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February 19, 2006
Kawasaki touching bloggers
Kawasaki touching bloggers: Guy Kawasaki, ex Apple evangelist and current VC, offers a list of ways to influence weblog discussions. I was vaguely uncomfortable reading it, and saw similar reaction from Michael Arrington and Om Malik. I think the core may come out of our different employment experiences -- Guy was a celebrity persuader who aimed at turning people around to his point of view, and I come out of a tech support background and look more towards helping people achieve their goals, identifying and removing problems with use of the technology. Sometimes those problems are technology evaluations with colleagues, so I list here the best technology arguments I hear, but I don't really think about persuading others directly, more like setting up the conditions where others can persuade as they see fit. I think that Guy's demonstrably got a good point that it can be profitable to send gifts to influential bloggers and the rest, but that just doesn't feel right to me, I wouldn't be comfortable doing it. Then again, I've been disappointed in the past about where weblog conversation is and isn't, so I'm not all that sure my support-oriented approach is right, either. Do you have thoughts on this? Should Adobe weblogs try to actively persuade, per Guy's approach, or do you prefer other approaches to enriching a network of technologists, helping to get better choices deployed in the world? I think Guy's got a lot of good points in there -- it's not all-or-nothing -- but I'm sort of uneasy with the essay as a whole. Do you have thoughts in this area? Thanks.
Posted by John Dowdell at February 19, 2006 12:42 PM
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Comments
John,
Some additional thoughts for you. Many companies are tight-assed. That is, they don't send out review copies of software unless you "prove" you're a big deal. This is a mistake. They should, within reason, give software to anyone who looks like a reviewer.
If you think I'm recommending that companies "bribe" bloggers, it's not quite true. First of all, I don't think most bloggers can be bought for a free tshirt. But if you have tshirts, throw one into the box when you send the software.
Finally, consider this example. Suppose I throw a party for several hundred friends to celebrate the publishing of a friend's book. While they're at the party, I do demos of my new product. I think this is good PR. What do you think?
Guy
Posted by: Guy Kawasaki at February 19, 2006 01:29 PM
For review software, I'm more comfortable with the "anyone can download a fully-functioning trial" approach than to either (a) figure out who's important enough to get a not-for-resale copy or (b) give NFRs to anyone who asks.
I agree with you that there's a continuum, rather than sharp distinction, between things like deciding who to back-channel and who to invite to a party. All bloggers have a profit motive, but not all of those motives are measured in cash.
Posted by: John Dowdell at February 20, 2006 01:03 PM