Comments on: Business Post talks business blogging - Not one Irish blogger mentioned

By: Shane Dempsey

Shane Dempsey — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 19:29:49 +0000

A well written article that misinforms the reader is still factually inaccurate but more persuasive. I guess what surprised anyone who knows about blogging was that Edelman would be singled out as anything special. That’s not an insult to Edelman, just an assertion based on a knowledge of some of the best business blogs in Ireland, of which there are many. Still, regaining perspective, it’s a good thing they wrote the article at all.

By: omaniblog

omaniblog — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 14:17:50 +0000

I eventually got round to reading the SBP feature on Blogging.

I should admit that I have only recently returned to Ireland after 30 years in UK. I haven’t keep in touch with the Irish IT press, so I come to this piece on blogging with a limited perspective.

Only last week the Financial Times weekend magazine published a 6 page article on blogging: it was based on US material. (I’ve written about this on my blog.) Now this Irish one based on non-Irish material. What’s going on?

Maybe it’s a way of capturing readers’ attention: write about exotic views.

I feel a bit of perspective is needed: so few people in Ireland know what a blog is, so few people are blogging, that any publicity for blogging is good publicity at this stage. The informed debate among early adopters can contuinue regardless.

Now I want to get the Edelman booklet. Now I’ve read Edelman’s blog. Now I’ve found Irish bloggers who know good business blogs.

Yes, people like me read the SBP to keep abreast with how business in developing in Ireland. Yes we’d like to believe what we read but we don’t and that doesn’t matter - so long as it is well written.

By: John McCormac

John McCormac — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 09:50:14 +0000

Looked like a quickly rewritten press release to me. But then I tend to be rather cynical about the conventional media’s coverage of anything technological.

By: EWI

EWI — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 03:44:13 +0000

You are tough. You say that every post is a promotion, and you are surely right.

My beef is with Edelman’s claim otherwise, which is a laughable example (of the kind of PR-mummery being criticised in this blog post) that I just happened to pull on a whim.

This substitution of PR-speak for actual news and analysis is a damning trend in the Irish IT press (I can think of other publications who are just as guilty of it).

The role of Public Relations in damaging the necessary trust relationships within society (by promoting the routine use of half-lies and outright falsehoods by those in authority) is a phenomenon which greatly worries me as a concerned citizen, and I think has gone uncommented-on for far too long.

By: Eoghan McCabe

Eoghan McCabe — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 19:25:50 +0000

“In the past two years alone, trust in a ‘person like you’ as a source of information has doubled,” the report states.

I love the way they can measure things such as “trust in a ‘person like you’”!

By: omaniblog

omaniblog — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 15:46:39 +0000

EWI, Thank you for posting Edelman’s own blog. It’s just what I was looking for. I read the latest piece and it seemed an ordinary bit of interesting ideas. You are tough. You say that every post is a promotion, and you are surely right. I am promoting myself and my brand by writing this post. But if I were to write “you can find the best writing on this topic by visiting my blog…” that would be hyping wouldn’t it?

By: Walter

Walter — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 15:26:31 +0000

I’ve had to stop reading the SBP’s Computers_In_Business supplement for health reasons (bad for the ol’ blood pressure).
I got sick of reading puff pieces on self-appointed ‘thought leaders’ (is there any other kind) and ’strategic partnerships’ between IT supplier X and IT supplier Y (insert group suit photo). CiB is all PR masquerading as news.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28900

There. That feels better. (I guess Sxoop Technologies won’t be featured anytime soon in CiB).

By: Shane Dempsey

Shane Dempsey — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 14:22:54 +0000

I understand that the SBP is laden down with puff pieces for various companies but that doesn’t justify the poor coverage of firms besides Edelman. I guess my main problem with the piece is that, like several articles in the same publication, I feel it doesn’t put a fair and accurate picture of technology utilisation across and will therefore mislead readers. Many of the readers of the SBP computer section are business people who trust it to provide them with the knowledge necessary to identify technology improvements for their business and the copmanies who can deliver them . Many will have to take the information presented at face value.

By: EWI

EWI — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 11:55:45 +0000

If anyone’s interested, Edelman’s own blog is here:

http://www.edelman.com/speak_up/blog/

PR-speak that made my morning: “I have never used my blog as a means of self promotion or hyping our firm.” Except that (of course) every post on it is promotion of Edelman and his firm.

By: Piaras Kelly

Piaras Kelly — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 08:56:40 +0000

Look there’s been plenty of pieces on business blogging that haven’t mentioned any Irish business bloggers in other Irish publications. This is effectively a piece about Edelman, there is typically an article about a PR, Marketing or Advertising agency in the SBP marketing setion. I honestly wouldn’t lose much sleep over it.