Recent reads -- Naked Conversations

Naked Conversations
Robert Scoble and Shel Israel

I had heard about this book a while ago and have done a fair amount of research on the subject of corporate blogs so there wasn't much in here I had not already heard about. Reading it was more of an affirmation of what I believe, namely whatever you produce has to be authentic and written by someone with a passion for the subject. It can't be a corporate exercise.

I won't say much more since much of what's in the book has been discussed to death but two passages jumped out.

The first is a section on Kryptonite, the lock manufacturer, that faced a crisis when it was revealed on several blogs how someone could easily pick their well-known bike lock with a Bic pen. The authors point out that much damage was done through blogs and the company did little to monitor this and react. In the book the authors finally talk to Donna Tocci, PR manager for the company. Tocci explains, in the book, that she did try to get into the conversation and was "shouted down." She also found that bloggers were very passionate, opinionated and often got facts wrong. "They don't have to check facts or figures like traditional media," she said.

The authors just let this pass and never discussed it any further. Tocci brings up a good point that while it's good to engage with bloggers they can often be reckless and engaging with them can be a losing proposition. It would have been nice for the authors to jump in with some observations of their own on this matter.

The second section that jumped out involved Carly Fiorina's departure from HP. The authors note that no HP bloggers (HP employees who blog) had anything to say about it. Neither did any HP bloggers have anything to say about Fiorina's charges of gender discrimination leveled after she left the company.

Again, the authors just let this drop. I would have like to have known what those bloggers should have said. It seems to me in both instances there's not much to say, particularly if you are an employee of the company. Just because you have a blog it doesn't mean you need to use it all the time.