Blogging, where the tire meets the road, where marketing meets reality
This is so awesome. Robert Scoble just
one (gota' love those grammer mistakes) won points with me. He clearly gets it. He sooo.. gets it, and demonstrates for me anyway, why blogging rocks. There is no room for B.S. In the following post he rips a new one for some stupid marketing people who clearly have no clue about why blogs are effective. Here's the catch, it's people who work for his own employer, Microsoft.
Most bloggers would be fired for such TRUTH. Most people and indeed most corporations completely misunderstand. Blogging is conversation. There is no room for BS. Truth is king. Scoble has turned a major, major mistake, a waste of a lot of money, into a valuable lesson. He gains credibility, he makes Microsoft seem more humane, he teaches a lesson not only to these marketing personnel, but something the entire company can learn something from, and for those of us who would read it... a lesson we can pass along to those we would work with.
Some points:
a) don't be fake, people don't respond to marketing BS, they respond to real people who they can trust to respond to their questions
b) technical points are all important, permalinks and RSS are KEY, you must give people different ways to read, link to and quote your blog
c) it takes time and honesty to build a reputation and following - The "build it and they will come" website went out of stile somewhere in 1998/99. If you want traffic and you want respect you've got to EARN IT.
d) transparency, transparency, transparency - Do not try to control content to increase stickiness by locking everything into your site, DONOT bury words and content in non-bookmark-able, non-quotable Flash media, DONOT bury content in non-downloadable streaming only video. Do not embed links to video content in pop out windows, lengthy Javascript calls, or absurd HTML code. If you're going to embed a video for playback in the page provide a link for direct referencing and quoting of content. If you lock everything down, you don't increase stickiness, you ensure no-one will bother referencing you. Such BS is the misinterpretation of stickiness. The reality of stickiness is good personality, trust, make meaning, be original, have original and unique thoughts and perspectives, create space for and participate in debate and conversation. Make meaning! Meaningful connections are the only reason why people come back. I don't care if you've got porn, if you don't make meaning you've got nothing.
I really, really wish Robert Scoble would go over and bitch slap those dumb ass idiots at
Sundance, they sure don't have a clue and they're sure not going to listen to me.
Read it: Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek BloggerSorry, if you do a marketing site and you don't have an RSS feed today you should be fired.
I'll say it again. You should be fired if you do a marketing site without an RSS feed.
Saying that RSS is only for geeks today is like saying in 1998 that the Web was only for geeks.
It got worse.
This site, which probably cost $100,000 (ahh, that's where our towel money went) has great graphic design. Lots of streaming video.
But it's fake. All of it is actors. No real people. No real point.
Aaaaaaaggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh.
Oh, but it gets even worse. "Can I download the videos?"
"No, the whole point of the site is to get people to visit and stick around."
So, let me get this straight. You don't have RSS feeds. That means I won't be able to build a relationship with this site. You have a fake site so even if I tell my readers to visit it they'll get there and feel dirty (and they can't interact or do anything there either). You won't let me download the videos to pass them around virally. Or remix them in fun ways.
Oh, and there's no permalinks so even if I wanted to link you directly to a piece of content there I couldn't.
This team is very lucky that I'm not in charge of marketing. Seeing sites like this makes me think that Mini-Microsoft is right. Maybe it's time for Donald Trump to visit the team in question.
On the other hand? Some teams at Microsoft do get it. Microsoft Presspass, for instance, just added a couple of RSS feeds.
Again the link to the original article is at
Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek BloggerIf there are more people like Robert Scoble at Microsoft I think they might stand a chance of my running Windows again some day. Unfortunately the Microsoft Office platform and Windows itself clearly stand counter my requirements of transparency. Much like a blog with no permalinks, or a video locked to a server, or a non-bookmark-able Flash website, I will not be partial to sending clients out documents that require them to buy a $500 piece of software in order to read or view it. That's not lock-in to me, it's opt-out. As in I don't play that shit.
You know who else gets it? There's lots and lots of people. We call them bloggers, but here are two I've just recently stumbled upon. Transparency RULES!
Trey Jackson of Jackson's Junction gets it.
Jackson's Junction: Video Blogging! We provide, you decide!Move Trailers at blogspot gets it.
Movie Trailers: For Studios: How to Get More Exposure for Your Trailers
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