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Robert Scobleizes New York

Microsoft blogger Robert Scoble yesterday regaled a crowd of more than 125 at a meeting -- co-sponsored by Cymfony -- of New York's Business Development Institute. (You can hear the webcast replay here.) Can anyone really be that cheerful?  Scoble sure does love his job, which he describes as being able to prowl Microsoft's development labs with a $700 video camera, asking people what they're up to. He made many an interesting point yesterday, as captured by SearchViews.

As the moderator of the discussion, I had a bit of a challenge. Yes, Robert has earned every bit of notoriety he has received. Yes, he is sincere, writes well and exemplifies how an individual single-handedly can improve a corporate reputation. But I wondered to what extent Scoble's rise is an accident of history.

Scoble joined Microsoft in the spring of 2003, during a time when the Redmond regime had been declared a monopolist by courts in Europe and America. Microsoft had a keen interest in "developing a human face," as Robert phrased it yesterday. It served the company's purpose to elevate trusted individuals to help Microsoft blog its way back to credibility.

Few other companies today feel the urgency Microsoft does.  For most, a blogging presence is a trendy "nice-to-have" that -- for the next year or two at least -- will best serve as a 21st century extension to the same old process of manufacturing a marketing message and delivering it through the appropriate channels. Or so they believe.

I would love to be wrong about this. Am I?

Posted by Sam on May 4, 2005 at 12:43 PM | Email this post Permalink

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Comments

i think you are wrong, robert had a blog prior to joining msft - and his boss lenn was enlightened enough to let him continue to do it...

robert is just good at his job, and blogging is just one tool in his kit - it shows...

as for the companies that only use their blogs for manufactured marketing msgs, they will i'm sure only do them for a short time and then lose interest out of ignorance...

those however that use their blogs to actively engage their customers in open two-way conversations will view their blogs as mission critical - of the same level of importance as their manufacturing & erp systems...

Posted by: mike dunn | May 7, 2005 1:59:46 PM

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