I have seen this criticism of big companies, and I wonder. It seems to me that large companies have fallen into the trap of 'good consultant' gets 'paid well'. And that the department budget is a measure of stature of executives. So no one advances for recommending a low-cost solution, or for recommending a low-paid blogger or other consultant. Corporate attorneys and executives are heavily invested in maintaining positive public images, and minimizing risk of product liability suits, i.e., never admit to anything that can be used against you. Which goes against plain spoken (sometimes) blogging.

As a consumer aghast at what lawsuits have done to business, I have to admit a bit of sympathy for the companies. I am also a bit surprised that you seem to be overlooking legitimate concerns on the part of companies. The impact of blogging on product liability and investor fraud lawsuits seems to be unresolved. I suspect the prospect of a blogger stirring up criticism of a company -- which pays off for any blogger in traffic -- unfairly affecting the market place also plays a part in corporate thinking. After all, who says that bloggers have to be any more kind, balanced, or truthful than other people? An entertaining blogger on a vendetta .. not a prospect designed to woo corporate executives and reviewing attorneys.

There's a lot of risk aversion at play here. Unfortunately, large companies tend to focus on what they have to lose instead of what they stand to gain. I know some brand managers at large CPG companies who feel their directive from day one is just keep things going and not be the one who ruins the franchise.

Agencies are filled with smart and creative talent - they'll get there soon. Recently, Max Kalehoff of Nielsen Buzzmetrics posted some great insights about why agencies are having a tough time with new media: http//blogs.mediapost.com/spin/?p=819

"Steve Rubel said Dell should have acknowledged Dell Hell and the exploding Dell computer that the online world already knows about."

Not sure I agree. Seems that many bloggers feel that the only acceptable way for Dell to join the blogosphere was to get Jarvis on the blog, ask him to 'Tell us why we suck', and then let him have an open forum to slam Dell. That's crazy! We bloggers need to lighten up, we constantly preach about how companies need to start blogging, then as soon as Dell makes the BIG move of finally getting in the game, we then start slamming them for the WAY they did it.

Let's give Dell a chance to find their footing in a very new space for them, before we start laughing at the way they walk. Was the entry perfect? No, but when a company enters into a new space, the transition rarely is.

I think some of us may have forgotten that.

I think a lot of the problem is that companies, and their agencies, are focused on blogging, and not on building community. A blog is nothing but a tool.

There is no reason that when a company blogs the topic has to be the company. Taking a look at what customers care about and building a community around that, or creating content that is useful to customers and sponsoring it, or sometimes, just having fun with a viral campaign that is relevant to what customers care about is far more interesting than yet another company blah blah blahg.

Ad agencies are finally looking at blogs and trying to squeeze a sales message into them. In the meantime, social media has moved beyond blahgs and into new territory.

These giants - Dell, Ford, Coke - are listening to big agencies and, despite the fact that there are a lot of creative people within them -- there have not been creative ideas coming out.

Yes, there is Sarbanes-Oxley and other legislation and regulation that big companies need to worry about, along with fiduciary responsibility.

None of those things preclude them having an effective social media marketing campaign.

They've had all the time in the world to look and listen. When they come out of the gate, they have to be right, not take baby steps. that is simply not acceptable in our fast-moving, flat world.

"They've had all the time in the world to look and listen. When they come out of the gate, they have to be right, not take baby steps. that is simply not acceptable in our fast-moving, flat world."

Yes but looking and listening aint doing. You can read all the blogs and books on bloggin you want, but you still have to get out there and start your OWN blog before you can truly 'get it'.

Have you learned anything about blogging since starting WhatsNext, or did you come out of the gate completely right, with no baby steps? If you were perfection from the start, and have never looked back, you're a damned sight smarter than myself and I'd guess every other blogger alive. Personally EVERY day is a learning experience for me, I look back at some of the stuff I posted just a few months ago when I thought I 'got it', and realized how totally clueless I was.

Again, maybe that's just me. Maybe every other person can read a few blogs, read a few books on blogging, and instantly be a perfect blogger from the get-go, never making a mistake.

Maybe, but I doubt it. BTW we've also been talking about the Rocketboom saga recently, I found this comment you left on WhatsNext about Amanda's replacement to be a bit interesting: "Hopefully, everyone will cut her some slack for a few days while she gets her personna on straight.".

Maybe we should save some of that slack for Dell and any other company that 'gets it' enough to jump in the blogging game as well, right? I'm not saying they get a free pass, I'm saying slam them for their growing pains all you want, but at least LET them have those growing pains first!

Again, they've gone in a matter of months from ignoring bloggers, to blogging themselves, and LINKING to their detractors.

I'd say that's progress, then again, I wasn't expecting perfection at the start. Maybe some were.

What's Next is not perfection and it's doubtful it ever will be. Nor is that its point. Nor is that the point about Ford's Bold Moves, the Dell blog, or that strange new campaign from Coca-Cola.

The point is, blogging is not new to the landscape. It's just another tool for communication. Communications means two ways. All three of these blogs are set up for one-way, old-school message control, with some new media bells and whistles.

A campaign that made terrific use of social media was Al Gore's campaign for "An Inconvenient Truth." That got a conversation going, worldwide, and it sent people to the movie in droves. It invited MySpace's more than 70 million registered members to meet and exchange ideas.

Dell, Ford and Coke have not engaged their customers, other than to say, "hey! read this. We're blogging."

That's what's missing. And that's a shame.

Mack - you said...

"Yes but looking and listening aint doing. You can read all the blogs and books on bloggin you want, but you still have to get out there and start your OWN blog before you can truly 'get it'."

This is exactly what they should've have hired a top blogger or someone who already gets it.

"What's Next is not perfection and it's doubtful it ever will be. Nor is that its point. Nor is that the point about Ford's Bold Moves, the Dell blog, or that strange new campaign from Coca-Cola."

Then why are you expecting perfection from Dell? Up till last week, the gripe from bloggers about Dell was that they didn't have a blog, and were ignoring bloggers.

This week they are blogging, and paying attention to bloggers. And bloggers are STILL complaining.

Makes you wonder why so many companies stereotype bloggers as nothing but a buncha complainers, doesn't it?

"A campaign that made terrific use of social media was Al Gore's campaign for "An Inconvenient Truth." That got a conversation going, worldwide, and it sent people to the movie in droves. It invited MySpace's more than 70 million registered members to meet and exchange ideas."

Yes but Paramount wasn't perfect in this campaign either. Movie Marketing Madness blogged about Paramount's campaign for An Inconvenient Truth, and Chris posted the next day that he had noticed through the SiteMeter logs that Paramount reps had visited MMM later that day. Chris posted an offer to turn MMM over to Paramount to let them talk about their marketing efforts for Truth, and Paramount never replied. Here the most influential movie marketing blog on the internet offered Paramount a chance to plug one of their movies, and they passed. Not a very social-media saavy move.

And of course we won't even get into their disasterous treatment of The Movie Blog over the Transformers pics John had posted.

Again, if we want companies to take bloggers seriously, we are going to have to be consistent in the message we send them. We bitched that Dell wasn't blogging, then as soon as they start blogging, we then start bitching about the WAY they are blogging.

Not a very consistent message we are sending Dell and any other company that's considering a blogging initiative, is it?

Mark: The basic PREMISE of the Dell blog -- that they could ignore the customer service issue which is the elephant in the room, and use the blog to push out their messages as if there had been no history -- was flawed. It's old media thinking. It's ad agency thinking.

Bloggers have sent a VERY consistent message. We said you can't ignore the real issues.

Dell has begun to listen and respond. And, if they put their money where their mouth is, this could, perhaps, lead to positive change.

I'd love them to convince me to buy my sixth Dell computer. My seventh computer was a Lenovo laptop. And the Dell customer service issue was the reason.

Dell doesn't have to be perfect. They have to be real.

"Bloggers have sent a VERY consistent message. We said you can't ignore the real issues."

No BJ, we haven't. First we said you can't ignore bloggers, so they started paying attention to bloggers. Now we say that's not enough, that Dell should have been perfect out of the gate.

The fact that bloggers ourselves are arguing over this proves that we aren't sending Dell a clear, or consistent message.

"Dell doesn't have to be perfect. They have to be real."

Real people make real mistakes. And Dell has not only made real mistakes, they are giving the floor to the bloggers that are calling them out for making those real mistakes.

That's REAL progress. That's something we need to encourage BJ, not scorn.

Hello again mack: REAL progress will be when people start posting about the great customer service they get from Dell.

REAL progress will be when the first person you speak to in Dell customer service solves your problem, not the fifth.

REAL progress will be when Dell realizes that one unhappy customer today has the tools to get direct access to tens of thousands of customers.

Dell called me tonight to say they want to convince me to make my next computer a Dell. The proof will be in the pudding -- and that's great service the next time my Dell breaks down.