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Should Scoble Leave Microsoft?

Should Scoble Leave Microsoft?

An interesting conversation emerging following a post by David Tebbutt at Teblog who writes that perhaps Robert Scoble has outlived his usefulness to Microsoft and this is demonstrated by the fact that he is now being allowed to wander around at will, attending geek dinners and generally meandering along.

Scoble not suprisingly disagrees, and Scoble’s mate Shel Israel does as well, but it still raises an important question, as a Tebbutt says:

“Robert Scoble has single-handedly softened perceptions of Microsoft. And, in the early days, that was terrific for him and for the company”

Which is true, but now that Microsoft has got the whole concept of the long tail and every man and his dog (accept Bill Gates himself) at Microsoft seems to be blogging and building customer relationships what purpose does Scoble server for Microsoft? Surely the niche one-to-one of all the Microsoft blogs with their respective customers and communities provides a much more cost effective and better CRM stratgey than does Scoble?

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Food for thought.

View Comments (4)
  • Scoble is a definite asset to Microsoft even though the image of Microsoft has changed to the softer side of Microsoft. Usefulness will always outlive perception as long as his worth to Microsoft is greater than his debt. The minute he begins to belittle the products Microsoft sells is the minute Scoble’s usefulness will cease.

  • Brian, he recently wrote “12 reasons why startups shouldn’t buy Microsoft” and simultaneously praised Google to the the skies. I wrote a piece for Microsoftweblog.com suggesting he was about to join Google. He denied it, but he’s already crossed your line.

  • Um, Scoble is just some guy. I think too much of a thing is being made about him. I suspect that most people have no clue about who he is, so how could he have single-handedly “softened” Microsoft’s image? He’s popular within this peculiar little world of bloggers who think they’re important in the geek world. But, y’know, so what?

    This isn’t like blogging was a couple years ago where only the hardcore were doing it. There’s zillions of blogs nowadays.

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