Boomerang

You finally find a few spare minutes to do that online research you’ve been putting off, and start entering search terms into the Google blog search engine. You review a few blog postings that provide some data but you don’t see anything special. All of a sudden, you stumble across a blog that looks as if it could be of real value. But little do you know it’s actually a fake blog being auto-generated by a machine.

Unfortunately, social media isn’t always social. There is a growing number of blogs being created each day that have nothing to do with transparent communications as we know it. Bogus blogs are being set up by unethical marketers who are using them to increase rankings in search engines and build Google juice for embedded links that point to other sites on the web. These spam blogs or “splogs” are popping up everywhere and are as counterfeit as the old “imposter” fragrances that littered discount retail shops and drug stores back in the 80’s.

Splogs work by searching real blogs with specific keywords and “scrape” or copy the genuine content for its own use. With as many as 7,000 splogs created each day, they are clogging search engine pipelines and causing confusion for everyone. While the problem is still quite rampant, some search vendors are doing what they can to eradicate splogs from search results. For example, Google has done a good job cleaning house and deleting splogs created on its Blogger platform. In fact, Google may be doing too good of a job, since it accidentally classified one of its own blogs as spam and deleted it earlier this year. However, the problem is still overwhelming for those of us who monitor blogs on a daily basis.

Splogs offer no value to readers who find them, and the worst part is most people can’t distinguish a splog from a real blog. The most frequently asked question I get from colleagues is “how can I assess the validity and credibility of a blog?” It’s a common pain point for PR and communication folks as they increasingly gauge online conversations that are tied to corporate reputation, brand recognition, products and services. Now not only do we have to analyze what’s being said, we have to determine if the author has enough credibility to believe what they’re saying, or if there’s even an author at the helm of the blog at all!

Here are some sure-fire tips to help you weed out splogs from real blogs next you smell an imposter.

1. Go to the source – You need to go directly to the blog to look for clues. You can’t make a true assessment by reading a blog post from your RSS reader.
2. Look for biographical information – Search the page for the “About Me” link to see if the blogger has disclosed personal information. While some bloggers prefer to remain anonymous, most will at least assume some kind of persona. The lack of a name or personal info is a dead giveaway. Sometimes the name of the blog alone can tip you off that it’s fake.
3. Personal experience or perspective – Many bloggers will point to news or other blog posts but will normally tell us why it was worthy of a post. If you don’t see any personal insights or commentary and it reads like a press release or news article, move on.
4. Examine the blogroll – Legitimate bloggers will go to the trouble of setting up a blogroll to show who they read and admire. Click on a few of the links to evaluate the bloggers on that list.

Like a moth to flame, I find myself drawn to an experience that is more like a form of personal punishment: safeway.com.

Back in the day, we had Webvan, and, in my hazy, romanticized memory, the entire experience was flawless. The Webvan web site was intuitive and stocked with everything I wanted. The delivery people were friendly, on time, and had these cool wireless machines strapped to their belts that spit out a receipt while standing right there in my kitchen. I loved Webvan, but, alas, we all know what happened.

Enter Safeway – solid brand, good variety, acceptable produce on the right day and ready to pick up where Webvan left off. Except here’s the rub: They don’t deliver what you order. It’s become torturous fascination for me to receive my order, see what my “personal shopper” left off the list, and then go to the same Safeway from which the order originated, and find all the “missing items” right there on the shelves. It’s like I’m a contestant on Supermarket Sweep and I win every time!

Now if you call the corporate Safeway line to complain, they will most likely give you free delivery on your next order. (Hence you can see where my addiction stems! It’s unstoppable!) The very nice and usually on-time delivery driver tells me that the personal shoppers are just lazy and don’t look for things that are in less frequented aisles. (Since when do granola bars fall into the Endangered Food category?) The manager of the online service at the actual store, upon hearing my complaint week after week, tells me that perhaps I am mistaken – that probably, in the 30 minutes between when my order was delivered and when I hightailed it to the store, most likely a delivery truck arrived and stocked all of items I was missing. Remarkable!

I like the Internet. I want to use online services to make my busy life easier. But if these online/offline brands don’t get it figured out, well, there goes Webvan again.

After a band puts the finishing touches on a newly completed album, the music gets “shelved” for a few months while the PR machine works its magic. The subsequent three or four months are spent generating buzz and building anticipation. That may have been the case for quite some time, but not anymore. Radiohead is set to release its new album next week – without the help of a label – via digital download at http://www.inrainbows.com/

In a move that illustrates the band’s defiance of convention, and signals a departure from the major-label model, Radiohead plans to “sell” the download for as much (or as little) as fans are willing to pay. That’s right – Radiohead is allowing fans to pay whatever they see fit. That means fans can purchase the music for as little as a penny. It makes sense. CD sales have been going down steadily with the popularity of online file-sharing and the like. Why not give fans what they want, build interest in the new music and get on with the live tour?

Most of the buzz about Radiohead’s strategy revolves around the idea that the band is moving away from traditional methods – from pricing strategies to distribution. What I’m curious about, though, is how these changes will affect communication channels.

With the ability for bands to sell their goods as they create them, I wonder how we’ll keep on top of all the music news out there. Will we need to check the websites of every band we like for new music? Will those websites send us updates about what our favorite bands are working on? How will they do that? Through a blog? Through email? For groundbreaking bands like Radiohead with a strong, loyal fan base, word of mouth marketing and viral communications may just be enough.

Word has it that Jamiroquai and Oasis will follow Radiohead’s lead. As more musicians take control into their own hands, we’ll see how marketing and PR practices change along with it. We’ll see these shifts soon enough, but for now, let’s just enjoy Radiohead’s new album. As far as the music goes, it’s Radiohead as usual – simply fantastic.