Q&A with Robert Scoble on Blogging, Media and PR

Robert Scoble, Technical Evangelist, Platform Evangelism at Microsoft, pens Scobleizer, one of the Web’s most influential blogs. He has thousands of readers and is frequently quoted in the tech and business press. (Recommended reading: recent articles on Scoble in the New York Post and Seattle P-I).

Scoble has been blogging for three years and before that helped plan conferences at Fawcette Technical Publications, and was director of marketing for UserLand Software, a developer of Weblog and content management software. Previously he was a sales support manager at NEC.

Scoble has been involved in online communities for more than a decade. He says he has been fiddling around with personal computers since the late 1970s, when his dad bought home an Apple II. He grew up about a mile from Apple Computer's headquarters in Silicon Valley.

Recently I conducted an email interview with Robert on his experiences working with PR pros. This is the first in series of "Bloggerside Chats" I plan to run on this blog. If there's someone you feel my readers would enjoy hearing from, please send a note my way. The full Q&A follows.

Robert, in the past year or two your Scobleizer has grown quite a bit. Are you now pitched by PR people and, if so, what about? Are you ever interrupted by phone pitches during business hours?

SCOBLE: Occasionally, yes. Mostly they're not Microsoft-based PR folks and they just want to make me aware of their products. Sometimes folks inside Microsoft will see that I wrote about their teams and will give me more information. The Windows Media team, for instance, brought over a case of devices and let me play with them so that I'd be better informed about what they are doing.

How well do you feel the PR community understands blogging/news aggregating?

SCOBLE: Some people really understand it very well. Renee Blodgett, for instance, runs PR for NewsGator, which is a RSS News Aggregator that plugs into Outlook.

Others are outwardly afraid of it. At the Demo Conference a PR professional told me that bloggers freak her out. Why? Because PR professionals are paid to control a company's message. If you have all of your employees blogging there's a fear that there will be a lack of control.

Do you think PR pros approach bloggers like yourself the same way they might approach a journalist? How should PR pros approach bloggers and what should they expect from their efforts to influence them?

SCOBLE: Some are now, but mostly they don't even know that we exist, and if they do know, they assume that because we have small audiences that we aren't powerful. For instance, I have only 4000 readers. Not powerful, right? Especially in a world of Dan Gillmors and Walt Mossbergs. But, the weblog world is distributed and efficient at passing information around.

What do I mean? Well, two weeks ago we launched Channel9 and already we've had several hundred thousand visits.

Buzz Bruggeman, who is CEO for ActiveWords, told me that he was written up in USA Today. Got a really great review. The kind that PR professionals kill for. And he got 40 downloads of his product. But when I linked to him he got several hundred downloads. Lesson? Don't underestimate the weblog world.

What journalistic ethics do you feel bloggers should abide by, if any, since they're not actually journalists?

SCOBLE: You only get one chance at keeping your site credible. If you lie to your readers it'll be quickly figured out.

The rest of it? Be smart. Read my Corporate Weblogger Manifesto. That covers the basics.

What is the future of micromedia? Do you feel that blogs and participatory journalism will one day replace mainstream media in the future?

SCOBLE: No, but it will change. Why? What happens during the next big earthquake, for instance, in California? Will the hundred or so journalists that work for the San Jose Mercury News be able to cover the story very well? No. There are thousands of people who live in San Jose who are bloggers. The trick for the mainstream media is to figure out how to work with bloggers. Already some of them are doing just that. Many journalists are reading blogs to gather news. Many others are keeping blogs themselves and building ties to the community.

But, will I replace Walt Mossberg? Heck no. I am not able to cover the industry objectively the way he does. I also don't have a content distribution channel (which is exactly what the Wall Street Journal is) that'd get my content to millions of people. I don't harbor thoughts of putting Walt or other journalists out of work.

What is your interaction like with Microsoft's corporate communications department and/or their PR firms? Do they ever critique your posts or even pitch you? What about competitors?

SCOBLE: They are friendly to me and trying to figure out the new world. They don't need to pitch me. I work hard to understand what Microsoft is doing and it's part in the world. Usually the people who pitch me are other employees who are simply excited by what they are working on. The SPOT watch team, for instance, contacted me one day and said "come over and check out what we're doing." Lots of other teams have done the same thing, particularly now that Channel9 has had some success.

Recently you wrote a post about persuasion. How do you feel about PR pros launching corporate blogs to persuade public opinion? What tips can you offer PR pros considering launching blogs for internal/external clients?

SCOBLE: Be careful about doing it. Read that post carefully. You'll see that there's two philosophies on how to persuade. One works online with people who can research what you're saying and can talk to each other.

One doesn't. Why is that? Read that rant and find out why. If you blog make sure you do it to become an authority on the topic you're writing about. If you see it as another way to post press releases you'll do yourself and your company a lot of harm.

What is the impact RSS on PR and on blogging?

SCOBLE: In any population of, say, 1000 people, there are 15 who are just ultra knowledgeable, passionate, and are seen as authorities that the rest of the population looks up to. For instance, how big is the US? How many Walt Mossbergs are there?

These people are connectors. Influentials. The press. The analysts. Now, how can they get information most efficiently? Email? Nope. Ever look at a journalist's in box? Ask Dan Gillmor of the San Jose Mercury News, for instance, to show you his inbox (he even pleas with PR professionals to only send him relevant emails, read this).

The Web? Nope. Think about it. You're a journalist or an influential. You need to watch 100 companies (and some companies, like Microsoft, are really more like 100 companies in of themselves -- there are entire Web sites, for instance, like WatchingMicrosoftLikeaHawk.com or ActiveWin or Microsoft Monitor that keep tabs on Microsoft). Can you do that efficiently with a Web browser No. Why not?

Well, most companies don't publish new info every day. With RSS I only need to read a site when they actually publish something. The SPOT watch team, for instance, has only had a few times that they need to communicate with the world. Why should I visit every day with a Web browser? Why should someone like Walt Mossberg?

Why did you choose to launch an aggregation blog?

SCOBLE: Because I was watching 1430 RSS feeds (I couldn't have done that if I only had a Web browser) and I was finding fascinating things that I wanted to make sure the world saw. Most people can't keep up with 1400 news sources (in my RSS aren't just blogs, but news sources like the BBC, the New York Times, CNET, etc) but most people can watch a single blog that serves as an aggregation point.
That's why I did it, and it was very popular. I've temporarily stopped doing it because of copyright concerns, but it'll be back soon in a new form.

Finally, how does your blog synergize with Microsoft's marketing efforts to energize the developer community behind .NET and Longhorn?

SCOBLE: Oh, I don't really see myself as synergizing with Microsoft's marketing efforts, but generally I try to make my readers aware of important things that are happening. I also point at things our competitors are doing that are cool, and point at things that I think my readers should know. I meet a lot of really interesting people in the industry and get to see a lot of technology in its early stages, so I try to share my insights with my readers. That's why a blog is different from marketing. It can help marketing, sure, but if you really want an audience you better serve your readers first and any corporate concerns second.

Comments

[Buzz Bruggeman]

Great piece, Steve! Scoble is the best. I think that there are lots of pieces of the marketing puzzle. My take is when bloggers write about you, they don't pull punches, and point out the good and the bad. We value all of the writing that we get about ActiveWords, but it is clear to us, that when someone reads about us on a blog, they can click through in a second, and see what we are about. When there is a print piece, even though the circulation is larger, there is a lot of "noise" with it, and a seeming disconnect between the time that people read a review, and the time when they have time to look at your product. I think that blogs are a brilliant channel for small companies looking to both leverage their brand, and reach out to people who influence others in a meaningful way.

Buzz

[Trevor Cook]

A very good interview. the chats are a good initiative - keep it up Steve

[sdfffres]

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