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Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
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Alienation

Steve Rubel’s a hell of a nice guy. Really. I was unduly rough in my post this morning, and he was incredibly gracious about it. Now I feel like a heel. After all, it’s Steve’s blog, and if he wants to endorse a candidate, that’s his business. I sure as hell wouldn’t want him—or anybody else—telling me what I should write about.

But as long as we’re talking about it, I was intrigued by a comment Jeremy Pepper (author of the Birth of POP! PR blog) contributed to Steve’s original post endorsing John Kerry. Jeremy notes that Steve’s excellent blog has generated business for his agency. Would a partisan endorsement alienate possible clients who lean toward Bush and cost business? What kind of impact do the things we write in this medium have on our reputations and the reputations of our employers?

Don’t look for an answer. I just started pondering the question. But when you think about it, Micropersuasion is an employee blog just as much as Scobleizer is. So what if somebody working for Fox News endorsed John Kerry in a blog? What if a blog written by an employee of B’nai B’rith sympathized with Hamas? The things we write because they reflect personal beliefs can still have implications for the credibility of our employers with certain constituencies. It all makes the issue of company blogging policies a lot greyer than they were the last time I thought about them.

One thing I am sure of: I’m glad I’m self-employed.

12/22/04 | 6 Comments | Alienation

Comments

  • 1.Shel, and everyone else:

    How the hell are you supposed to do a blog and NOT reveal your political leanings?

    I mean, blogs are basically diaries . . . right? If you ask someone to come and read your blog, you're asking someone to come and be a part of your life.

    And part of life is politics and what you believe.

    I know politics is a dangerous subject, in that it can send people off in different directions and distract from the topic the blog is supposedly about . . . . . . but at the same time, if I come here every day I want to know something about the person I'm reading about.

    In a sense, bloggers HAVE to talk politics, if only to let people know who they are interacting with.

    Steve Crescenzo

    Steve Crescenzo | October 2004 | Chicago

  • 2.Steve - While I respect your opinion, I disagree with it. There are no hard and fast rules with blogging, to be sure. That said, the only thing you have to talk about is what you want to talk about. The key is having an opinion and you should not have to apologize for it (Shel!). You can learn a heck of a lot about me at my blog without knowing my political affiliation.

    Successful blogs have a focus on specific content. While it was only one post, Rubel broke his usual formula. But at the end of the day, it was smart. He's getting even more pickup than ever.

    And Shel, I put up a disclaimer on my blog to help navigate a client taking issue with my opinions. But even then, it is no guarantee.

    Kevin Dugan | October 2004 | Cincinnati, OH

  • 3.Shel, thanks. Russell Beattie runs a Kerry ad in every single RSS feed post. Still, he's one of the most popular tech bloggers out there. Most blogs right now are personal mouthpieces. If Jonathan Schwartz had done what I did, it might have been a bit different. I am surprised this stirred so much debate.

    Steve Rubel | October 2004 | New York

  • 4.Kevin, you made a good point that when I read your blog, I have no idea which way you are leaning. For all I know, you're an apolitical animal.

    You also brought up another good point, that Rubel is getting more pickup than ever. Maybe it was a conscious effort to raise his profile by endorsing Kerry.

    Since I already voted by early ballot, it didn't affect my vote. And, at the end of the day, the purpose of an endorsement is to change a person's vote. His endorsement wasn't persuasive enough - or lay out any argument - to do any such thing.

    Jeremy | October 2004 | AZ

  • 5.Kevin, I'm going to take issue with your statement that "the only thing you have to talk about is what you want to talk about." True enough for a personal journal. But when you get right down to it, a blog is a server-based software application and to say you can do whatever you want with it is the same as saying there are no hard and fast rules to Web sites and therefore what you put on a Web site is whatever you decide you want to. That's also true, but if it's a corporate Web site, there's place for dirty jokes. Over at Search Engine Watch, they're using blogging software to provide routine news updates as an alternative to a monthly e-mail newsletter. I'm looking forward to the day we stop talking about the blogs and focus more on the content they provide. Right now, we're so enamored of the technology that we're not looking at the many ways it can be used without gushing about the fact that the content is being produced using a blog.

    Shel Holtz | October 2004 | Wherever

  • 6.

    But how to do it? Shel, Steve and their correspondents argue about this. Here’s one answer: To be influential, blogs, like brands or political campaigns, must never waver. They must be focused and on-message, every time. Rubel cannot long meander off…

    http://allanjenkins.blogspot.com/2004/10/can-rubel | October 2004

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