THIS JUST IN: Bloggers make mistakes

It was the kind of story that social media bloggers love. Lawyers at an old economy company were ordering fans to "cease and desist" from showing their love for the brand in user generated content. In this case, Ford was barring Mustang lovers from using pictures of their cars in a calendar.

Great story. Except that it wasn't true.

As Shel Holtz wrote, Ford denied the report, saying it was actually the supplier, CafePress, that wouldn't print the calendars. But after one blogger published the initial report, dozens more piled on in judgement, without ever calling Ford for comment.

Holtz writes:

If I were working for a newspaper today, I would still call Ford. If I had opted to blog about this over the past couple days, I would not have. I’m as guilty as anyone else. (And thank goodness I passed on this story.)

Another example over the weekend: Fred Wilson calls out a couple of "journabloggers" for quoting people without checking the facts, then Michael Arrington of TechCrunch goes after Wilson for saying his own post was "conflicted and wrong."

Do bloggers make more mistakes than journalists?

Is the burden of accuracy different?

Are the consequences of making mistakes in a blog any less significant than in a newspaper or TV report?

These are some of the issues I'll be discussing this weekend at Podcamp Toronto in a seminar with my former Globe and Mail colleague Mathew Ingram. Since we are both bloggers who have also worked as journalists, we may be coming at this from a particular point of view. In the meantime, I'd love to hear your thoughts on these questions.

Why podcasts will take over the world

In February of 2005, I wrote a story in the Globe and Mail about how leading edge marketers were using a new technology to reach consumers -- The podcast. One example: Warner Bros. was releasing a daily podcast from Paris Hilton to promote her new film House of Wax.

I called a bunch of smart people at various ad agencies and branded content companies. Most had no idea what a podcast was.

In a year-end piece at the end of 2005, I opined that podcasts were a waste of time for marketers that were jumping in. People wanted to listen to music, not words, on their iPods, I wrote.

I was wrong.

As the months go by, I am increasingly convinced of the power of podcasts. In the spring of 2006, I recorded twice daily podcasts from the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival. I was still skeptical. I still hadn't begun listening to podcasts myself. But I came home to tremendously positive feedback from ad agency folk who had visited the Rivera vicariously through my podcasts -- some of which I recorded on the beach in Cannes, complete with ambient wave sounds.

Now I listen to five to ten podcasts a week dealing with marketing, public relations, social media, and, um, fantasy baseball.

Podcasts are growing like crazy -- an estimated 29,114 per cent in 2007 according to one estimate. And that growth will continue. Cars of the future will automatically download your favourite podcasts and have them ready for you to listen to at your convenience. There will be high-quality on-demand programming, targeting each and every interest and hobby -- and that will take a serious toll on traditional and satellite radio.

We're big believers in the power of podcasts at com.motion. That's why we're proud to sponsor Podcamp Toronto on Feb. 23 and 24. It's a free unconference dedicated to this exploding medium. You can find more information and register for the conference here.

The inspirational quote I would have shared

I messed up.

Each Friday, we finish up our weekly staff meetings with an inspirational quote. For the first time it was my turn. And I completely forgot.

I was going to use a quote from Bill Bernbach -- the "B" in ad agency DDB. I like the guy. I refer to him and his legacy when I'm trying to help clients and prospective clients understand and appreciate the way social media is redefining the entire marketing communications landscape. Bernbach is given credit for helping to launch a creative revolution in advertising around 1960, one that would forever alter the way in which marketers speak to consumers. The impact of social marketing is just as profound. I describe it as the second major revolution in marketing, with Bernbach's being the first.

Bernbach was also a quote machine. Here are some of his gems:

"A great ad campaign will make a bad product fail faster. It will get more people to know it's bad."

"Advertising doesn't create a product advantage. It can only convey it."

"In communications, familiarity breeds apathy."

"Nobody counts the number of ads you run; they just remember the impression you make."

"Our job is to sell our clients' merchandise... not ourselves. Our job is to kill the cleverness that makes us shine instead of the product. Our job is to simplify, to tear away the unrelated, to pluck out the weeds that are smothering the product message."

Today the quotes are a little dated. They came from an era when the best way to sell stuff was through TV ads. There were only three or three television stations in most markets and people watched shows in groups at predetermined times. The Internet wouldn't come to people's homes for another 35 years and digital video recorders were still 45 years away.

But replace the words "advertising" with "social media" in his quotes and they are just as relevant as they were in 1960.