Blogs and Public Relations Today

1
Blogs and Public Relations Today

• Mindy McAdams
• University of Florida

2
What is a blog?

• A personal Web site where somebody
  self-publishes an electronic journal, often
  linking to other things on the Web that strike
  the authors fancy
• Steven Levy, Newsweek, Dec. 20, 2004

3
What is a blog?

• Blogs are all about
• Spreading ideas
• Increasing your status (as a blogger and as an
  expert)

4
The blogosphere

• theres a new forcespearheaded by people who
  work for no bosses and whose prose never sees an
  editors pencilthat provides the water-cooler
  fodder for the larger high-tech community. Its
  power extends not only to high-tech cool-hunting
  but also to whats politically correct, geek
  style.
• Steven Levy, Newsweek, Dec. 20, 2004

5
The blogosphere

• The blogosphere is a tipping-point machine.
• Doc Searls, blogger, quoted by Steven Levy,
  Newsweek, Dec. 20, 2004

Ideas are like viruses. One blogger catches the
germ, and then others come to his or her site
and catch it too.
6
Blogs about public relations

• Micro Persuasion
• CorporatePR
• POP! Public Relations

7
(No Transcript)
8
(No Transcript)
9
(No Transcript)
10
Blogs from corporations

• Adobe
• Wal-Mart
• General Motors
• Chrysler

11
(No Transcript)
12
(No Transcript)
13
(No Transcript)
14
Whose blog is this?
15
PR firms that have blogs

• Edelman
• Hill Knowlton

16
(No Transcript)
17
(No Transcript)
18
Two recent cases

• Kryptonite bike locks
• Dell Computer

19
Kryptonite locks

• Largest U.S. cycle lock manufacturer
• 30 million a year in bike lock sales
• Sunday, Sept. 12, 2004 Message about Bic pen and
  the lock posted on bikeforums.net
• By Thursday that week, 170,000 people had seen
  that message

20
Kryptonite locks

• Incredibly, Kryptonites site still has
  nothing about this issue, a week after the story
  broke, despite the homepage ironically
  proclaiming This is the place to get the most
  information about our products
• Rick E. Bruner, Business Blog Consulting, Sept.
  17, 2004

21
Kryptonite locks

• Had they responded earlier, they might have
  stopped the anger before it hit the papers and
  became widespread.
• Andrew Bernstein, CEO of Cymfony, a
  data-analysis company

22
Kryptonite locks

• What we learned
• Todays corporations must keep a close eye on Web
  activity outside the major media channels
• Fast response to a crisis must include Web
  communication

23
Dell Computer

• Jeff Jarvis An A-list blogger who writes
  BuzzMachine
• June 21, 2005 Jarvis posts first complaint (in
  BuzzMachine) about his new Dell.
• Title Dell lies. Dell sucks.

24
Dell Computer

• June 24 Having sent the computer back, Jarvis
  receives a repaired computer. It also doesnt
  work.
• Jarvis blogs his bitterness.
• Many other people contribute their own stories of
  poor customer service from Dell.

25
Dell Computer

• Aug. 17 Jarviss open letter to Dell appears
  in Buzz Machine.
• Aug. 22 Jarvis gets a refund.

26
(No Transcript)
27
(No Transcript)
28
(No Transcript)
29
Dell Computer

• Obviously, Mr. Jarviss experience couldve
  been handled better.
• Jennifer Davis, Dell spokeswoman, reported in
  Online Media Daily, Aug. 23

30
Dell Computer

• What we learned
• The effect of the blogosphere can be like a
  disease epidemic.
• Once your clients or customers get the chance to
  testify in the public space of the Web, you will
  need to respond quickly and expertly.

31
What you need to know

• Employers today expect young
• people to know a lot about the
• Internet.
• The most valuable knowledge
• about the Internet is how people
• communicate on it and through it.
• The buzz online eventually goes
• offline and affects non-Internet users too.

32
Thank you!

• Handout
• http//mindymcadams.com/guest/
• E-mail
• mmcadams_at_jou.ufl.edu