A Press Release Isn't a Blog Comment

I always welcome comments on my posts from vendors - after all they're the ones with the in-depth domain knowledge about areas I'm writing about.

I can even live with a bit of a commercial bent to the comments - after all there is a reason the vendors spend their precious time writing comments, it's only fair that they get to push their own message a little.

But when the commenting system gets subverted and becomes a complete public relations exercise it's time to call the offending party out.

So today's brickbat goes to Interprise and specifically Evolve Systems that distributes the Interprise product in Australasia. On two of my recent posts (here and here) they used the opportunity to comment on a SaaS accounting related post of mine. Unfortunately the opportunity to comment with a relevant and pithy observation was replaced with the pasting in of a glib press release pushing their product.

Guy's social media in general, and blogging in particular is a fantastic opportunity to capture the thoughts and needs of the community and to join them in a dialogue relevant to your business - when you use that opportunity however to shove marketing spin down their throats you immediately lose and "new paradigm" mojo you might have had.

Sorry, but that's a fail...

One way to measure such a comment, and something that I try to follow when writing blog posts, is to measure the percentage of original content vs. the percentage of comment taken from another source. I don't know what a "proper" percentage would be (some argue 0%, I go a little higher). However, In these two cases, the only original comment was "This may be of interest" in one comment, and "Interesting press release" in the other. And it's stretching it to refer to that as "original." But the technique is easy and doesn't take a lot of time or thought. The pity is that the distributor could have addressed the content of your post and then (as you suggest) introduce "a bit of a commercial bent." If the distributor's product addresses the issue you raised, then it's not just an advertisement, but useful information. But that takes work, and pasting in a press release is so much easier. (The bad side to Steve Rubel's "text is easier to manipulate" argument, I guess.) (Found this via a Google Reader share by Sarah Perez, by the way.)

A Press Release Isn't a Blog Comment

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