I get my news from message boards
April 12th, 2007 by Crza under archive, gossip, rumors, skateboarding, webThere’s all this talk about the high value of having a website that is community driven and connects directly with the consumer. A part of it is to help curtail negative rumors and on the positive side learn more about who actually buys their stuff or relates to their brand. I remember when all us nerds were talking to executives about this rising trend and their response was “make a myspace page”. I don’t want to bore you with this beat-to-death topic but I recently stumbled upon an interesting chain of events that involves people talking shit on a message board and the guy behind (and in front) of the curtain fires back by responding on the message board and then doing a online interview. I guess some would call this the new age of the refined PR spin. Here’s the interview and here’s the post that appeared on Slap Message Boards. This whole scenario (and I know more like this) I guess would be summed up as a piece of “Conversation Architecture“
April 12th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Very interesting topic. All this “Web 2.0″ hype is getting boring and really old, but what’s cool is that the rise of user-generated content is turning the users of old into marketers, allowing them to alter a company or brand image and practically forcing many companies to shift down to a more personal level and engage in a conversation if they want to retain their position in the market. These new ways of interacting seem to be slowly transforming large companies from faceless skyscrapers on the horizon to cornershops where you can drop by and have a chat.
I think this is a good change.
I don’t agree with censoring content though, unless the content carries no useful meaning (spam, “first ps0t”). I’m not sure if Jamie asking Slap to take down that stuff was the best thing to do (can a couple guys on the Slap boards make such an impact on a company image?), but giving an interview like that is definitely a great way to destroy ‘misinformation’, if done properly.
April 12th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
I miss skateboardrumors.com
April 13th, 2007 at 8:22 am
Foxxyz, I totally agree with you on all fronts. It’s definitely getting more personal (one on one) now which is a good thing. I also agree it was lame of JT asking for the posts to be removed cause in reality it would of just been buried in a week or so and he could of offset the negative vibe. Huphz is right to I miss Sk8rumors but a company that was been plagued by that site did a smart move (or not so smart, you decide) and hired the dude behind it. Hence killing the site. As some of you know I’m really into riding in the woods (mountain pedaling) and there is this one company that is always on the MTB message boards and responds to good posts and negative posts. They even solve customer issues on the message boards. Cause of this interaction I feel more connected with the brand. Pretty awesome. Companies shouldn’t be scared to interact with the people. Huphz company (Incase) has taken that relationship to the next level with their new site.
April 16th, 2007 at 8:58 am
Oh the nail on the head was you talking about the companies’ response of “make a myspace page.” My bosses have been on this unrealistic idea that we can just put whatever up on the interweb and people will chain-link to it. They seriously wanted me to start going on message boards and spamming the shit outta them with, “hey check out our movie, it’s real cool,” thinking people would flock to it. I’ll admit I didn’t have the guts to tell them I wasn’t going to spam my friends and ruin what little “rep” I had on any message boards by spamming people. That’s what publicists and ad agencies do. It’s not my fault if they didn’t budget money for promotion. But I think they are wisin up to the fact that you can’t just put stuff up and expect people to randomly find it, like it, and pass it along.
I really think it goes back to the thinking that if you have a strong product, the brand will survive.
April 16th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
TT you are right. It’s hard to polish a turd. I don’t even think a myspace page will work for that. Great brands or great ideas behind the brand are what really draw the crowds.
April 17th, 2007 at 11:28 am
it’s coming back huphz: http://www.skateboardrumors.com or at least until they piss off danny way.
April 17th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
YESSS!!! Can’t wait. Awesomeness.