Chatter? There has been a roar!

When a PR agency is offering to deliver the blogisphere to client’s - bloggers must defend our own integrity.

I am troubled by the selection of bloggers who have an irrational distain for Microsoft and believe your agency will ask these bloggers for help on future campaigns.

It sounds like that is a sound policy to have in place, Mr. Edelman. And one I'm sure most companies would be smart to adopt; at least one similar to it.

However, in the world of consumer-generated content and supposedly encouraging corporations to interact with customers via social media, there is an expectation of a more free-flowing "conversation."

That's just a fallacy when a lot of PR is about trying to *control* the message, or at least attempting to steer it.

True social media does run counter to traditional PR. And, that is why there have been and is the potential for so many problems.

It's all just growing pains as a more forthright PR profession evolves.
Mike

Brave! This is the cost of being the first. I hope your view are right; for the future and the right evolution of Communication and PR.

Benito Castro. Seville, Spain

Richard, could you clarify your first point for me:
"Neither I nor other Edelman employees will post about programs when clients request that we stay clear."
Does that mean that your clients ultimately have the say-so on and determine your stakeholder relations/response?

Does this caveat imply that Edelman (the person & the co.) will engage with the blogosphere on your clients' terms, rather than on the blogosphere's terms which are, principally, all about openness and transparency?

This is the second time I comment on the same subject but I truly feel that the issue of transparency and openness is taking on a whole new dimension, scaring most of the Corporate World from the rewards to be reaped from Social Media. Edelman is once again in the limelight, for all the wrong reasons.

How can we disregard the investment made (not just financial) and the courage of Agencies like Edelman? Part in fault is the Agency and I’m pleased to see you Richard putting your foot down a little sturdier than before. It’s about time we stop questioning the wisdom of respecting our client’s option for the Agency to not respond or comment further on an issue. Edelman has after all a responsibility to its employees, their families, their partners, their suppliers and of course their clients. There should be no doubt as to that priority sometimes overriding that of the blogosphere. Much better to internally help the client understand and in the future ensure he get’s it 80% right.

Transparency and openness is NOT 100% transparency. If that was the case a large soda company would have a pretty hard time selling its “product” and explaining its added value to the consumer. Every time Edelman or any other company is bashed for its attempts to understand Social Media, we lose another potential client who doesn’t want to “box” let alone in this type of arena.

On a final note, we should have all learnt one lesson in our younger days: oh the power of hindsight. – how easy it is to criticise a campaign such as Vista/Edelman. It is in fact apparently harder to predict how some (in no way all) bloggers will wake up in the morning and whether they will contribute to the blogosphere in a positive way (not to be confused with positive for the brands in this case).

Disclaimer: I use Windows & Office XP and I don’t care much for Microsoft – but I do wake up in the morning and thank them for making my life that much easier (even with daily resets). I don’t know any one in Edelman but I feel sorry for Richard. Bashing Pioneers is always so sad to see, even if they don’t get it right all the time.