Marketing Roadmaps

Flogging a dead horse & BusinessWeek

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So, did you hear? BusinessWeek just did a cover story on blogging 🙂

By and large, it was a good article, and definitely a nice overview for someone who had heard a bit about this "blogging thing."

At the risk of being accused of "flogging" a dead horse, I really only took exception to one thing — the somewhat misleading definition of fake blogs:

"FAKE BLOGS, SOMETIMES CALLED FLOGS
Fake blogs created by corporate marketing departments to promote a service, product, or brand. The flog’s writer often uses a fake name. Derided by bloggers, fake blogs are an increasing trend. McDonald’s created a flog to accompany its Super Bowl ad about the mock discovery of a french fry shaped like Lincoln, while Captain Morgan created a fake blog in March for its Rum drinks."

This definition perpetuates the problem that Neville Hobson identified last week — inconsistent definitions of what we are talking about when we say fake blog, character blog, fictional blog.

It also perpetuates a negative stereotype of corporate marketing departments, almost making it sound as though all blogs created by marketing would be fake blogs. Not at all true. We have already seen some good examples of corporate blogs – among them GM FastLane and Stonyfield Farms, both covered in the BusinessWeek article. Not to mention: an individual could just as easily create a fake blog, as a Roadmaps reader pointed out last week.

So how should we define these different types of blogs — fake, character, fictional etc. Neville’s definitions are a good start. Here they are (from the same post linked above):

"A character blog means a blog which appears to be written by a fictional person. An example might be a blog that’s authored by a toy – Barbie, let’s say. Or by a brand – Captain Morgan’s Rum may be a good example.

A fake blog is one that appears to be like a character blog yet the conversation is fake in that comments (for example) are not what they appear to be nor written by genuine people. An example might be the McDonald’s Lincoln Fries blog."

And here are my additions:

The main characteristics of a fake blog are:

  • the author creates a persona, although not necessarily under a fake name;
  • there is an attempt to deceive. Either or both of the following apply: the persona and/or the sponsorship by a company is not disclosed;
  • fictitious comments;
  • Examples: aforementioned LincolnFry; a blog surreptitiously sponsored or funded by a company — paid opinions without disclosure.

The main characteristics of a character blog:

  • a fictional character "writes" the blog and interacts with visitors;
  • the fictional persona is disclosed, as is any company sponsorship;
  • comments are left by the audience, interacting with the character(s);
  • Examples: Barbie, Captain Morgan, Moosetopia

And here is my third category: the fictional blog. These really don’t exist much yet, but I believe they will. A fictional blog will use the form of the blog, but have more of the characteristics of a roleplay game or novel:

  • fictional characters write the blog and interact with each other in the main blog. This creates a story for the readers;
  • there may be a message board for the audience to interact with each other, but they probably won’t be interacting with the characters;
  • the fictional nature is clear as is any company sponsorship of the experience.

For me, to apply the label "fake" requires an intent to deceive. Whether the person is "real" or not doesn’t matter, if the details are disclosed.

Enough flogging.