Notes on Corporate Blogging: MAS' Blog

Read this story yesterday in The Star. So what did you think about our national airline launching what's possibly the first local company employee advocate blog in Malaysia?



Sounds like a step in the right direction for the corporate acceptance of new media if you ask me. But a closer reading of The Star's headline "MAS blog to push sales" is more telling than perhaps its meant to be.

The following is just my two sen as a consumer and I'd doubt if it was sage or expert advice. I couldn't help but notice how most of the posts seemed to be about:
1. Rising costs of living - thus tied to how MAS is helping people save money.
2. Internal programmes and how helpful and interesting they were.
3. A post about MAS' current promotions

I'll say this as constructively as I can: As a reader I felt that the content on the blog (which may have really jsut been honest postings by MAS staff) sounds like cleverly orchestrated topics meant to tell the story that MAS would like to tell.

Now, that's not a wrong objective to begin with; in fact, that's precisely the point - the blog is an outlet to tell consumers your story and make us understand you better. But I'm trying to say it reads like it was cleverly orchestrated and not organic enough.

Why? Because your average reader doesn't want to hear how fun an internal training programme was. We want to hear views on issues, internal programmes that translate to external results, sneak peeks of your upcoming products etc. etc.

Secondly, I would also like to see comments turned on with minimal moderation (except for abusive flaming).

In both respects, I think Dell does a great job with its direct2dell blog. For one, focuses on the people inside Dell and gives them a free-hand in posting topics that don't necessarily relate back to the companies' products. Of course, when it does have to do with products, we get additional thoughts and notes on Dell's thought process. More importantly, consumers have the opportunity to write back to the company and have Dell respond directly on the comment threads. To Dell's credit, they've not deleted many posts (evidenced by some nasty comments still online).

I particularly like how Dell responded to a rumour that it was phasing out its XPS line of gaming PCs earlier this year thru using the blog. Very web 2.0. Though I must say, Dell could do better in actually responding to the comments.

As more and more companies start adopting blogs and the like to engage customers and the public online, I think the early forays have taught us at least one thing. The blog is a big opportunity to actually engage consumers in a conversation; that means information flows both ways. Many corporates are still iffy on this as the possibility (and inevitability) of nasty comments are always present, but I'd say don't be put off. If people aren't complaining on your blog, they sure are complaining in other online forums. Ignorance isn't bliss. So kudos on MAS for the blog, but let's have some comments enabled!

Flackery or real conversation?

As both a guy with a blog and a PR dude in real life, I've had the incredibly joyful experience of pitching and being pitched to. Of course, I don't understand why some companies would want to pitch to a small fry like me whose got absolutely no theme to his blog, but, "hey!" if its an interesting product or thing, I'll listen.

The thing is more companies are beginning to see the importance of the blogosphere for their political marketing campaigns, thanks (in no small way) to March 8. But the attitude and reaction many marketers are taking towards engaging bloggers is summarised by the GMOOT syndrome - in the words of AdAge columnist Scott Donaton.

To paraphrase Scott, GMOOT is short for the "Get Me One Of Those" syndrome that company heads adopt when they don't really understand the new-fangled trends but want in on it for marketing gain anyway. Read Todd Defren's post on how dangerous but widespread this syndrome is.

But my point is this: more and more companies are now looking to reach out to bloggers. Each is doing this in a vastly different way and there are definitely more than one way to succeed. But then, you start coming across posts like this, this and this.

Did we miss the point?

So I was having a conversation with someone who works admittedly closely with the local blogging scene and he's adamant that blogs are the "new media." And that marketing efforts should be directed at bloggers as this is the new channel for clients to get the message of their products and services out. After all, teenagers a reading less and less newspapers these days (yes, US stats I know).

Yes, I'd agree that we should be talking to bloggers, but I'd also disagree that we see bloggers for anything less than what they are - people. Blogs aren't just a "communications channel". They aren't just media for you to push messages thru. They are people who have something interesting to say, the right tools to say it (the blog) and the audience who's interested in hearing what they want to say.

When I get pitched, I'm really interested in starting a conversation. I'd like to know what's great about your product or solution and why it would matter to me or people like me (who, coincidentally, might read my blog). I don't want to be pushed information and be expected to "publish." That's just flackery.

Don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean you shouldn't email me about your interesting product. It just means that you should:
1. Talk to me as a human being. Don't expect a bot on the other end that auto-publishes news releases as they are sent across. I've got feelings too. I've also got a healthy dose of opinion and common sense.
2. Understand what I write about and my motivations for writing. Don't assume. If after reading a couple of my posts you're still unsure, hey, just ask :)
3. Be prepared to dive into the conversation. Because what I'm going to want, if I'm interested in what you're saying, is to actually talk and discuss the subject matter with you.

If you're reading this and you've pitched to me before, I assure you, I don't mean you in particular. This post is a summary of interesting experiences past, present and possibly last week. Please do pitch to me again and let's have a proper conversation this time round.

Let's start a conversation about Rakan Cyber.

This bit of today's page two story in the New Straits Times caught my attention:

[Besides that], said Ismail, a new arm called Rakan Cyber, would be added to the seven others in Rakan Muda soon.

One of the main reasons was to reach out to the new generation through cyberspace - a sphere in which the Barisan Nasional government has admitted it was lagging behind.

"A lot of blogs these days paint a negative picture. That's why we are coming up with these positive blogs," he said.

To counter blogs that are "negative" let's bring out some "positive" blogs?

In the age of the conversation, I can't just help but feel that these steps are anchored in the age where "media is propaganda."

Let's have a conversation. Your thoughts please?

So did you study blogging in Uni?

Read a funny story in the New Straits Times today about Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) might soon allow students to take blogging courses as part of their subjects.

Vice-chancellor Datuk Seri Prof Dr Ibrahim Abu Shah said something interesting, and I quote:

"Anyone can become a blogger now," he told reporters after a seminar here yesterday.

But this did not mean bloggers could write about anything, as they first needed to master several aspects of writing, such as language, ethics and accuracy of reporting.
Ibrahim said he supported any proposal to offer courses on blogging and that it was the most suitable time to do so.

I find this statement self-contradictory. First, Dr. Ibrahim is right by saying "Anyone can become a blogger now." That's absolutely right. Your plumber could be a blogger. Your mother could be a blogger. And don't be surprised if one day the pope starts a blog.

So if this is right, then why add requirements to becoming a bogger by saying that "they first needed to master several aspects of writing, such as language, ethics and accuracy of reporting?"

Does this mean if my English, Bahasa Melayu or Mandarin sucks I can't be a blogger?

Or if I don't hold on to the same "ethics" you subscribe to, I'm not credible (maybe in your eyes, not that of my fans)?

Or if I report on rumours and wild speculation, that I cannot be a credited as a blogger? Tell that to these guys - their blog is practically a rumour mill! And a very good one at that.

What does it mean to be a blogger? Some very enlightened people I listen to put it very well: blogging is just a publishing tool. Just like how anyone can write a book, anyone can blog.

Furthermore, not all bloggers are journalists. Some a diarists (they use the blog as their personal diary), some are story-tellers (ever read a blog that was pure fiction), some are commentators (they put forth their opinion on whatever subject they see fit), some are fanboys (they blog about their hobby, their pets etc) and very, very few bloggers will claim to be journalists.

Tom Merritt (links to episode 720 of Buzz Out Loud where comments were made) has a good solution for this. If a blogger wishes to be accorded the rights and pr0tection that's afforded journalists, then they must adhere to the same ethics and regulations that journalists adhere to.

If a blogger says, "hey, I'm not a journalist, just someone who writes!", then they are pretty much free to do what they want, but then they can't expect the protection journalists get (like the ability to "protect sources" even while subpeonaed).

One thing is clear though, this blanket definition of bloggers has to end. Not all bloggers are media. Certainly not some of our most famous political leaders (who have or recently started blogs).

(I mean, at least I won't consider those bloggers media).

Update: Thanks to the wonder of Twitter, some feedback with Twitter-people led me to this thought: Would being a degree-holding blogger entitle you to more money from blog-advertising?

Worth Surfing: malaysiavotes.com

For all of you interested in following the Malaysian Elections through an independent news site that's not biased to either side, you really should check out www.malaysiavotes.com.



The people running this site were journalists from The Edge and an ex-colleague of mine (who happened to be their colleagues in The Edge) has vouched for them. Personally, I've worked with at least one of them in the past (part of my job) and they are credible, intelligent and decent people so I'd vouch for them too.

Hooray for Online Journalism!

What are the chances...

...of finding yourself talked about in a funky site you've never known about? Check the below out.
As I was just going through my traffic analysis, I found that a couple of people were directed to my Happy Event post through this story. Firstly, it looks like a great site dedicated to Hula Hooping, but for them to pick up that Happy Blogger event we had last week and post a story about it? Short of an inside job (so who did it?), I'm simply amazed at how stories get around the internet.

I'm surprised they even used Jason's face as the lead picture...hmmm....did you have anything to do with this?

Thank you all for the Happy event!

Just wanted to thank everyone who attended our Happy event on Tuesday night. And, even if you didn't come, thanks for letting me know too!

Wanna thank Yasmin from Cafe Libre for being so accomodating. The venue rocked!

Moment of the night

Wanted to share something that's still stuck in my head and makes me chuckle out-loud sometimes:

(The scene) Everyone was sitting in a circle and we were going around introducing ourselves and our blogs. Somehow, it started to fall into a pattern... "Hi, I'm XXXX and I blog at XXXXX. I blog about XXXXX." And Erna changed it all...

Erna: Okay, can we stop talking like we're in Blogholics Anonymous?

There was a pause. Then everyone started laughing.

Second Moment of the Night

So I was asking inane movie trivia questions so we could get people to come out, dig thru the Happy sack, and win a prize.

Can't remember the question I asked, but Suanie won that prize.

She stepped up, rummaged thru the sack and randomly pulled out her docket to win a... Shaver!

Some people proceeded to make some funny comments that I shall not post here on fear of mutilation. Muahahahahaha....there's a picture too! Scroll down.

Here are some pictures:


Erna trying out the Wii. It's official, Wii makes people happy.


Clap, clap, laugh, laugh.


We made the people who came do the Hula. Apparently no one could keep it up for longer than 2 spins.


Exclusive: The SmashpOp thumbs up (sorry Jason, couldn't resist)


Happy people showing us how to do it.


Guess what Suanie walked home with. I'm told that if you [CENSORED]


Movie tickets for PinkPau.


Shampoo for Swifty. He got two actually. One was some "Threesome" brand.


And a value pack of I dunno what for Kim.


Nigel claims that I only get his side profile in all the pics. Hung Wei's here too.


Guess who gallivanted all the way here?


Obligatory group picture. There were some more people, but I think they had went off already...

PS... must give credit to the photographer of the night - Louis because I selamba borrow the pictures and put on my site. :)

Guess who got a domain name?

So I've been thinking about this for a few weeks already. "Want to get a domain or not?"

The plus point about having your own name as the domain is... well..."glamour-lah" (It's glamourous). The minus point about having your own domain name is it costs money.

But I'm the type of person who will ponder, meandre and brood over decisions like this, but inevitably inch towards biting the bullet. Today, I bit it.

Started the day asking people about which domain service to use. Suan said Paul's service very reliable. Then Kel told me to go check out www.exabytes.com.my. Ran a Google search and in Malaysia apparently there's like tonnes of registrars (like www.webserver.com.my).

Finally, I settled on GoDaddy because its a name I know (heard it over Coolness Roundup) and because I had a coupon that made my 3 year registration cost only US$ 21.45 (can you beat that?).

The next step was to get Blogger to publish to my domain. Thankfully, this was a really simple step with the full instructions here. All you gotta be is a bit patient. I wasn't, so I was bugging people over MSN and moaning because all I could see for 2 hours after registering was this "parking" page (the page that tells you davidlian.com is coming soon).

Well, as you can see, it works now. And I feel so legitimate. It's like... I've moved off free-service-land into owning my own lease-hold apartment. I've actually got my own web-address.

Okay, so people, to celebrate my new domain. Can I say, this makes me super happy and that if I could, I would have entered the Happy Moments contestwith this post. Because it's hard to express how you feel when you own your own domain name (instead of letting some squatter squat on it). It's just happy.

:)

Guess who's gonna win RM 5,000 for blogging?

Actually... I dunno. But it sure ain't gonna be me.

Darn, the T&C that says:

Entry is open to all residents in Malaysia. However, permanent, contract and/or temporary employees of [insert company name] (including its subsidiaries and related affiliates) and representatives and/or agents and agencies of [insert company name] are ineligible to enter.

Happy, one of the my clients, just announced a blogging contest called "Happy Moments" with a grand prize of RM 5,000 for the best post and / or video of a (you guessed it) happy moment.

All the said soon-to-be-lucky-winner/blogger has to do is think of a unique, interesting, serendipitous happy moment; all those times you just felt cheesily happy and couldn't explain why, and write a post about it. Better still, if you have a mobile phone that can take a decent video, do a video about it (think America's funniest home videos.)


Attach this image to the post to prove that you indeed are the owner of the blog. (It may not be up yet)

Then get your friends and family to vote (mine's for sale. :) Contact me to negotiate price). Top ten most voted progresses to the shortlist where the truly best three will be selected by Happy as the winners and walk away with RM 5,000, RM 2,000 or RM 1,000 (two prizes of each, one for each category).

Sound's simple? Just surf over here or www.happy.com.my for more details.

Yup, that's it. Just a bit sore that I can't win the prize. And I had a darn good story to tell too. Oh well, maybe next time.

You don't want THIS at your press event...

This has got to be the nightmare of all PR people - especially the folks handling the invite to the Gizmodo folks!

There's this part in the video where this Motorola spokesperson actually is presenting about a pretty cool product and... the TV goes off! poof! It went off so fast the spokesperson didn't even know what was going on.



Still, I think CNet's reaction to this stunt pretty much sums it up. However, I think I can add that is probably an isolated incident in the blogging community and that the bloggers I've had for press events are nothing if not decent and interesting people.

Verdict? This is a one off. Good stunt for Gizmodo (more than 400 comments on the associated post) and nothing that should stop PR people from inviting bloggers again in the future.

Now, nobody get any ideas mmmkay?

New banner

Okay, when I started doing this blog, I was quite geared to making it Technology focused. After a bit, I think I kinda detracted, and it's become one of those whiny-bloggy spaces where people whine about their lives.

But I digress. Tech is still a big part of who I am, and interesting stuff still pop up all over the internet. In fact, I'm revamping my blog a bit to put in even more widgets etc. :) Just wait.