to get heard? It takes one manager to concede the floor, and this vibrant new idea gets its day in the spotlight. As I say, even with the loose collusion of a group such as this, the chance of the vendor being heard just dropped rather astonishingly. I've seen this principle at work, way too often.
While my concerns about this "Blog Council" are slightly ameliorated, they haven't gone. The name has a lot to do with it, and the coordination aspect. I worry when corporations get together to 'coordinate' and 'share'. To me, it's too much like collusion. It also means that individuals are less likely to make mistakes - which is not as good as might be supposed. Sharing solutions will allow corporations to short-circuit the learning that goes with venturing into the unknown; "do this", or "don't do that" becomes sinister when it's coordinated. (They also get to share "what works", which is even more worrying!)
I don't see it as a professional networking group, although that's probably what its ultimate purpose is; that's not made very clear.
The name does come across as a wanna-be legislative body; a group of companies - not individuals! - who want to ensure that they get to impose some standards, shape the message and so on? When does that start to impinge upon my freedom of expression? If I am critical of one company in this mysteriously named group - what are the implications? Will I not get work at another member company?
I don't think I need to point out that group members are likely to be bombarded with requests "to present to the group". A vendor will offer to pay for a nice place to meet, or suggest that they host your web server, or some other nicety that's a little hard to resist. It's likely that vendors and consultants will come to privately hate the group, while publicly applauding it.
So, while the group is undoubtedly just a networking group, it hasn't started off on the right foot. If it's to share "lessons learned", a more appropriate forum might be blogs and Internet forums; some sort of online magazine, if you will. A seemingly secretive group, composed of some fairly high-powered corporate names? Well, that carries its own baggage - but forgive me if I'm concerned about how it carries that baggage. I've been clobbered once or twice too often.
While I won't apologize for being acerbic, I'll definitely try to be more considerate toward any group you're in. I can't promise anything, though. I have a tendency to not care that much about annoying the groups I'm in!
Anyway, on a much more cheerful note: thank you for dropping by!
Carolyn Ann
Thank you for delving into the conversation further, Carolyn Ann. Part of my involvement anywhere comes with the encouragement - mine first and then of others - to listen with a critical thinking cap on. Perception is (in many cases or most) reality and in that case your feedback is valuable. Why take anything at face value unless the value is communicated and articulated clearly? That's where growth comes in - sometimes with sweat and tears as condiment ;-) And yes, the "lessons learned" is from mistakes. That's where we as humans (and companies, BTW) learn anyway. Glad to be here having this exchange.
Yes, your blog has a RSS feed, I read your post with it :) Interestingly it means that your blog is propagated in such a way you don't know, accurately, how many hits its getting - eg my blog has c16,000 to date, but these will be direct, ot secondary via RSS.
Erm, "Duh"
This was one of those "I never thought about it" things. Really.
That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it. For now. :-)
Thanks, Jessica!
Carolyn Ann
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