Chip Griffin published some lovely link bait on Media Bullseye today, and since I think contrarians who have the guts to publish under their real names should be rewarded, I’m biting 🙂
Chip’s thesis is that there are a number of social media "rules" that just don’t make sense. For the most part, I agree.
As I’ve written here many times, to argue that there is only one right way to do something is silly. So while I personally prefer blogs that allow comments and publish RSS feeds, I understand why companies and individuals might choose another path (#1 & 2). Likewise, I’m not terribly fond of anonymous blogs, but realize that there are some situations where anonymity is necessary.
Press releases… Amen, Chip, amen. As I’ve said before, and will again, it isn’t the press release form on its own that engenders the negativity (die press release die.) It is bad, irrelevant pitching. That said, there is a lot of goodness in making the news release more social media friendly and the folks at SHIFT among others deserve kudos for pushing the envelope ( #3 & 4).
Messages. Conversation. Audience. And so on. Chip makes some very good points, and I urge you to read his post with an open mind.
The one point upon which I really disagree is ghostwriting. I do not believe in ghostwriting for blogs. Sure we know that CEOs and celebrities don’t write their speeches. Talk show hosts don’t write all their own bits. And if you didn’t know this before the WGA strike, I hope you know it now.
If your CEO doesn’t want to blog, fine. There are other ways to bring his or her thoughts to the customers. And other ways for the company to engage. All of which are reasonable approaches.
Hiring someone to ghostwrite a CEO blog is not.
Other than that? Rules are made to be broken. Isn’t that what this social media stuff is all about anyway?
Tags: Chip Griffin, social media, Media Bullseye