The blogosphere exploded with commentary yesterday after the New York Times reported that Wal-Mart is conducting a blog-relations campaign via its PR firm, Edelman. There is a good deal of thoughtful analysis on the story, ranging from Jeff Jarvis’ reality check to bloggers that this has been going on for a long time with the mainstream media, to Robert Scoble’s strident response that he would publicly “out” any Microsoft employee he found following this practice. Cymfony’s Peter Kim went as far showing this as an example of how not to blog. And of course it put Steve Rubel in the uncomfortable position of balancing the roles of corporate-apologist and voice of the blogosphere.
What’s
interesting about this story is not the specific Wal-Mart situation itself, but
its implications. As one of the world’s
largest companies and (perhaps the largest retailer) whatever Wal-Mart does has
considerable impact. They can
single-handedly affect Levi’s profitability or the popularity of a new CD with
a single stroke of their discount pen. What’s
intriguing is that this story raised the issue to national attention, both in
the mainstream media and the blogosphere. It forces us to examine the question of
transparency and authenticity in corporate blog relations.
Dan Gillmor
makes the point that this is an old problem, which has become more
complicated with the growing popularity of the blogosphere.
“Most of all, though, it’s worth
noting that people involved with stories, or their paid personnel, constantly talk with pro journalists Now they talk with interested bloggers and others
in the “new media” world. It’s part of
the influencing and journalism processes, but it’s getting larger and to some
degree messier.”
“What does seem clear (and
transparent) is that consumers are more demanding and attentive than ever
before, and carry far higher expectations about just about anything we say or
share; disclose or don’t disclose. This is a very important debate, and it
should be continued.”
Technorati
Tags:
Blogging, Journalism, Marketing 2.0, Media, Public Relations, Wal-Mart, Web2.0


Comments