Pete Blackshw

Author: Pete Blackshaw
Published: 2008

Blackshaw covers how the internet allows people to sound off on companies, creating Consumer Generated Media (CGM). There are many examples of good and bad corporate behavior on their websites. Blackshaw advocates for transparency and truth.
 

This is all well and good and interesting, but I think in some cases the author is confusing cause and effect and asserting people have more power and influence than they have in reality. Here are a few examples from the book.
 

Blackshaw cites a customer who was angry with AOL in 2006 and how that customer's web rage has caused AOL a lot of problems. Putting AOL and 2006 together tells more about AOL's problems than one very visible angry customer. AOL's problems were writ large almost 15 years ago when a free and open internet started to explode.
 

Then there are tales of Dell's poor customer service over the last few years. I've heard and read about this, but it wouldn't stop me from buying a computer from them. And I don't believe it has dragged Dell down from being the largest computer maker in the world.
 

In terms of transparency, the author could have been a little clearer himself. I accept he is an expert in this field based on his past marketing work and his current company. There are many references to his company and the advice he has given his clients. Now if he were purely honest and transparent, shouldn't he state clearly that this book is in part a marketing message for his own business?
 

It did make me wonder about my own website. To my knowledge, I haven't been dishonest here. I don't say explicitly "This website is to promote my writing career". That should be obvious.
 

A better example is this posting on Blackshaw's book and the ALOBIR section of the website (plug plug plug). I track the books I'm reading primarily for my own benefit, to see in some statistical measures what I've been reading. If it's of interest to anyone else, great! There is an added bonus.
 

I've found that a fair amount of web searches that lead to my site are for the books/authors/topics that I'm posting. If posting these books wasn't helpful to me, if I were doing it purely for the search results, that would be dishonest web marketing. So I pledge here and now, with full transparency, to stop posting books if I ever get bored with it. :-)