infOpinions? del.icio.us links for 2006-03-07

Still experiencing some quirks with del.icio.us automatic blog posts. Anyone know if there is any development going on to improve the feature at del.icio.us?

At any rate, here are some new links.

Coincidently, after yesterday’s post, there is news about other Edelman blogging activities. The NYTimes ran a story I only saw after the post about Rubel’s posting activities.

The Times story raises some interesting questions about how PR firms should deal with the bloggers they pitch. The difficulty here is, after you pitch and provide information - no matter what you ask the bloggers to do re: transparency - you have no control over the results.

So, this NYTimes story highlights some of the pitfalls of blogger relations. I imagine this is only the beginning of the stories we will see - on a number of companies - re: their blogger relations efforts.

• Wal-Mart (NYTimes Story) Enlists Bloggers in Its P.R. Campaign - New York Times

  The unfortunate part of this story: “But Mr. Manson has not encouraged bloggers to reveal that they communicate with Wal-Mart or to attribute information to either the retailer or Edelman, Ms. Williams of Wal-Mart said.”

  The article does state: “Wal-Mart has warned bloggers against lifting text from the e-mail it sends them. After apparently noticing the practice, Mr. Manson asked them to ‘resist the urge,”‘ because ‘I’d be sick if someone ripped you because they noticed a couple of bloggers with nearly identical posts.’”

  Is that the reason to be concerned about posting without attribution - for fear of being caught? Or, is the more salient point to ask that the bloggers openly state that this is part of a reputation management strategy? or where they got the info and why it was shared?

  These are enthusiastic bloggers. They want to be evangelists for Wal-Mart. So, will they even see it that way? Will they see it as encumbent upon themselves to be transparent about where the info comes from and the purpose of the blogger relations program? I doubt it, in all cases. Some will, some won’t.

  Ultimately, the question comes down to, “Where does the responsibility for transparency fall here?” How far should the PR firm go to try and assure that transparency be adhered to in a blogger relations program? (Rhetorical questions, for the most part, but I’d like to see your opinions on the subject.)

  Bloggers may have “no rules” or “different rules” - but, that does not mean the PR firms should foresake the traditional best practices of assuring transparency. Ultimately, if they do, stories like this - uncovering unfortunate lapses in practice - will serve to undermine the value of the programs.

  Mr. Manson is identified as “Marshall Manson, a senior account supervisor at Edelman who writes for conservative Web sites like Human Events Online, which advocates limited government, and Confirm Them, which has pushed for the confirmation of President Bush’s judicial nominees.”

  Hat tip to Josh Hallett for pointing out the link.

  (tags: Walmart blogging blogs transparency)

Other Links:

• Talkshop
• IABC Measurement Commons
• IABC Communication Commons
• WordPress Randomized Blogroll Plugin | Gerd Riesselmann: Notes From the Bog
• Here at WCER
• RSS Pundit: When Opposites Attract–Ten Interesting Public Relations Blogs
• Nonprofit Blog Exchange | NetSquared