An interesting thing occured on Monday, November 24th: One of the legendary web 2.0 digerati apologized.
Kevin Rose, the founder of Digg.com, one of the most talked about sites on the planet, apologized for a rude and sexist joke on his most recent video podcast Diggnation.
But it got me thinking about something that I’m surprised I haven’t blogged about yet, especially considering some of “craziness” I’ve experienced through the interwebs.
Blogging, for most part and for many is a one-way street. It’s a digital megaphone to the public. It’s a personal soapbox and a electronic pulpit. It’s a place where apologies aren’t required.
But that’s if you hold the aforementioned definition of “blogging” to be true.
And for some, it is. For others, like myself, blogging is about relationships. You see, I’m more interested in using my blogs to build relationships with other people instead of making sure that my own voice can be heard in the blogospheric galaxy.
And just like in real relationships, things get tough: Feelings get hurt, things get twisted and go all Robbie Williams on you (read: “Misunderstood“). People get passionate and emotional, people get upset and say things they don’t really mean, people sin.
All this means is that people have to learn to apologize, and do it on their blog.
So when was the last time you used your blog as a digital confessional?
John Saddington
I am the CEO of 8BIT and a Full Time Entrepreneur/a>. I like what I do.
I have not encountered this yet myself, but that is probably due to the lack of a solid readership at this point. Mainly friends and clients who need the information.
I did wonder about this at one point. I read a recommendation for this guy's blog based on another blog I read. About three posts in, the recommended author went on a huge rant about how this was his blog and he did not care about people's complaints that he was going way off topic. Basically he disregarded their desires on his blog and got angry with the complainers.
First I deleted the subscription on my gooreader, but then contemplated whether he was right or not. It is his blog, but then what about the community?
I love the community aspect with blogging and think you are right. "to 3rr is human" and as such we will make mistakes and subsequently will need to apologize from time to time.
Leo… you'd actually have a good perspective on this since you're into marketing, etc…
What if, say, your "blog" is a corp blog… and not so much a personal. is that a reason NOT to apologize?
this question has been brought up in numerous circles… love to have your thoughts.
If the need arises I would actually recommend apologizing when writing a corporate blog just as much as when writing a personal one. The main reason is authenticity. From a marketing perspective, authenticity and bringing humanness to a corporation are extremely valuable. No longer are corporations the big faceless businesses like the Big Blue image back in the 80's/early 90's. Being authentic (or human – see my comment above) means owning up to mistakes if they are made.
The other reason a corporate blog might need to apologize deals is when mistakes are made outside of the blogosphere. I think the recent Motrin issue would be a great example of this. If Motrin had been good web marketers, they would have immediately seen the chatter concerning the strong distaste for their new ad. They would have written a blog article about it immediately, thus showing their concerns for their audience. They would have removed the ad from the website ASAP and would have then replaced it with the aforementioned article and appropriate links. They should have also sent a Tweet out apologizing for the ad to their followers. Some of those followers would then retweet it and word would have spread.
Instead, they basically just took down the website, which really did nothing with connecting with their audience. As a result the backlash continued (and maybe still continues??).
If you are going to apologize and recognize your mistakes away from the blog then why not recognize them in the blog when it is appropriate. Again, being authentic is key to successful Web 2.0 marketing and to not recognize that and adapt might be hubris.
I hope that adds to the discussion – I might have to add this comment to my blog or write a new blog article by itself concerning this subject.
you could probably write a series on this… would be extremely valuable to your clients.
a "how to" guide…!
Awesome! I have been praying a lot about some new topics that might have some impact on my readers. I think you have helped me out with it. Sweet and you rock!!
*bow*
Hm. Didn't know about that. I'll have to go back and check out that podcast. I don't want to comment too much on it before watching it, but it seems like that was a nice move on Kevin's part.
Also, in context, the idea of apologizing publicly is definitely appropriate. Good thought. That's essential to building relationships, and blogging is (/should be/is becoming) all about relationships.
hmmmmm…i may have to post about this one…said some harsh comments a couple of years back about a famous evangelical…took lots of heat, apologized, etc…but I grew from it and helped me decide what I wanted and didn't want my blog to be about…and I didn't want to get attention or traffic for being negative and attackful…
Steven, right on bro. but, you don't see it happen much, do you…? *sigh*…
i think from your end of the field you'd have lots to say about this sort of thing….
sweet dude. great post…!
I agree that many folks just aren't "getting it".
This post, and recent discussion with Pete Wilson (http://withoutwax.tv), prompted me to go post something. I just had to borrow your paragraph about "blogging is about relationships". You can check it out here: http://seekingafter.blogspot.com/2008/12/without-…