Blog the way we tell you to. Right now, dammit!
Back in the early 1990s, when I worked in communications at Allergan, Inc., the company introduced a new silicon intraocular lens, the artificial lens used to replace a bad organc crystalline lens during cataract surgery. A silicon lens offered significant advantages over the phacoemulsification lens that had been the industry standard since the Korean War. An ophthalmologist could insert the lens folded in half, requiring a much smaller incision that could be closed with a single stitch, promoting faster healing and reduced risk of infection.
Allergan’s marcom staff knew their biggest challenge was convincing doctors to try something new. Not only would they be skeptical and reluctant to change something they were familiar with that worked, they would also have to learn new surgical techniques. The effort to get docs to embrace the silicon lens would take years.
So it is in just about every profession, every business. New ideas do not sweep any business community overnight—not the medical profession, not communications.
Knowing this, I’m growing a bit weary of the snipes and jabs at anyone who doesn’t immediately (man, am I getting tired of this phrase) “get it.” I saw a comment on the Repman blog yesterday that proclaimed, “digital has been around for 3 or so years, so if (PR) folks don’t get it yet, i doubt they will.” Oh, please. If medical device manufacturers gave up on doctors after three years, medical practices would be mired in the dark ages.
I am equally bemused by the harsh judgement passed down by some on businesses just putting their toes in the water of social media. As I reported here yesterday (and on yesterday’s Hobson & Holtz Report), Dell has launched a blog. The first post came on July 5; the official announcement of the blog’s presence was made yesterday. The blog was inspired by MSDN’s Channel 9, designed to create transparency and open a dialogue.
Consider what it probably took to get a Dell blog launched. More than likely, some executives needed to be convinced by lower-ranking enthusiasts. The execs’ reluctance was based on having already been burned in the blogosphere. They probably gave their approval after many presentations and memos, but with caveats and conditions. Still, the blog is accepting critical comments, and the company has made commitments about the blog’s openness. So with a mere seven posts under its belt and still feeling its way around, how has the blog been greeted?
Jeff Jarvis, the blogger who stirred up the storm of controversy with his Dell Hell posts, wrote:
The subtitle is “direct conversations with Dell” but this is as much a conversation as yelling at a brick wall. There is not one link there. It’s filled with promotions for Dell’s wonderfulness.
Steve Rubel chided:
When I read the one2one doctrine, their heart seems like it’s in the right place. Their actions don’t speak that way. Perhaps it might have been better for them to have stayed silent.
Time for a deep breath. The blog’s authors are real people serving as human touch points for customers, and given a bit of time to find its footing, one2one could very well be exactly what Jarvis, Rubel and the other critics believe it should be. But blogs do need time to find their voice—especially group blogs—and corporations don’t move at the same light speed as individual bloggers and evangelist agencies. Is there no slack to be cut among the superior early adopters who have already figured things out?
Props to Andy Lark for counseling patience:
The bloggerati just need to get over every blog coming out the gate reading like a conversation at the local pub and not rehashing the past trials and tribulations of bloggers. It takes time for a corporate blog to find its collective voice.
There’s a fine line between evangelizing and sanctimony. Or, to put it another way: Guide, don’t chide.
UPDATE: Surprise, surprise. They are listening at Dell!
Thank you! This goes for any blogger coming out of the gates. It would be awesome if some of the early adopters would climb down from their pedastools and comment...have a conversation...with the emerging bloggers. Be a true leader.
I have been lucky to have bloggers like Kami Huyse help me along…
Posted by Lauren Vargas on 07/11 at 07:54 AMHere here! One of the things that put me off on blogging for so long (I’m a newbie) is that blogging for many seems synonymous with bullying. It’s undoubtedly a powerful medium, but that doesn’t mean it has to be abusive.
Posted by Barbara Gibson, ABC on 07/11 at 11:03 AMShel - I’m completely in agreement with you.
I’ve always thought one of the really positive things about being an early adopter of digital marketing and PR techniques has been the supportive nature of the community. It was the same when commercial websites were emerging, and the same now with social media (albeit the pace is greater).
Sure there will always be people trying to put down others in the field and assert some perceived superiority, but generally the community seems to be supportive of efforts made, as everyone can learn from other’s successes and failures.
In my tentative personal steps into social media I’ve had nothing but positive feedback and constructive commenting. That said, I’ve not gone out to drive traffic by being deliberately provocative - which I’m sure is behind some of these types of comments (not necessarily the ones you reference though)
Posted by Simon Wakeman on 07/11 at 11:57 AMLots of great bloggers, including Shel, took time to welcome me into the blogosphere. However, we don’t seem to have the same patience with companies. I agree Shel that the evangelists have gotten a little preachy. I will also have to watch what I say, it is easy to get blasé about all of this.
Posted by Kami Huyse on 07/11 at 05:52 PMDell certainly seems to be listening now, so let’s cut them some slack. Contrast this to what we’ve seen from other firms just this month—Comcast, which handled the poor sleepy technician thing pretty poorly, and Jupiter, which issued a “research” press release, and then blew off legitimate questions from bloggers about the research methodology. Hopefully they’ll come around too.
Posted by Susan Getgood on 07/12 at 05:52 AMI disagree that Dell is listening. This is the comment I just left on MicroPersuasion:
Dell doesn’t deserve any props for this lipservice to transparency. They are cherry-picking the comments for some designed appearance of transparency. I left two critical but non-trollish comments on the “We’re Listening” thread. Both we’re screened. Evidently Dell is only listen to the bloggers they perceive to be important, like Jeff Jarvis or yourself.
I just left a comment on the “No Magic Wands” thread. Still screened.
Posted by breakingranks on 07/13 at 02:17 PMI saw a similar comment on Rubel’s blog post, breakingranks, and then a few hours later his comments =did= appear. I have no problem with an organization screening comments. GM does it too—to keep out four-letter words. If your comments had no four-letter words, and your comments don’t pass through the moderation queue by tomorrow, I’ll agree with you. Until then, even those who have complained their comments aren’t showing up do find their comments posted after some time. I do think they need to be faster with their moderation, but I’m still willing to let them learn the ropes.
Posted by Shel Holtz on 07/13 at 03:55 PMMy comments had no four letter words or smears or anything else trollish. The tone was the same as the comment I’m making here. My second comment did contain the word “Lemon” in that I pointed out that the Dell message boards would not let you create a username with the word “Lemon” in it.
The comment I made tonight has now appeared (probably because I’ve now complained about it elsewhere), but neither of the comments I made yesterday when I criticized Dell’s products and tech support have appeared.
Posted by breakingranks on 07/13 at 05:01 PMRobert, do you really think they’re monitoring the web for complaints about comments that have been withheld, and moving those forward? Doesn’t that seem...weird? I think it’s far more likely that they’re getting the hang of dealing with comment moderation given the number of comments they’re getting, something they’ll learn to cope with in short order. In the meantime, I’d be surprised if they were withholding your comments deliberately, given the highly critical nature of many comments that have appeared.
Posted by Shel Holtz on 07/13 at 07:20 PMFirst - I’m not Robert. I just maintain his web site. It’s not very nice to pull out someone’s name if they haven’t offered it.
Second, I think your confused about where the suppressed comments were. I posted two comments on Dell’s blog under the “We’re Listening” thread yesterday morning. Neither ever made it out of the moderation queue. 48 hours later, I think we’re past the “give them some time” leeway. My comment under the “No Magic Wands” thread showed up only after a couple hours in the moderation queue. I don’t think it’s beyond the realm of possibility that Dell chose a selection of comments for the “We’re Listening” thread to give the impression of representativeness. True representativeness, however, would have been to just let all the comments that weren’t flames post.
Posted by breakingranks on 07/13 at 09:22 PMMy sincere apologies; I didn’t believe I was “pulling” a name—but you linked to one individual’s site, so I thought it was a fair assumption. A lot of people link to their own blogs in comments without the intent of hiding their identities. Why not let us know who you are? Personally, I’m not a fan of anonymous posts.
I don’t think 111 comments is an “impression of representativeness.” But the fact is, neither of us knows for sure how they’re handling comments. I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt while they shake out a brand-new blog. I’m also willing to drop them a line and ask. I’ll let you know what I find out. In the meantime, I’d keep checking for your comments. I still wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to find out they’re overwhelmed with a volume of comments they weren’t anticipating and are just trying to get through the moderation queue.
Posted by Shel Holtz on 07/14 at 05:05 AMBreakingranks, I suggest you take a look at the Rules of Engagement in Dell’s about page. Is there a clue there, perhaps, as to why your comment hasn’t appeared?
You seem to think you have a right to have your comment appear. Why would you think that? If you’re so concerned that it hasn’t, why not go ahead and post your comment on your own blog, or whatever is the one you’re managing. You can still be part of the overall conversation that way.
Posted by Neville Hobson on 07/14 at 06:28 AMI suspect this is the “Rule of Engagement” about which Neville spoke:
“2. one2one is for and about Dell customers. That means the dialogue on this blog should be about the products, services, and related technology we provide (or could provide) to our customers. On occasion, we’ll also discuss broader industry issues that could impact how we serve our customers. We will not post any comments that don’t fall under this area.”
Posted by Shel Holtz on 07/14 at 06:45 AMThe comments that were on Dell’s blog fit the “rules of engagement”: it was a description of my experience with Dell’s computers and tech support. There was no personal smears, swear words, flames, or any other misconduct involved. Perhaps you could spare some of that benefit of the doubt for me? I haven’t flamed you, yet, have I?
The only way it would make sense to post about this on Robert Fuller’s blog is if I put it in the context of corporate rankism. It would make much more sense, however, in the place it belonged: as a response to Dell’s “We’re Listening” post.
As for anonymity, I have been consistently posting under “breakingranks” for a while, and this is a guarantee of good behavior on my part since I’m affiliating myself with the reputation of a web site and other people. Most of the people who disagree with anonymity do so because they don’t want it to be a shield for trollish behavior. However, anonymity is also a protection for privacy in the age of Google. Picking at someone’s choice in the midst of a disagreement seems like a rather underhanded tactic. Assuming that I must be doing something wrong because I prefer to remain anonymous would be like me assuming you take payola from Dell because you seem disposed toward defending them.
Posted by breakingranks on 07/14 at 08:52 AMThat’s fine, breakingranks—I just wanted you to know that I wasn’t trying to “out” you, only be cordial by calling you by name. You associated yourself with a website that is one person’s, so I just made an assumption, which I probably should not have done.
I know one person from Dell who is a fellow member of my professional association of 14,000 members. My only interest in this discussion is consistent with my interest in motivating companies to blog. If every company that starts is immediately attacked, most companies will resist, and that’s a bad thing. I think we should welcome companies to the blogosphere, be helpful in suggesting ways to improve their interaction with their publics, and encourage them to evolve and grow their blogs. Instant attacks are just going to leave other companies asking, “Why would I want to do that?” I’m not defending Dell; I just want them to have a fair chance to iron out the startup wrinkles.
Posted by Shel Holtz on 07/14 at 09:04 AMBreakingranks, I do understand your point of view. But you’re not on winning ground here re your comments being or not being posted by Dell on their blog. If they decide not to post them, that’s bascially it. I don’t think it’s any different than, say, you’d written a letter to a newspaper which decided not to publish it. For whatever reason.
It’s the publisher’s choice. (Does Mr Fuller exercises a similar choice on his blog re comments?)
And re anonymity, I agree with you on it helping you get a sense of privacy protection. Yet you must see the other side of the coin with regard to participating in a conversation such as this one where one of the participants (you, in this case) is shielded behind an alias. I have no idea who you are or what your agenda might be behind your comments. All I have to go on is Mr Fuller’s site, but that isn’t you.
I like your payola comment! You don’t know me at all but you know who I am because I’m not anonymous. You can find out quite a bit about me from my blog. You’ll know, therefore, that I have a Dell computer, and I’m very happy with it! Does that influence what I might post or comment about Dell? Well, no. You’ve only got my word for that, of course.
You’re asking for an awful lot of trust. What are you offering in return?
Posted by Neville Hobson on 07/14 at 09:20 AMI’m on the fence about whether it’s a good idea for companies to blog or not. I’m not a PR professional, but my gut feeling is that a company should blog if an open channel of communication would improve their relationship with customers. However, if the blog reinforces the impression that the company is trying to deceive or manipulate customers, it might make their situation worse. I’ve been trying to call attention to some of the things that Dell has been doing that create that latter negative impression for me. Dell said “We’re Listening”, invited all comments, and then didn’t post all of them. That doesn’t respect the time of the people who wrote comments.
Also, Dell chose to “dialogue” in their main posts with a few high profile A-List bloggers. This not only reinforces the A-List, it reinforces the all-male nature of the A-List. I would suggest that Dell approach the blogosphere like it approaches organizational policy: with an eye toward encouraging diversity instead of helping to create an online Old Boy’s Club.
Posted by breakingranks on 07/14 at 09:27 AMI have absolutely no idea how Dell is moderating comments but this exchange highlights the perils of comment moderation. If you are trying to control the conversation in some fashion, you’re fooling yourself. It will just happen somewhere else. As it is here.
And if you aren’t trying to control, you’re going to get accused of it anyway. So why do it? I’ll bet many companies would see nothing wrong with holding comments until they can respond with an answer. Problem is, that doesn’t really work anymore.
No one knows Dell’s philosophy here except Dell. Hopefully they’ll share it with us in the near future.
Posted by Susan Getgood on 07/14 at 10:36 AMI disagree, Susan. GM takes no heat for moderating comments; they’re very clear that they do it to keep out four-letter words and keep the blog family-friendly. And, with some blogging software, moderation is the only way to keep out comment spam. I don’t know a corporate blog that doesn’t moderate comments. Most, though, are very clear about what they’ll censor (e.g., GM’s explanation).
I would never counsel a client to start a corporate blog without comment moderation, if only to keep out the inevitable obscenities.
Posted by Shel on 07/14 at 11:30 AMI don’t particularly like comment moderation, but I will agree Shel that it is reasonable for companies if they are a) clear about the policy and b) there isn’t a huge delta between comment and appearance on the blog.
When we see a big time lag, it could be merely volume. Or (and I think this is a very likely scenario) the company may be trying to develop the response before it posts the comment, which isn’t always possible. That’s where I think they can get themselves into trouble. It may be an entirely well-intentioned delay but it seems nefarious.
Hence the perils of moderation. Even if you are just screening for spam and obscenities, a time lag can make it *look* like you are trying to stifle the conversation. Even when you are not.
The problem with Dell is two-fold. First, people don’t seem to be willing to cut them some slack, which I think is unfair. And two (cue sarcasm), they don’t have it all perfectly sorted out and exactly right from the get-go, as of course every other blogger on the planet does. As you said so well, let’s give them (and any other big company who decides to blog) a chance. To do it well or to foul it up, their choice. But in this country the accused *are* innocent until proven guilty. Not poor Dell apparently
Posted by Susan Getgood on 07/14 at 12:05 PMI’d like to clarify I’m not against moderation at all - especially when there’s a clear policy around moderation that allows responders to predict consequences and tailor their behavior appropriately. By making a selection of comments (it’s not just a “delay"), Dell undermined its claim to good faith transparency and frustrated the people who wasted their time in composing a comment.
I was perfectly willing to cut Dell some slack when I went to their blog. I’m much less willing to cut them slack now.
Posted by breakingranks on 07/14 at 03:50 PMDell talks back:
http://www.dellone2one.com/one2one/archive/2006/07/14/489.aspxI guess I was one of the 18% that was quietly routed to tech support?
I’ve now commented on that thread (start your clocks!) to the effect that I think this was shady. It hides the sort of problems that customers are having from the public at the very moment Dell is claiming to be “open”.
Posted by breakingranks on 07/14 at 04:12 PMMy comment was posted at 9:21 - looks like Lionel is putting in a late night.
He also sent me an email assuring me that I’ll be getting a call from tech support on Monday. I suppose I should feel lucky I’m getting the squeaky wheel treatment, but honestly at this point my mind’s more on what Dell initially did with the comments than on my own computer.
There’s not really anything Dell can do about it except take a different approach to comments in the future. It just seems a shame that they undermined their transparency gesture during their blog’s big splash.
Posted by breakingranks on 07/14 at 07:19 PMBreakingranks, I would think you should be quite pleased with your result even if it took absolute ages for your comment to be posted. You also got an email from Dell. I can’t imagine that’s happened to every commenter.
It seems to me, though, that there’s an unrealistic expectation here on what should happen when someone leaves a comment on Dell’s blog. On any corporate blog, for that matter.
With moderation, it isn’t likely to appear quickly (and what does ‘quickly’ mean? Within an hour? Two? 12?).
If I were Dell, I might add to the About page something on the subject of time lapse between a commenter posting a comment and it appearing. I’d say within 24 hours. That would set a more realistic expectation.
Something you said earlier, breakingranks:
“...a company should blog if an open channel of communication would improve their relationship with customers.”
No disagreement with you there. That would likely be a prime goal of most companies who start a blog like Dell’s. Or GM’s, as another example.
But you also said this:
“However, if the blog reinforces the impression that the company is trying to deceive or manipulate customers, it might make their situation worse.”
If any company had that in mind, you’d be dead right.
But I don’t see that as being Dell’s intention at all. There is nothing in any post on their blog that would suggest that. Precisely the opposite. If you think the way in which they handled moderation of your comment suggests this, well, I think that’s a bit far fetched.
I guess your acid test will be the call from tech support Dell promised you for Monday.
And the link to the Dell post you referenced - many of the comments to that post just prove to me that you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. All you can really do as the site publisher is listen to your community and do what you say you’ll do.
No surprises for anyone.
Posted by Neville Hobson on 07/14 at 10:06 PMHi, Neville -
The original comments were never posted by Dell. It has now been four days, and I don’t think they are in the moderation queue. Dell has admitted that they sent 18% of the comments to tech support instead of posting them. Thus my remarks are no longer “far fetched” - they are fact.
So even though they made a private gesture toward me, Dell established that they were cherrypicking which customer complaints to post. This was manipulating the dialogue, and it involved Dell making a decision about which customer problems should be made public so Dell could look transparent and which to hide.
I’m not pleased with the results because I don’t want to live in a world where the person who complains the loudest or happens to reach the right person of influence gets the tech support. I want to think that Dell’s culture has changed, and they were now supporting the free flow of information instead of trying to keep the people with complaints isolated and cover things up. When Dell manipulated the comments, it showed that they haven’t changed, and that’s depressing.
Posted by breakingranks on 07/15 at 08:11 AMWhat you call “manipulation,” breakingranks, I call “trying to figure out the best way to handle comments.” Granted, this may not be the best approach (for example, they could list the posts that have been forwarded to tech support), but I get the distinct impression they’re trying very hard to make this work. Your dissatisfaction—which I believe you have every right to feel, given your pre-blog experience—has IMO predisposed you to expect the worst. I see every sign as the blog evolves that they’re working very hard to get it right, as evidenced by several changes and the posting of highly critical comments. Is it perfect yet? Of course not, and to suggest, “It’s been a whole week, they should have it exactly right” is just not realistic. My sense from Lionel’s posts is that he’s sincere and he wants to make sure everybody’s satisfied. As noted in several places, GM’s blog suffered the same slings and arrows now aimed at Dell, yet GM’s blogs are now seen as a model for business. Again, I understand your frustration based on your experience, but I still think you’re rushing to judgment.
I also don’t agree that the forwarding of blog comments to tech support is a “squeaky wheel” example; it’s just another channel people can use to get to tech support. Lionel has listed email addresses customers can use to get to support directly, without using the blog. I think it’s great that Dell has offered multiple channels to reach support to get your problems solved, which to me is an indication that they’re seeking ways to improve customer service in general. We’ll have to see how that shakes out, though.
Incidentally, I don’t own a Dell and I never have, nor any other Dell product. My comments are strictly from the perspective of an impartial observer.
Posted by Shel Holtz on 07/15 at 08:41 AMHi, Shel - do you have any idea why they didn’t release the 18% comments that weren’t posted after people started to complain? That would have been the quickest way to show they weren’t trying to hide anything.
I’m not inherently against Dell. I had a great experience with the first computer I bought from them, and I recommended them to all my friends for years because I their tech support was a super added value. I unfortunately had to take a break from Dell for a few years because they didn’t have a feature I needed for my professional work. When I got my most recent computer, though, I was excited about being able to get it from Dell again. I had really missed their knowledgeable tech support!
The change in Dell’s tech support was a very big shock. I think it’s hard for people who have never had a Dell to understand. The problem with is that people may be making their purchasing decision based on Dell’s reputation for tech support. They may have turned away from a better deal elsewhere because they were willing to pay a premium (such as Dell’s $25 printer cables) for the promise of tech support.
If you surf the web and try to get an overview of customer problems, you will see that the gutting of Dell’s tech support was combined with a failure in customer service. Customers whose orders were delayed or who didn’t get what they paid for weren’t receiving anything to make up for it. I don’t think Dell is alone in this practice of trying to make up for a rip off with an easy apology, but they were well on the way toward becoming a symbol for it. I’m genuinely interested in seeing if Dell can turn that around.
Posted by breakingranks on 07/15 at 09:15 AMSo, breakingranks, Dell has “admitted” that some comments have gone off to tech report rather than being posted to their blog. What’s the issue? I think they made it pretty clear why.
Makes total sense to me to refer some comments to support as that would be the best means to try and resolve specific customer issues, not in the blog.
Are they cherry-picking which comments get posted or not? I suppose you could look at it that way in the sense that you could argue that any blog which has comment moderation does that. My blog does, for instance, and I guess I do cherry-pick in the sense that I make decisions on certain comments that I don’t want to see on the blog. All of those such comments are spam, although some of the commenters may well argue that they’re not spammers.
At the end of the day, though, it’s my decision on what I allow to appear on my blog.
I think Dell - any blogger, for that matter - has the same right, don’t you?
You do realize, too, that it’s remote in the extreme that anything in this particular conversation on Shel’s blog will make a jot of difference to whether Dell will post your previous comments or not.
As I mentioned earlier, if you really do want them to see the public light of day, you do have other ways to get your views out there.
I’m sure you’re right re Dell’s customer service reputation issues. Will their blog make a difference in people’s perceptions of those issues, even people’s judgments on whether there’s any improvement?
Time will tell.
Posted by Neville Hobson on 07/15 at 10:50 AMAs I said, breakingranks, I think they were trying to do the right thing by taking the 18% of comments that were in fact requests for support and channeling them to the resource that would best be able to provide that support! It may turn out to be the wrong approach, but it seems to me their heart was in the right place: Get help for people asking for it. Again, this may not prove to be the best way to handle such comments just because of the reaction people like you may have, but I see nothing nefarious or underhanded in it—just a decision to do what they thought would produce the best, most satisfying results.
You’ll have no argument from me regarding Dell’s customer support reputation; I’m well aware of it! I’m hopeful the blog is indicative of a general move to correct the situation.
Once more, though: It’s been a week. They’re trying; the evidence suggests they’re trying very hard. The blog is from the digital media folks, not customer support. Give them a chance to get the wrinkles ironed out.
Posted by Shel Holtz on 07/15 at 11:01 AMI think this conversation shows an interesting difference between the “PR perspective” and the “customer perspective”.
It seems to me that you guys think it’s okay that Dell experiment with how it presents its public face, as long as their efforts to help the customer in the background show they are trying to do the right thing. From my perspective as a customer, however, the experimentation with the public face is inherently dishonest. To me, open dialogue implied displaying all comments (and respecting the time that customers put into making those comments). Just the act of selecting those comments, even if Dell is trying hard to make it a representative, balanced selection, implies that Dell is trying to control customer perceptions and keep customers with complaints isolated from each other so they won’t be able to unite in common cause and point out patterns.
One thing that commerce has in common with politics is that customers don’t just think about their immediate problem - they think of the larger meaning of their problem. If customer service disconnects after putting them through a horrendous phone tree more than once, this changes how the customer views the company in general.
I think Neville expecially is missing this important point. Cherry-picking the customer issues to present is *not* the same thing as spam moderation. Sure Dell can do anything they want with the blog they own, but their decisions will impact how customers perceive their blog. When Dell chooses which customer issues to display and which to hide, they decrease their claim to transparency, and this affects the “meaning” of their blog (and the organization it represents) in the eyes of the customer.
Posted by breakingranks on 07/15 at 04:18 PMThe problem, breakingranks, is that blogging as a corporate vehicle is new. Heck, it’s new as a vehicle for any use. “Experimenting” is one thing if you’re talking about a traditional channel. But look at how few companies are blogging. I can tell you from experience that many companies have policies that prohibit blogging! Just as all new media are “experimented” with when first applied, Dell—like GM when they started—have to learn the hard way. There’s no school to go to, no base of decades of experience, and precious little valid research. They call it “new media” for a reason!
I also disagree that Dell is “cherry-picking.” Their policy is very clear: “Comments related to specific product support or customer service issues will be addressed separately rather than posted here.” It’s Dell’s blog; they are permitted to set the parameters for what the blog will address. Specific individual issues are not among the issues they will address. That’s not cherry-picking.
And as far as that goes, what makes it okay to comment on a post from Dell—or any blogger, company or individual—with an off-topic comment? If I post to this blog about a new press release format and somebody posts a comment about why I don’t shave my beard, I’m going to ignore it at least and possibly remove it.
You keep referring to Dell’s “direct conversation” theme, but it’s a conversation about topics Dell initiates. That’s what a blog is. Take a look at Lee LeFever’s comparison of a blog to a message board; the key difference is the blogger maintains the nexus of control. Dell has message boards where you can start a conversation on anything you want. If that’s the kind of conversation you’re looking for, why not go there? That’s what they’re for. That’s not what a blog is for.
Again, I understand the source of your frustration comes from being ill-treated. But I think you want the blog to be something it isn’t.
Posted by Shel Holtz on 07/15 at 04:41 PMHi, Shel - I still feel like you are looking for reasons my comment went against policy or was off-topic. It contained many general remarks about my experience with Dell besides my specific issue (a fraction of the post). For instance, I described how I had had problems navigating Dell’s web site when I first did the research for my computer - and then I didn’t get a response from Dell when I wrote them to tell them that they were making it difficult just to become their customer. I wish I could reproduce the comment - unfortunately I didn’t draft it in Word, and it didn’t even occur to me that Dell might “moderate” it. The comment was, furthermore, “on topic” for the “We’re Listening” thread.
Again, Dell can certainly run their blog any way they want. However, if they want to use it as a tool to reach out to customers, they might want to keep in mind how their customers (not just PR professionals) view their actions.
Ps. Where are you getting the quote about Dell’s “clear” policy from? It’s not on the About page, and it doesn’t come up when I run a “Find” on the blog page.
Posted by breakingranks on 07/15 at 06:31 PMIt’s on the comment page itself, breakingranks, right where you submit the comment.
I saw in a Dell post that they’re adding email address fields so they’ll be able to reply to commenters. One thing that would help a lot would be an email notification to those commenters whose submissions have been forwarded to tech support.
I wasn’t speaking specifically of your comments in terms of off-topic comments, but those that seek specific help with their own computers.
And by the way, while I don’t own a Dell, I’m a customer of a lot of other companies that aren’t making half the effort Dell seems to be making! Try dealing with Sony! As for being a PR professional, our job is to help our companies and clients maintain the best possible relations with publics—like customers!
In the end, I still think Dell deserves some time to shake this out. And I’d be interested in hearing how long it takes tech support to get in touch with you (assuming your comments were among those forwarded for specific action).
Posted by Shel Holtz on 07/16 at 04:54 AMThanks - I see the summary of the Comments policy was there. I wish there was a way to tell if Dell added or edited this after the complaint about suppressed comments. I honestly don’t remember at this point.
I do think hiding the product complaints is a bad idea, especially if the product complaint is embedded in a substantial post that covers other points. It seems like it’s a natural gesture for a customer to point to their product as an example.
I totally agree about Sony. They wouldn’t help me replace a simple usb cable after my house was burglarized and I lost just about everything of value I owned. :-p
I’ve also owned other computers since my first Dell. They all had poor customer service, which prompted me to enthusiastically recommend Dell to everyone who asked for my advice on buying a new computer. The change in Dell’s customer service was not only a big shock for me - it meant I’d been giving my friends bad advice.
I’m not trying to tear Dell down now, either. My interest is in encouraging Dell (and other corporations) to deal honestly with customers - or at least to loudly discourage dishonesty. Dell is of course going to get a lot of mixed messages while they try to “shake things out”. They’re discovering that bloggers include tech professionals, PR professionals, customer advocates, and many other conversation segments - and these all have diverging interests and conflicting advice.
Posted by breakingranks on 07/16 at 09:30 AM
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