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There have been several tempests in social media teapots lately. I think we have grown used to the madding crowd’s readiness to pounce on any evil corporation stepping out of line. There was the uproar of the Motrin Moms and just last week, the consternation over German ads for Pepsi Max depicting a cartoon calorie committing suicide. Disturbing enough to me, that I added my tweet to the many that felt the same way.
But in the past couple of days, we’ve been treated to two examples of the in-crowd eating their own. Chris Brogan, a rock-star of social media, has been skewered for blogging about a $500 shopping spree courtesy of K-Mart. with the Twitter people suggesting that ” my involvement with a marketing campaign for Kmart somehow erodes my credibility as a social media business strategist. The logic, or that which seems to be acting as logic, goes like this: Brogan took money for writing about his experience with Kmart, so we might not trust his opinions as much.” In a very articulate response, he challenged the notion that blogging and corporate sponsorship are incompatible. You can read his piece on Advertising and Trust on his blog here.
The second example is the spat between Loic Le Meur of Seesmic and Michael Arrington of TechCrunch that originated at Loic’s LeWeb ‘08. Basically, Arrington said some pretty nasty stuff about the lazy French and their limpness as entrepreneurs. You can check out what he said and a video of the encounter here. Loic set up poll on his blog asking whether Arrington should be disinvited to future LeWebs, to which Arrington reacted. So far, there are hundreds of comments that you can read here. If you were thinking that social media was maturing, you might want to check out these guys. Anyone running a real business would be baffled at the bickering that is going on. But then maybe I’m just adding to the noise simply by bringing this up.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
This gives me a chance to talk about my post that got overlooked last week, You’re racing, I’m improving. In that, I point out that I’m not interested in competing with other social media types. I’m going after my own prizes. With that said, this little dust up is something for the audience, not me. I’m communicating and clarifying, but it doesn’t burn me. Instead, I just move forward and solve the next part of the puzzle.
Great reporting on your part, and hey- Thesis. : )
Wow, Chris Brogan is the first one to comment on my new blog! You’ve made my day. Yes, just keep moving forward and being guided by your own truth. Thanks for the kind words from a fellow thesisian!
Hi Frankie–
It’s late, so I can’t read all that I want, but I wanted to drop in and tell you how much I love the look and feel of your blog! Can’t wait to read more during daylight!
LL
@Linda. Thanks so much! Great to find you here. Drop in any time!