Online Blogintegrity

Just some things that were rattling around in my head today.

[Meta-Update] – I want to add one very, very important thought before I let this post slip away.

As I mentioned in one of the original thoughts below, I spent a lot of time watching the buzz on this story building over the weekend. (And kudos to Mike Stark for dropping it on dKos – not that Thers wasn’t on the ball at OBI, as well.) I don’t have an exact number right now, but yesterday Stark claimed over 500 blogs pushing Spocko’s story. And one of the beautiful things, as I watched this unfold over the weekend, was the sheer number of ‘unknown, 27th-tier’ blogs who picked this up. (their words, in response to Spocko’s ‘self-proclaimed 5th-tier blogger’ comment)

Jeebus…. When I say it was ‘beautiful’, I mean it was truly beautiful. I don’t know how much traffic these folks get – evidently many of them are in the same corner of the Web as I am – but some of these bloggers went above and beyond the Call, in my opinion. Some gave short excerpts with links, some wrote impassioned calls for Justice, some gave brilliant analyses of the situation. And most of you/us have probably never heard of them.

Bloggers who never make the A-, B- or C-list blogrolls. People who never get a lucky link or h/t from Atrios, never make the Recommended List at dKos, never get quoted by anyone that some people think matters… But they took 2, 5, 15, 30 minutes of their time and gave their slice of real estate to stand up for another Z-lister because they believed in what Spocko was saying and doing.

As I rummaged around in Technorati and Google, and drilled down into the links, I came across dozens of bloggers who deserve more attention. I wish I’d copied blog addresses, so I could give all of you great bloggers some real cowbell – I’m sorry, I didn’t think of it at the time. But I did leave comments on quite a few blogs. Nothing fancy or particulary deep – just a quick note to let them know we were paying attention.

So, if there’s a comment on your blog that said ‘Thanks for helping to spread the word! Rip – (Team Blog Integrity)’ – that was me. I know I didn’t catch all of you – again, I apologize.

I wish I could do more to thank all the bloggers who grabbed Spocko’s story and ran with it. Without you, this would have been another unheard rant on a few blogs, that slipped away like a frat boy in the early morning after a one night stand. Every one of you deserves more gratitude than I could possibly express.

I’m sure I speak for Spocko and all the scalliwags from Online Blog Integrity when I say:

Thank you, thank you, thank you!! You have our undying gratitude and appreciation. Keep up the good work!

Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!

For those of you who’d like to see just how much this story has grown, and maybe check out some of the blogs I’m talking about, see this:

Technorati search for Spocko
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* Who's signing Melanie Morgan's paycheck? Rumor has it that she actually works for a third party traffic reporting company, to skirt Disney's anti-nepotism policy. Her husband, Jack Swanson, is KSFO's Operations Manager. Who hired Melanie or agreed to bring her on as a contract employee? Even if she's a contractor, wouldn't hiring the spouse of someone in station management still be considered nepotism? It would in my book.

* The YouTube comments issue: Why was a YouTube user named Move America Forward commenting on this video? Yes, we all know that Melanie Morgan is the head of MAF, but there's nothing in this video about MAF. I wonder if 'Joe' is 'blogicalthought', the curious commentor who was running damage control on so many blogs that featured Spocko's story. The delivery is a little off - but it would be irresponsible not to speculate.

* Where is the WingNet? I spent quite a bit of time observing the buzz as it grew over the weekend, and I don't think I came across one RightWing site that mentioned this story. Did we reach a sympatico - little guy against the MegaCorp? Did the wingnuts not hear about this? I find that hard to believe. Why were they so quiet? Why wasn't there a RightWing rush to defend the Free Speech of the anti-Terra! radio poseurs? I would think the LGF crowd would have been all over this. Interesting...

[Update] – From Disney’s website, on “corporate culture”:

Decency

• We honor and respect the trust people place in us.

• Our fun is about laughing at our experiences and ourselves.

[Update] – Thanks to SineQuaNon for the heads-up on this, from Fast forward Blog

Once the dispute became public, much of the blogosphere rushed to Spoko’s defense and dozens of web hosts stepped forward to provide access to the disputed KSFO audio files. The Electronic Frontier Foundation volunteered to defend the blog against legal action. Some of the biggest and most widely read political and media blogs–like DailyKos–provided extensive coverage of the controversy and posted the disputed files, daring Disney to sue them. Selections were posted on YouTube.

There are a lot of morals here for enterprises, not least of which is that social media are great tools for collaboration, teamwork and marketing but they are also lethal to those who try to play the new game by the old command and control rules. Marketers are no longer in total control of the message or the agenda and any attempt to censor public discourse about your brand will come back to bite you on the ass. There simply aren’t enough lawyers available to create a “surge” big enough to contain the blogosphere. Learn the new rules and get on with it.

Simply. Fucking. Brilliant. !!

You feelin’ us, Mouse?

[Update] - Just for fun...


I didn't start this, Swanson - you and your wife did. Deal with it.


More thoughts as they come to me.

Rip -