Microsoft uber-blogger Robert Scoble has called on bloggers to participate in a massive Google-bomb against UPS over anti-blogging comments made by Robert Manning, Director, Interactive Communications for UPS, in which he refers to blogging as a fad and calls on digital marketers to essentially stop using blogs.
Scoble proposes that UPS be shown that power of blogs by linking the term shipping to the website of UPS rival Fedex (UPS currently holds no 1. spot on Google).
Strangely though, he later posts that the idea is a juvenile one and he is striking it out, whilst not actually striking it out. The real question is though is was Scoble nobbled by his Microsoft overlords? Did UPS put pressure on Microsoft to get Scoble to back down?
Update: there is some suggestion that the coding from Scoble’s Radio Userland software isn’t working properly, perhaps only in Firefox, but you’d expect this from a Microsoft employee :-)
serious though, I accept Roberts explanation, although I still stand by the fact that that blogs are not a fad.
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I think you ought to at least recognize in your post that
1. He stated a reason in the same update for retracting (his readers)
2. The comment thread on the post is consistent with #1.
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He says its his readers and he’s going to strike it out, but he didn’t strike it out, it was still there with the update at the end, now that smells like a mini-protest against his corporate overlords to me, but it could just be the effects of the cold and flu tablets I’m taking. Admitedly I didn’t read the comment thread, so apologies there. Honestly, I think what he was proposing was fair and reasonable, here’s some prick telling people who want to spend money on or in blogs that its all a fad and they should look elsewhere; what better way to demonstrate he’s wrong than stuffing up his listing in Google by putting a competitor there instead, then he’d need to think twice before slagging off the blogosphere.
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Juvenile is the right word. What’s the offence : “fad”, “should stop using”? If we all bristled at such out of sorts writing we’d be nervous wrecks. Uber-blogger? Sub-blogger would be a better term :-)
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The “prick” was actually saying that before spending money, PR folk should step back and see if there’s actually value in blogss. A reasonable question.
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No one inside my company said anything — I made the decision after my readers let me know I was way off base on this one. Most of that post is striked out in IE. What browser you using?
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Your blogging software is broken, it can’t produce correct HTML. That’s why the text isn’t striked out in most browsers.
Line 33, character 11:
<strike><p>But, here’s the rub: UPS is #1 on <a href=”http:/ …
^
Error: element P not allowed here; possible cause is an inline element containing a block-level element
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Robert
see Matthias comments
others, I might be a little harsh but I don’t think blogging is a fad: it may have been a fad 2 years ago but numbers speak louder than words and there are far too many blogs out there for them to just be a fad: lets face facts: they are now pretty much mainstream.
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UPS is investigating blogging, but is cautious to enter in until all the legalities have been cleared up.
‘Although still early in the adoption phase according to Gartner and Forrester, corporate blogs used correctly can be a perfect compliment to the existing collaboration mediums to improve external and/or internal communications. We should continue to track this technology as the potential benefits may not fully be realized at this time.’
They are very aware of them, and of some of the positives, they just fear some of the potential negative aspects.