Comments on: Meta-Blogging: The Fine Art of Outreach

By: Dale Dietrich

Dale Dietrich — Sat, 16 May 2009 14:02:59 +0000

What Brent said!

My question was, why didn’t Tricia just leave a comment to the post like everyone else?

…Dale

By: Brent

Brent — Sat, 16 May 2009 13:23:35 +0000

Did abe just say “nerd rage” really?!?

I just re-read Dave’s post and see absolutely nothing wrong with it. I was a bit more offended by abe’s rant in the comment where he attempted (in vain) to belittle you as a blogger.

By: Dave Zatz

Dave Zatz — Fri, 15 May 2009 18:36:03 +0000

Oh, I’m perfectly calm and my ego is fine. I’m sharing a blogger’s perspective as a freebie tip to PR professionals looking for a little insight in our thought processes and how they might maximize impact to the benefit of their clients. But I don’t claim to be a “journalist” and I’m not overly concerned with the size of my readership – blogging is a fun activity I do in my free time. Having said that, we absolutely want our content to be accurate.

And honestly I thought I was being relatively polite and professional, refraining from implying Mr. Towes’ presentation might have been closer to a sales pitch and not suggesting any clarity issues may have partially been his responsibility.

As far as using names, I didn’t think anything of it. So maybe that’s on me. My name’s out in the open, as is Mari’s, Tricia’s a spokesperson – we’re used to being in the public (Internet) eye. And here on ZNF we regularly quote or cite people. And are regularly quoted or cited in turn. But given the nature of this post, perhaps I should have used more discretion. So I’ll take that point into consideration the next time I run critiques such as these, thanks. (And I’ve just removed her last name.)

By: Abe

Abe — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:41:50 +0000

Dave,

Singling someone, or some agency, out is one thing (and perhaps this is your style, I don’t read your blog regularly), but posting the employee’s full name as a part of your quote is another.

If you expect people to take you seriously while you defend whatever assaulted your ego last, at least try to muster up some semblance of professionalism while indulging your nerd rage.

Just because you have a blog that some people read doesn’t make you a journalist. I’m sure there is a litany of 12 year olds with a bigger readership than you who handle their online persona better.

You made a mistake, someone thought it was worth correcting (and I see nothing wrong with how they did it). Calm down, have a coke and a smile, and enjoy your Friday.

By: Todd

Todd — Fri, 15 May 2009 12:32:11 +0000

I was just watching a documentary about Lutheranism on PBS. It chronicled Martin Luther’s life, the significance of his actions and the implications of removing all the artificial constructs that the Catholic church inserts between the people and their beliefs. Lutherans apparently *really* resent that the Catholic priesthood insist on being the “brokers of faith”, that the people are too stupid to have a direct relationship with their God, and must be given an interpretation of what is right and wrong. I am not a religious person, so this was all new, and very interesting to me.

…people not allowed to have direct access to information? Self proclaimed experts artificiality inserting themselves in between the people and what they consider important? Those same artificial authorities speak “down” to the people, full of hubris and condescension?

By: Dave Zatz

Dave Zatz — Fri, 15 May 2009 12:09:49 +0000

Sorry to single you out, Tricia – your note came the same day I was processing this topic. The outreach wasn’t horrible, but it could have used some help as described above. We do appreciate you noting the author of the post – many PR folks (and readers) frequently miss that. And as you heard from Mari, we did modify the post title and provided additional clarification as an addendum: it’s not a product launch, it’s a feature launch.