A couple weeks ago, Ray Welling interviewed me for a podcast, HotHouse podcast: Online conversation marketing – are you coming to the party? and, to my surprise, followed up with an analysis of what I actually said at 100-miles-per-hour in the podcast in the form of Being there: tend to your brand online and reap the benefits:

Being there: tend to your brand online and reap the benefits

Treat your marketing like a garden and you’ll survive the economic downturn.

Have you seen the classic film Being There? The main character Chauncey (played by Peter Sellers) is a mentally-challenged gardener who through a few twists of fate ends up being a respected political adviser and commentator (I can heartily recommend you getting it out on DVD – a funny film with pointed social commentary that still stings today).

Anyway, when he’s asked his opinion on world events, Chauncey starts talking about the only thing he knows – gardening – and he slowly and deliberately describes the process of planting seeds, watering them, pulling out weeds, pruning, and harvesting. Everyone who listens to him puts their own spin on what he ‘really’ means, and he quickly becomes an internationally respected political guru.

Chris Abraham, interviewed for our recent HotHouse podcast, says Chauncey Gardner’s gardening analogy is particularly apt for online social media marketing today.

Abraham, online PR specialist and president and COO of online consultants Abraham Harrison, based in Washington and Berlin, argues that despite the right-now, viral nature of the Internet, building a company’s brand through social media takes time.

He loves to use real-life analogies:

“Building your communications online is like seeding a reef,” he says. “You have to hang out in the ecosystem, become part of that ecosystem, occasionally adding things that become part of the reef. And if you’re there long enough, the reef builds around you.”

Moving from fish to people, Abraham says social media marketing, or as he calls it, ‘online conversation marketing’, is:

“like going to a party – you need to understand what the ‘lingua franca’ is, who your host is, what kind of appropriate gift you should bring, how people talk, and what people expect.”

He says companies need to become ambassadors for their brand as they take their marketing online – no broadcasting or shouting in this new environment, just a focus on others and a diplomatic tone.

Five dos and don’ts

Another new media marketing consultant, Joseph Jaffe, author of Join the Conversation and Life After the 30 Second Spot, says there are five key things businesses can do to start participating in online conversation marketing:

• Listening – so you can make your contribution to the conversation real, not just hype
• Responding – whether approaches are negative or positive
• Joining in – making non-partisan contributions to position yourself to be invited to join the conversation
• Catalysing – empowering customers to demonstrate your brand on your behalf
• Starting – being a conversation conduit and starting a conversation

He also says that companies shouldn’t be:

• Fake – instead, be transparent in your communications
• Manipulative – don’t try to fool other participants, but instead be open
• Controlling – understand that you can’t control everything all of the time
• Dominating – the world doesn’t operate solely on your terms, allow others room to talk
• Avoiding – marketing is no longer a spectator sport, you must be active and participate

Ritu Pant from the Marketing Hackz website, puts it concisely:

“Conversation marketing is nothing but a way to gain recognition and create a presence among your potential customers. The only thing that is required in order to carry an effective marketing campaign is the ability to dedicate time and be a part of the community.”

“….There is no requirement that you have budget for marketing because it simply requires your time and effort in effectively carrying on a two-way communication. This is one of the reasons why social media has become so powerful in online advertising. If your business doesn’t exist on the web, you are pretty much non-existent.”

Conversations in tough times

The question on every online marketer’s lips is “How will the global financial crisis (GFC) affect e-marketing? Will it be tougher to get companies to spend money on unproven techniques, or will the cost-effective and measurable nature of e-marketing create a boom amid the gloom?

Chris Abraham has some strong opinions on the issue:

“We need to recognize that this is going to be a deep, deep recession – one that’s going to last for a long time,” he says. “Recessions have major ramifications on how consumers spend their income, how companies formulate their budgets, and, perhaps most importantly, how marketing is viewed.  In a recession, marketing is often viewed as an expense…not an investment.

“(In times like the present) decision makers often want to work with ‘proven’ models that they’re familiar with.  And these models will often be pushed by their traditional agencies because those agencies provide these services.  Of course, (what is) proven may no longer mean effective – but at least it has been done before and for the decision makers, it’s best to stick with what is familiar.”

Particularly in the current financial environment, he says, “traditional marketing still very much has a primary role…. we can’t… dismiss traditional type stuff as being ‘so 20th Century’.  The end user – the consumer – will be getting the information they seek on products from various sources. “

Abraham says it’s important to integrate conversation marketing with traditional marketing techniques:

“Social media may not be for every business.  Or, more realistically, the emphasis placed upon social media will vary depending on the client’s needs and the industry they are in.  In practically every case social media will be only part of the equation.”

Abraham encourages new media marketers to turn down the hype and turn up the practicality. “Ladies and gentleman, this is a transformation.  An evolution.  One that is bringing about substantial change.  But the change isn’t absolute nor is it complete.  People may not want every brand to try to ‘engage’ them.  They may want to just buy something and be left alone.

“We need to stop the shrill ‘change or die/nothing will ever be the same’ mantras.  Yes, change is happening, but we need to remember that we are pioneers and early adopters.  Not everyone has a Facebook profile or a Twitter presence and most people don’t religiously read blogs.”

I’ve been thinking a bit about Chauncey Gardner, and I reckon that if he was around today he would be a hit on Twitter. The most popular Twitterers are people who dispense timeless common sense that strikes a chord with everyone, rather than those tweeting about the bleeding edge of technology.

As Chauncey says, a patient, long-term approach will help all marketers steer and develop their business successfully through the recession and beyond.

You are not too late to enjoy the benefits of social media — you will never be too late — because the spoils in social media marketing go to the company that can maintain its social media participation over the long haul over the long term. Start now, start later, and I guarantee that if you’re a lion-hearted social media marathoner, you’ll probably best your competition.  Anyway, Joseph Ratliff did a brilliant job getting you motivated in How The Social Media Promotes Your Business:

The great thing about social media marketing is it offers a place to talk about your business in a new setting that is a lot less threatening than many other types of advertising. Social media is not about the hard sell. Instead, it focuses on creating relationships with people. Social media allows business people to share some of their personal lives with others. This helps to overcome any fear or reservations connected to buying from people online.

If you’ve started a blog for your business, you already have your foot in the water. The next logical step is to begin commenting on other blogs related to your business. Spend some time searching for a few blogs that you enjoy and subscribe to them via an RSS feeder to manage your time. This will allow you to follow several blogs without having to go to each one every day. When you find a post you can contribute a useful comment to, go to the site and offer your thoughts. Leave a link, if you can, so the audience can link to your own blog. Make this a part of routine at least three times a week.

Next, choose one or two social media communities to join. There are dozens and dozens out there, so do not try to become visible everywhere. Two of the most popular social media communities for business networking are Twitter and Facebook. Both of these are effective sites to increase your relationship building skills with prospects. Combine some personal tidbits with some business information until you discover the perfect mix of both. Do not just focus on building big numbers of friends or followers. It isn’t all about the numbers. Instead, build a little slower and spend your time interacting with the people you meet.

Bloody great advice from Tom Foremski of Silicon Valley Watcher, Can You Advise Clients On Social Media If You Aren’t On Facebook Or Twitter?

• You cannot know much about social media by reading about social media.
• If you don’t blog, or aren’t involved in blogging through reading and commenting, you cannot know about blogging.
• If you don’t use Facebook you can’t know what is acceptable behavior on Facebook.
• If you don’t use Twitter you cannot know what is possible with Twitter.

Via Search Engine Journal, Oscars Predictions for 2009 Winners Online:

• AOL’s MovieFone 2009 Oscar Predictions : AOL has put together a slideshow of their Oscar Pool predictions and have picked Penelope Cruz for Best Supporting Actress & Sean Penn as Best Actor from the film Milk.
• Oscar Frenzy : A blog crazy about the Oscars with their predictions list and a vibrant commenting frenzy, Oscar Frenzy has gone against the grain and predicted that Revolutionary Road will win the Best Picture.
• MSN Movies : MSN, like most other online entertainment sites, is not predicting that Mickey Rourke will win Best Actor, and feels that Sean Penn will win it for Milk, although they say Rourke should win because he has earned it.
• Oscars on Go.com : Of course since ABC is hosting the actors they can’t really predict the winners without there being any controversy, but they have set up the Official Oscars site with live streaming of the Oscars and the Red Carpet festivities.

Jonathan Trenn popped this insightful article about Yelp over on Marketing Conversation, The contorversy about Yelp (and be sure to check out David Gelles’ article on a similar topic over at the Financial Times, Yelp rejects claims of extortion):

Ah, controversy.

Now, it’s with Yelp, the mega online review site.  On Wednesday, the East Bay Express, an alternative newspaper that covers Alameda and Contra Costa counties in California, published a very provocative article , “Yelp and the business of extortion 2.0″ on the sales operations and tactics of Yelp.  The paper made some very pointed accusations, some of them seemingly legitimate while others sounding too nebulous.  They state that Yelp is both maniupulating the placements of restaurants reviews as sales tools and then using scare tactics to then solicit advertising sales from these same restaurants.

The accusations are alarming but, because I think the article was poorly presented, it’s left me thinking that Yelp perhaps had a major sales problem in one office as opposed to a company wide sleaze factor policy.

Yelp’s initial response, written on the company blog by CEO Jeremy Stoppleman is inept and insufficient.  He’s likely satisfied that his blog posts are enough…and it may appear to be just that for the time being…but controversies such as this, be they true or just speculation, have a way of undermining a company’s integrity in a hurry.  Especially a site that 1)  is about user generated online reviews, and 2) has trust as a hallmark of its standing.

Oddly, the Yelp blog doesn’t allow comments.  That’s not a good idea…especially for a site that’s about online reviews and citizen participation.

Here’s the gist of the article.  Writer Kathleen Richards talked to “dozens” of business owners over the “past several months” and found that six of them said that Yelp sales reps promised to remove or move bad reviews if the business chose to advertise.  And these businesses would often get sales calls from Yelp reps soon after they mysteriously started getting a rash of negative reviews.  The theory here is that Yelp employees would start to or enlist others to write negative reviews on a company, those reviews would then appear at the top of a company’s page, and the company would get a phone call from a rep looking for an advertising by so those reviews can “go away”…usually to the tune of $300 a month.

For those that declined, positive reviews seemed to begin to disappear.  For those that did manage to buy, negative ones began disappearing.

This is pretty damning stuff.  If true, it shows a coordinted effort between people in sales those on the back end tech team.  It made some establishments feel as if Yelp was acting as if it was the “mafia” in that Yelp was threatening establishments to pay (advertise) in order to not be damaged.  That’s called “protection money” in organized crime.

But as I red between the lines I ended up scratching my head.   Over several months, after talking to “dozens” of businesses, Richards found six restaurants that felt that either they were being offered a quid-pro-qo for advertising to reduce or eliminate bad reviews; or some felt that this extended to manipulative threats of the placement of poor reviews and the elimination of postive reviews.

“Dozens.  “What does that mean?  36?  60?  84?  How did Richards find these restaurants?  Did she talk to one and then ask the owner/manager if he or she knew of any others that had similar stories?  Both questions are important.   The first because it leads to how widespread the problem actually is in the Bay Area and the second, because if there is a lack or randomness to all this, then the sample restaurants are self selected by the reporter.

The article relies on the how some of the restaurant owners “feel”.  These feelings may be completely legitimate.  But it is hard to counter a “feelings”e of another is the one with the feelings remain anonymous.  I fully believe in using anonymous sources, but there should be greater evidence used.  That is, if one is trying to prove that this is a consistent sales tactic used by the company as a whole.

And speaking of as a whole.  This article seems to be focusing soley on the East Bay restaurant seen.  True, it is an East Bay pub, but the article is written as if it is a widespread problem and the issue here is “the business of extortion”.  It fully damns the Yelp based on a small sample of local business’ feelings.

Stoppleman has since written a few more blog posts, but he could use a change of attitude.  There’s been enough discussion on the net about this article denigrating Yelp.  Hundreds of tweets on Twitter, negative mentions on Technorati, and articles in substantial online pubs.

The reason why I say that Stoppleman could use a change of attitude is because he’s treating all of this as an illegitimate attack.  The accusations, regardless of their veracity, at least sound reasonable.  And his defensiveness doesn’t really address the issue.

He does have on post that does work, at bit, in my opinion.  “Nine Myths About Yelp” is designed to negate what he feels are falsehoods.  The most important one he lists is #3 (it should be #1, but he doesn’t seem to realize it).  It is stated here:

Myth #3: Yelp salespeople manipulate reviews for prospective advertisers (for example, offers to remove a negative review if a new client signs up, or a threat to remove positive reviews if the business owner does not choose to advertise with Yelp)

Reality: We have every reason to trust the smart, hard-working and ethical salespeople who work at Yelp.  Beyond this, to avoid even an appearance of impropriety, we’ve taken several steps to ensure no member of our team is tempted to game the system.  Specifically:
1. Yelp salespeople do not have access to the system that deletes reviews; only a few members of Yelp engineering and user support team have this access, and they literally work on different floors within the office.
2. Every Yelp salesperson signs an agreement that s/he will not write reviews of any business while employed by Yelp.  We trust our teammates in sales to live up to this commitment.  We also have several monitoring systems in place to ensure nobody (accidentally or otherwise) crosses this line.
3. Through our vigilance, we once did find a salesperson who encouraged a friend to write a positive review for a prospective client (that the friend had actually patronized). The salesperson’s role at Yelp ended that day.
4. When a new advertiser signs up with Yelp, the relationship is handed off to an Account Manager.  The Account Manager then takes the client through a 30 minute phone training session — and confirms that reviews have nothing to do with advertising.
5. After the training call, the Account Manager sends a follow up survey that asks each client how much s/he agrees with the following statement: “I understand that Reviews are completely separate from the Yelp Ad Program, and that there is an automated filter that may suppress some of my reviews whether or not I am a client.”  Any client who does not click “Completely Agree” in this case gets yet another follow-up call for clarification.

Myth #4: Yelp removes positive reviews from businesses its staff does not like, or from businesses that do not pay for advertising

Reality: A review you may have seen on Yelp previously is no longer there; this happens.  The review in question may have “disappeared” for one of three reasons:
1. The review may have been suppressed by Yelp’s automated Review Filter, which is always out there looking for suspicious reviewing activity (like those anonymous rants and raves you see on other sites).
2. The writer may have removed her own review; she has the right to do that at any time
3. Another user believed the review violated Yelp’s Review Guidelines and sent it to our customer service team for review. The customer service team agreed, then manually removed the review.

Both our customer service team and the Review Filter work exactly the same way for advertisers as they do for non-advertisers.

This is how he should have addressed the issue at the very beginning.  Blown opportunity and his company has suffered and will continue to suffer as a result.  And he has to go beyond stating that the sales people and the tech people with access to placement of reviews work on different floors.

My guess is what happened is that a few sales reps in that particular office would scour the reviews on Yelp, and when they found some recent newly written negative ones, they then picked up the phone and made a sales call, offering the package that places a selected postive review on top – one that is visibly marked as being sponsored.  Some pitches probably went far beyond this…saying that they could make the negative one “disappear”.  Sales people will say sleazy things.  Stoppleman should understand this and not discount this.  He should then conduct some sort of internal audit that would show the public that he is trying to address the problem and root it out if it exists.  Retrain.  Resolve.

Now is it possible that some sales types had relationships with the tech people.  Absolutely.  Different floors – HA!  So the problem may have been more than a poorly written article.  Yelp needs to look into that because, as Yelp knows, online reputations matter.

And to Jeremy Stoppleman…you should allow people to comment on your blog posts.

BL and I adore eachother so I was very excited to receive an email from her last night with a link to her latest article on Business Week, Using social media to market your business is a good idea. Just don’t plan on getting your whiz-kid nephew to do it for free — check it out and check BL out over on her blog, What’s Next Blog. Oh, and when BL asks “how many of them have actually created a successful campaign for clients using social media tools? I bet you’d be hard-pressed to find half a dozen with real track records,” I can proudly state that Abraham Harrison LLC has the expertise, the experience, and the track record to boot!  Anyway, here’s the article:

Debunking Six Social Media Myths

For companies, resistance to social media is futile. Millions of people are creating content for the social Web. Your competitors are already there. Your customers have been there for a long time. If your business isn’t putting itself out there, it ought to be.

But before you take the plunge, bear in mind the many myths that surround social media.

1. Social media is cheap, if not free. Yes, many of the tools that can be employed in social media marketing are free to use. These include Google’s (GOOG) video-sharing site YouTube, Yahoo’s (YHOO) photo-sharing site Flickr, the social-network building tool Ning, and content aggregators such as Digg and eBay’s (EBAY) StumbleUpon. Free blogging tools abound too; among them are WordPress, Twitter, and FriendFeed.

However, integrating these tools into a corporate marketing program requires skill, time, and money. The budget for an effective social media marketing campaign begins at $50,000 for two to three months. I’m sure companies have spent less, and I know they’ve spent more.

Building a site that incorporates interactivity, allows user-generated content, and perhaps also includes e-commerce doesn’t come cheap from anyone who knows what they are doing. Even taking free software like WordPress and making it function as an effective interactive site, incorporating e-commerce, creating style sheets that integrate with the company’s branding, takes more than time. That takes skill, experience, and money.

As a rule, a $50,000 to $100,000 budget can cover the creation of a simple multimedia microsite that becomes the center of an online community. Add in some widgets to help distribute the content and form a credible group on Flickr, Twitter, or Facebook and other networking groups to enhance the community aspect of the campaign. Complex functions add to programming and design costs.

A high-yield, highly targeted blog advertising campaign to kick off and support the program will cost an additional $25,000 to $100,000 a month. Advertising through Google’s AdWords, e-mail support, co-registration, and other tools that drive traffic would be additional costs.

2. Anyone can do it. A surfeit of whiz kids and more experienced marketers are claiming to be social media experts and even social media gurus. Search the bios of Robert Scoble’s 56,838 Twitter followers using Tweepsearch (www.tweepsearch.com), an index of the bios of Twitter users, and you’ll find:

• 4,273 Internet marketers
• 1,652 social media marketers
• 513 social media consultants
• 272 social media strategists
• 180 social media experts
• 98 social media gurus
• 58 Internet marketing gurus

How many of them have actually created a successful campaign for clients using social media tools? I bet you’d be hard-pressed to find half a dozen with real track records.

A successful social media campaign integrates social media into the many elements of marketing, including advertising, digital, and PR. Opinion and theory are no match for experience, and the best social media marketers now have more than 10 years of experience incorporating interactivity, blogs, forums, user-generated content, and contests into online marketing.

Video contests by companies hoping for viral buzz and Google juice are as plentiful as mosquitoes on a humid summer night. But, like their insect counterparts, most video contests suck.

It’s the rare video contest that gets as many as 2,000 entries. Many, like Denny’s (DENM) recent disastrous effort, get fewer than 10 entries. Apparently, 48 Denny’s breakfasts over four years wasn’t a big motivator.

3. You can make a big splash in a short time. Sure, sometimes a social media campaign can produce substantial and measurable results quickly.

Social media is great if you’re already a star, but that doesn’t happen overnight. Amid the recent launch of my T-shirt design business, Pawfun.com, I have relied heavily on my 4,000-plus Twitter followers and 120,000 readers of my What’s Next Blog, which I’ve updated as often as five times a day since 2003. Because that network already exists, with not one dollar spent on advertising, we were able to generate more traffic in our first three days than some major companies get after years online.

ZapposChief Executive Tony Hsieh, whose company has millions of customers who are evangelists for the great service that built the brand, quickly became a Twitter star, with more than 32,000 followers. When Dell (DELL), JetBlue Airways (JBLU), the Chicago Bulls, and other love-’em-or-hate-’em brands joined Twitter, they immediately developed huge followings.

Tweets can be used to drive traffic to articles, Web sites, contests, videos, and so on—if people already care about your brand, or if you have a truly original idea that people will want to share with their followers.

One recent example of a Twitter-generated success is Savvy Auntie, a community for aunts, godmothers, and “other women who love kids” that was launched six months ago by Melanie Notkin. She has counted on Twitter to drive traffic, help her find suppliers, products, and even investors. She developed a Twitter following before launching her business, then tapped into it for help when she launched.

4. You can do it all in-house. Wrong! You need strategy, contacts, tools, and experience—a combination not generally found in in-house teams, who often reinvent the wheel or use the wrong tools.

It is rare indeed to find an in-house team that can not only conceive and execute a social media campaign but also drive traffic to it with effective e-mail segmentation, search optimization, blogger outreach, blog advertising, Google ads, and more.

5. If you do something great, people will find it. Quite simply, that never was true. Until you can drive traffic to your social media effort, you’ve got a tree falling in the forest, heard only by those standing nearby. A great number of tools can drive traffic, including StumbleUpon, Digg, and Twitter, but nothing works better than word of mouse—one friend telling another, “Hey look at this!”

6. You can’t measure social media marketing results. You can use a variety of methods, including mentions on blogs and in media; comments on the content; real-time blog advertising results, and click-throughs to your company Web site. You can get very precise statistics from a variety of sites, including Google Trends, Twitter search, Google Analytics, BackType, and Compete.

The tools are there. The gurus who know how to use and interpret them—not so much.

Ochman, president of Whatsnextonline.com, has been creating new media marketing and online brand strategy since 1995 for companies including IBM, Ford, McGraw-Hill, Budget Car Rental, Stacksandstacks.com, and American Greetings. She tracks online marketing trends and campaigns in What’s Next Blog.

Here’s a smashing list from Lee Odden over on Online Marketing Blog, Best and Worst Practices Social Media Marketing:

• Start with a plan, not tactics.  Research and build a Social Media Roadmap involving:  Audience, Objectives, Strategy, Tactics, Tools/Technology and Metrics.

• “Give to get” – Successful social media marketing programs involve listening and participation. That participation centers around giving value before expecting anything in return. This is not “sales” as you know it. But companies can definitely increase sales as a result.

• Commit resources & time to be successful or you may very well fail. It’s important to forecast labor hours, who, what, when, how and where with the intention of succeeding, not just experimenting. If a social media effort is successful, scalability will be an even bigger issue if you don’t plan for it.  Hiring a community manager for example, may not be justified when a social media monitoring program is started or with a new company, but a job req and understanding of the role should be ready in case it’s called for.

• Be transparent with intentions & your identity or you may alienate the very audiences you’re trying to connect with.  Objectives, strategy and doing your homework about a community should make it pretty obvious what types of commercial messages are appropriate.  Being transparent about intentions might come in the form of stating a purpose:  ”Brand XYZ has created this Facebook page to help consumers make better choices about Topic XYZ”.  It’s fine if goals are to increase sales, but participation should be focused on providing the kind of value that facilitates sales – not attempting to make sales directly. When is the last time you purchased something other than a virtual cupcake on Facebook?

• Understand, you do not control the message.  Old habits die hard and there’s a tendency to want to treat social media participation like advertising where the ability to control messaging is the norm. Once information or media is available on the social web, people will inevitably mash it up, stretch it, pull it and reshape it according to their interests. Brands need to protect their identities, copyright and intellectual property for sure, but rather than “controlling the message” marketers should encourage the mashup and creativity.

• Welcome participation, feedback and co-creation. As comfort levels rise with social web participation, companies will see opportunties to encourage participation with communications, especially with brand evangelists. Developing relationships and community within social communities on the web can facilitate buy in, provide invaluable feedback and crowdsourcing opportunities.

• Metrics should roll up to objectives and objectives should be relevant to the channel.  More than a few companies see evidence of other social media efforts ranging from Superbowl commercials on YouTube to social participation during and after President Obama’s campaign, and “want that too”.  Direct marketing is the lens through which many social media efforts are first viewed, with a tendency to focus on action “A” resulting in “B” outcome. Social media marketing is more like public relations than direct marketing. It’s more like providing resource “A” results in “action “B” that influences outcome “C”. Metrics for success need to consider the pre-goal performance indicators like number of “friends”, comments, links, etc as well as commercial outcomes influenced by social media participation.

Check out his worst practices as well over at: Best and Worst Practices Social Media Marketing.

I have been a loyal subscriber to the New Yorker every since I was 16-years-old in Honolulu, HI.  To me, it represented everything literary and urbane, even though I have never lived in Manhattan. Now I discover from Mediabistro that the New Yorker is rolling out an online book club:

The New Yorker opened an online book club this morning, taking readers on a month long group reading of the recently adapted Richard Yates novel, Revolutionary Road.

The magazine tested the book club interaction last month with a small team of readers, a group reading of Roberto Bolano’s epic novel, 2666. Ranging over email and the comments section, the discussion also included guests like journalist Kate Coleman.

Here’s more from the site: “We plan to approach the books as landscapes for exploration, in which we are the park rangers, if you will, examining the flora and the fauna and fending off the occasional wild animal. (Every good book has one.) We hope you’ll join us in this ongoing experiment, and lend your voices to the clamor.” (Via BookClubGirl)

Bloody great, best-in-breed, article about online PR and marketing ethics by my buddy David Gelles of the Financial Times — he is surely a golden child and new media journalist rock star… be sure to put this article in front of your boss, whether you are a PR flack or are a corporate stooge — I think this article is actually going to be printed into the pink pages of the FT on Thursday, February 12 — go pick it up and hand it to the members of the C-suite, Blogs that spin a web of deception:

A web of deception By David Gelles

An overenthusiastic em­ployee from the computer supplies maker Belkin posted an offer online last month – $0.65 for anyone willing to write a positive review of Belkin products on Amazon.com. Several people took up the offer, producing gushing appraisals of Belkin products they had never used.

After a blogger exposed the scam, news organisations jumped on the story. The offer was removed and Belkin’s president weighed in with an apology.

The incident was a public relations disaster for Belkin. It was also a prime example of “Astroturfing”, the unsavoury marketing practice of generating fake grassroots enthusiasm for a product.

Given the anonymity afforded by the internet, it is hardly surprising that deceptive marketing is on the rise. Consumers are spending more time online and companies are seeking new ways to reach them.

But now, in an effort to regulate how employees behave on the web, companies and industry groups are developing their own online codes of ethics. They want to ensure that when staff do engage with social media, they act ethically.

Last year, Coca-Cola established its own set of social media guidelines and distributed them in a memo to all employees. The policy emphasises the need for transparency and encourages employees to use common sense when discussing the brand online. “We’ve always had very diverse channels to reach consumers,” says Adam Brown (pictured), digital communications director. “Wherever they are, that’s where we go. That’s now evolved into the need for a social media policy.”

So when Mr Brown went online to promote Coca-Cola’s Super Bowl advertisements, he followed the guidelines. On Facebook, Mr Brown announced that he was a Coke employee and pointed other users to the Coke ads on YouTube. On Pittsburgh Steelers fan forums, Mr Brown, who is from Pittsburgh, named his employer and then directed fans to the Coke blog, which had an interview with Steelers’ defensive star Troy Polamalu.

Mr Brown said more deliberate engagement with online conversations was a necessity for a global company such as Coca-Cola. “We’re mentioned several thousand times a day on blogs, and there are several hundred tweets about us on Twitter,” he says. “There is a lot of conversation taking place about our brand without us. Where appropriate, we wanted to start getting involved.”

Companies began interacting with social media years ago. But only recently have those involved with the industry perceived a need to develop ethical standards. Among the first to do so was The Word of Mouth Marketing Association, an organisation for the viral and buzz marketing industry. Womma published an ethics code in 2005, emphasising honesty of relationship, opinion and identity.

Since then, many companies have used the Womma code as a blueprint for their own guidelines. “Companies are learning every day that there is a right way and a wrong way to engage with social media,” says Paul Rand, vice-president of Womma’s board and head of its ethics project. “Some companies are learning by touching the burning pot; some companies are learning from the mistakes of ­others.”

One company that “touched the burning pot” is Shelfari, a social networking site for book lovers, owned by Amazon. As it battled for market share in late 2007, it came under fire for its poor design and clunky user interface. Soon, comments appeared on more than 50 blogs attesting to Shelfari’s greatness. “I have been on Shelfari for a couple of months now and absolutely love it,” read one. “Shelfari is such a great site. I joined a couple of months ago and I have been hooked on it ever since,” read another.

But all the comments were posted by the same user, “schaufferwaffer”, who was soon exposed as a Shelfari employee. Shelfari’s chief executive admitted to the Astroturfing (he blamed it on an intern who knew no better), and promised it would never happen again.

Such behaviour is declared out of line in the “disclosure best practices toolkit”, an ethics code drawn up by the Blog Council, an organisation for heads of social media at big companies. The document advises employees and agencies to announce whom they work for when communicating with blogs or bloggers. It also encourages employees to provide a means for contacting them directly, if someone they interact with via social media wants to follow up with a two-way conversation. The toolkit also warns against using pseudonyms.

IBM was one of the first companies to develop its own social media policy. In 2005, it published its “social computing guidelines”, which insist that employees write under their own names, using the first person, and make it clear they are speaking for themselves and not on behalf of IBM. It also prohibits employees from referencing clients, partners or suppliers without their approval.

UPS is developing its own online ethics policy after recognising how damaging Astro­turfing and other online misbehaviour can be for a company’s reputation. “If one of our airplanes goes down, we have a very clear plan for getting information to the media,” says Norman Black, director of global media services. “We realised we did not have a good plan for responding to a crisis on the ­internet.”

In some countries, deceptive marketing practices are not only frowned upon but also illegal. In the UK, the law identifies “falsely representing oneself as a consumer” as a punishable offence. And in 2006, the US Federal Trade Commission issued regulations stating that word-of-mouth marketers must disclose their relationships. But in spite of these new rules there has been little enforcement of the measures.

Even without prosecution, Belkin seems to have learnt its lesson. Melody Chalaban, speaking for the company, says Belkin will soon be holding seminars to teach employees how to interact ethically with social media, and is also considering joining Womma. “We want to stress that this is an isolated incident,” says Ms Chalaban. “We don’t endorse or condone unethical practices like this.”

Side Bar: The last post: underhand tactics can end in a PR disaster

* Flogging. Fake blogs can help companies get a personal voice behind a marketing campaign – but they risk a PR disaster if they are uncovered. When Sony tried to boost sales of its PSP portable gaming unit, it started a blog supposedly by two boys who wanted PSPs for Christmas. When it was revealed as a fake, Sony apologised and took it down.

* Astroturfing. A technique that gets its name from the practice of generating fake grassroots enthusiasm. One Florida company, PayPerPost, serves as a matchmaker between companies willing to pay for good press and bloggers willing to plug products that they have never used. After receiving criticism, PayPerPost now requires bloggers to disclose that their posts are sponsored.

* Comment spamming. Flooding the comment fields of blogs with enthusiastic notes about a company, even with full disclosure, is not welcomed by web users. When a Motorola employee commented on dozens of posts on a technology blog – each comment a plug for the new Motorola Krave – bloggers responded with snide criticisms of his spamming, which duly ceased.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

I received this lovely email from CC Chapman just now, and here’s some great news for the elusive, Facebook-centric-until-now, The Advance Guard — they have a website:

2009 so far has been a great year for me. The biggest news is that this week we pulled back the curtain on the new web site for The Advance Guard. We’d been working on it for a while now and as you’ll see we wanted to take a bit of a different approach then many do. We wanted photography to play a big role in the site an we wrote the case stories as if they were appearing in a magazine. The site will continue to grow and evolve and I’m looking forward to people’s comments and feedback on it.

Here’s CC’s full email via the web for you to check out.

In response to Corporate blogging isn’t trusted; it’s up to us to fight back NOW, anonymous asked, “Can you provide links to and comments about what you think are effective corporate blogs? I have yet to see one, but I can’t say I’ve been looking… Thanks,” and this is what I could find real quick on Google (via Marketing Conversation):

From Top 15 Corporate Blogs (Ranked – May 2008)

#15. Boeing – Authority: 67

#14. Monster – Authority: 73

#13. Kodak – Authority: 105

#12. Delta – Authority: 252

#11. Yahoo! – Authority: 297

#10. General Motors – Authority: 364

#9. Ask – Authority: 364

#8. LinkedIn – Authority: 591

#7. Digg – Authority: 641

#6. Dell – Authority: 799

#5. Yahoo! Search – Authority: 1130

#4. Facebook – Authority: 1478

#3. Flickr – Authority: 1744

#2. Adobe – Authority: 1797

#1. Google – Authority: 8492

From Top 10 Corporate Blogs (Technorati Ranked)

#10: The Otter Group – Technorati: 11177

#9: English Cut – Technorati: 6715

#8: SunBelt Software – Technorati: 6247

#7: GM Fast Lane – Technorati: 2580

#6: Adobe Software – Technorati: 2352

#5: Ask.com – Technorati: 1616

#4: Tom Peters – Technorati: 716

#3: Yahoo! Search – Technorati: 241

#2: O’Reilly Radar – Technorati: 141

#1: Google – Technorati: 27

One of my goals in life is to be on Boing Boing, so in many ways my dreams are coming true every day in so many ways in the form of getting a guest blog post on Boing Boing Gadgets about the ultimate gadget, my hand-made, bespoke, Randall Model 1 knife — many thanks to my buddy John Brownlee for inviting me over and for not only considering my knife a gadget but fancying it worthy of bbG:

Knife Porn: Four years waiting and one month with the Randall Model 1 Fighting Knife Posted by John Brownlee

Guest Review by Chris Abraham

After four years, I finally received my bespoke, hand-made, Randall Model 1 “All-Purpose Fighting Knife.” Unstead of tearing right into the box, I paused and filmed a nine-minute unboxing video and took some photos of the knife — knife porn.

There are two iconic fighting knives known the world over for their service in World War II. The British Sykes-Fairbairn dagger and the American style of fighting knife, inspired both by the Bowie and the American hunting knife. There was one knife, above all other, that I coveted… coveted not just because it was considered “the best” by all of the knife magazines I bought but also because it was associated with doing hard service during World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. That knife was the Randall Model #1.

Because I wanted a Randall that was as authentic to the knives that have served our military since WWII, I ordered the Randall with a carbon blade, since it predates stainless steel. There are some challenges associated with owning and using a carbon steel knife, be it in the kitchen or in the field.

First, they can — and do — rust. Since rust is normal with daily use out in the field, don’t freak out if it happens to you. A little sandpaper should do the trick if the rusting isn’t too bad.

Second, even if you spend the time and attention required to make sure your knife remains dry and sealed under a light coating of oil, there is still the issue of discoloration. Unlike stainless, carbon steel reacts with the things it touches. The acids and oils of the leather sheath could discolor the blade. Cutting meat will discolor the blade, too.

The instructions also suggest that cutting meat with the carbon blade results in discoloration, so you’re pretty much screwed unless you don’t use your Randall at all. Luckily, that’s not true. Go ahead and use it, if you’re not a strict collector — it was meant to be man-handled. Like I said above, all of the discoloration can be easily polished out of your knife. Working carbon knives always end up looking a little like they were made of silver because of the way silver tarnishes.

When I received the knife, the blade was coated with a light oil. The instructions recommend keeping the blade dry and lubricated with WD-40. After I posted the unboxing video on YouTube, someone commented that I should be really careful with the carbon steel blade and not store the knife in the leather scabbard but rather keep the blade (but not the handle) wrapped in an oil cloth.

And how does it feel? Perfectly-balanced. It’s right where it’s supposed to be: the shiny brass hilt rests the handle right on your forefinger, as it should.

There is an after-market for Randall knives if you’re unwilling to wait for 4-years for one like I did. I checked out A.G. Russell, a popular knife store, and I found the Randall Model 1 for $600. Instant gratification for Randalls generally starts at $600 for a brand new knife of someone else’s design, usually with a micarta or stag handle, and quickly tops out at thousands for a specialty, rare, or vintage knife. If you want a knife made by Bo Randall himself, it will cost: older Randall knives are worth five to fifteen times their value.

These are collectors knives, that’s for sure. If you explore the catalog, you’ll get a feel how extensively you can pimp your knife. I ordered mine plain vanilla “traditional” with the pressed-leather handle, 7″ blade, and Duralumin butt cap. Some options I could have requested were a longer or shorter blade in stainless steel. There’s an assortment of brass hilt shapes and sizes along with a myriad of handle types, including bone, tusk, horn, micarta (a mixture of layered linen and resin), or just about anything else that could be shoehorned onto the full tang.

I don’t know if I like the big and bulky sharpening stone pocket on the front of the sheath since I don’t plan on being far enough in the wilderness to not be able to come home to sharpen the knife. I did a little research and you can get just about anything you want from Randall, including getting the sheath without the stone pouch, although a replacement sheath from Randall costs almost two-hundred dollars, nearly the cost of the knife itself. If my Google searches are true, you can even get sheaths in other leathers and colors, including ostrich, alligator, and zebra. All I need to know is the length of the blade, which is a very standard and popular 7″ (8″ is also very popular).

The man behind Randall Made Knives, W.D. Bo Randall, started making hand-forged knives as a hobby back in 1937 and started selling them in the years leading up to World War II. A reporter wrote a story about Bo during the early years of the war and there was so much demand for his fighting knife, now known as the Model 1, that Bo became a full-time knife-maker. According the website, Bo Randall hand-crafted each knife no matter how much demand or the temptation to mass-produce. Throughout WWII, the knives became legendary. Ronald Reagan carried a Randall Model 1 knife.

And, if you ever have a chance to buy a used Randall on the cheap, don’t reject a knife just because it’s rusted or the sheath is rotted. Some oil, a fine grit emery cloth or steel wool, a little polish, and you’re good to go. These knives were made for duty so there isn’t a lot you can do to “kill” the knife. And, if the knife looks a little far gone, don’t worry, you can probably find a knife-maker in your area who can fix it up by reshaping the blade and restoring the bits and pieces. If you want to restore your Randall in style, to this day you can buy replacement sheaths from the company, made to order. Additionally, you can send your Randall home to Orlando, Florida, where it was born, they can do a lovely job restoring it.

Why did I buy a knife like this? Well, that’s an odd thing, and the reason dates back over 24 years to when I was a strapping teen. When I was in high school, during the mid- to late-80s, I was a teenage commando. I went to an all-boys Catholic school in Hawaii called Saint Louis School and we had an JROTC program that I joined because it was either that, PE, or band (shudder). After joining JROTC I joined the Ranger club. On the surface the Rangers were a bunch of boys who did calisthenics and ran around campus and were entitled to wear black berets and bloused jump boots on the days every member of JROTC was required to skulk around school in Class-A Army uniforms. Still, that wasn’t all the Rangers did. We also spent weekends playing the part of Opposition Forces (OPFOR) for Hawaii’s National Guard and Army Reserve. As part of all that, we were issued camouflaged fatigues (BDUs), ALICE packs, web gear, and M-16s. Yes, real M-16s with real banana clips and real brass casings filled with real smokeless gunpowder, but without bullets with a blank-firing adaptor.

I was motivated and dedicated. I became obsessed with everything military. I bought copies of SOF and shopped at Army surplus stores. We all prized authentic gear and many of us bought Vietnam-era slash-pocket OD fatigues and Ka-Bar knives. I was obsessed with knives and started a collection.

That was 1984. I didn’t end up ordering my own Randall until twenty-years later while I was supposed to be working for Pete Snyder at New Media Strategies during the Summer of 2004. I put down $50 as a down payment, clicked “order” and then obsessed about it for nearly five years! I paid off the balance of $264.00 about a year ago. It was supposed to be delivered in June but I received a letter letting me know that delivery had been delayed until October.

Why does a knife take four-years? One of the reasons my order, #57224, order date September 2004, took so long is because I ordered my knife in a time of war. Randall Made Knives is a purveyor of hunting knives during peacetime; however, during a time of war, most of their capacity is spent on providing for our troops. According to their FAQ, “spare time and space is devoted to filling military knife orders for our active military customers. I think that’s fair, since the Model 1 was a military knife from the very beginning.

It was finally ready for delivery while I was in Berlin so I had the knife FedExed to my mom’s house in Arlington, Virginia, and counted the days until I returned home for Christmas. I arrived on Christmas eve but kept it in my pants until Christmas day, when I took this unboxing video and these photos.

After four years, the knife more than lives up to my expectations, especially since there were a couple of cool surprises that I didn’t know about, including red, white, and blue patriotic spacers between the hilt and the pressed-leather handle and between the handle and the Duralumin butt cap — I’ll photograph it with my Nokia N95 camera phone. To be frank, I have been waiting for this Randall Model #1 for twenty-four-years, since I fell in love with this perfect thing back when I was a Freshman in high school.

Worth the wait? Yes! Any hype associated with the entire experience? No, I don’t think so at all. It couldn’t be better-crafted or more beautiful. I am no longer a knife collector — or an anything collector — so the only two remaining knives in my collection is a Cold Steel Tanto I got back in 1983 and this Randall Model 1.

Randall Made Knife Unboxing Porn

Randall Knife Unboxing Pics [Flickr]

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When not waiting four years for a knife to be hand crafted for him, drunkenly stumbling away with me from a disreputable Berlin pub, or being one of the sweetest and smartest guys it is my pleasure to know, Chris Abraham runs a crackerjack conversational marketing firm, Abraham Harrison. This technically makes him a scumbag, but I love him anyway.

I am going to talk about my spirituality, which is something I rarely do. I do so because these are Holy days and I am feeling prayerful. Apropos, I will be discussing prayer.

I love Aimee Mann‘s rendition of Three Dog Night’s “One is the Loneliest Number” from the memorable movie Magnolia. As I returned on my bike from a night of going away that my friends John and Claudia threw for me, I was listening to a podcast download of Speaking of Faith about prayer, Approaching Prayer [alt link] and Anoushka Shankar and Krista Tippett were discussing prayer and they both agreed that prayer is probably the most important part of the spirituality of any faith, and probably the hardest to endure over the course of ones spiritual life.

I agree. Though it is more than worth it.

Back to Aimee Mann and “One is the Loneliest Number.” The lyrics of the song go, “one is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do.” I object. I think that one is the Holiest number. I believe that in concert, prayer can be amazingly powerful; however, a prayerful life solo is rare indeed.

Prayer, Mano-a-mano, is indeed a marathon. A prayerful life requires constant contact, constant Faith, indefatigable devotion, and the endurance of the niggling fear that you’re wasting your time by simply mumbling to yourself.

According to the New Testament, prayer should not be a public act with the single-minded goal of being perceived as being Holy; rather, “when you pray, go away by yourself, all alone, and shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father secretly.” (Matthew 6.6). To me, anyway, one is the Holiest number that you’ll ever do.

And please don’t limit your experience to the traditional prayerful acts of kneeling before a candle or bed. Prayer can be done while on the city bus, during a morning run in the frost, while in the corpse pose on a yoga mat; at an Ashram, Mosque, Temple, Church or Monastery; while swimming laps or doing reps — it really isn’t important.

You don’t even need to call it prayer — you can call it meditation, visualization, self-hypnosis, centering, or wishing — you don’t need even ask for world peace or feeding the hungry (though you really should consider it) — you can, and are encouraged, to pray for the health, wealth, and happiness of your own family and even for your very own health, wealth, and happiness! (why not?)

Here’s a simple warning that prayer is powerful and not limited only to well-wishing. Prayer is an energy, a force, an intention. Prayer taps Godhead. Even so, it can be used for anything in the short run. But don’t be lured. It really isn’t worth it. Another hint: Good, God, Prosperity, Happiness and Love are not limited resources with finite supplies. For some reason, someone has been able to spin that there is Peak Love.

Unlike peak oil, there is no limit to the benefit of blessings on any one person — there is no reason at all for competition, quarreling, or self-denial. Currently, there is a false scarcity of prosperity and blessings. Like diamonds (and probably oil), there is a limitless supply of blessing and prosperity that one can tap through prayer — not simply for you, yourself, but for all of those around you. Even better, like the electrical grid, any prayer that is not used by you or those for whom prayed is paid back in for everyone’s benefit and blessings.

OK, I think I have tapped myself out, spiritually, for 2008. We’ll see how this goes over — maybe I will continue revealing a completely different side of myself into 2009. Please feel free to comment and let me know if I have either contributed to your life or have encouraged you, rather, to backup slowly towards the door — exit, stage left!

And, to conclude, I wish happy Holy days to you and yours.

I decided to respond to the 14 comments written in response to my latest AdAge Global Idea Network, Pepsi Apologized to Me for Its Suicide Ads

Thank you so much for all of your comments.

@Todd Jordan — thanks. I have been thinking about being 20-something in 2008 and I think sarcastic is out and earnest is in. Agencies don’t get it. Their art directors are Seinfeld-era and don’t realize that teens and 20-something are serious. And I think BBDO and PepsiCo are assuming the story won’t leave this medium. I am told that the OJ verdict is going to kill this story on MSM.

CC Chapman knows Bonin and likes him. He’s for real. Here’s another thing about social media and social networks… blowback comes as a result of “who the hell are you.”

If you don’t spend enough time building brand and connection — “Ah, I know you!” — then when Bonin Bough comes to my INBOX, I assume sneakiness, right?

I am being kind to Bonin because I have my own firm and work in the social media PR space, http://chrisabraham.com — this means that I understand how risky and bold PepsiCo’s response was.

Matt and I wondered at the fact that BBDO could be so pre-Internet with their risk-assessment while their Social Media Response Team (is it Edelman?) is so good.

Mind you, the moment I got to Bonin’s “My best friend committed suicide and this is a topic very close to my heart” I balked and considered that sort of admission, from someone I don’t even know, to sound either tacky (at the very least), inappropriate, or just pandering…

@BL OCHMAN I have just been in DC too long around Lawyers, Consultants, Politicians, and too many people who are in the world of Military Intelligence. I assume everyone may be pulling the “iocane powder” switcheroo…

@michaeldaehn I don’t think shamelessness with this level of multinational brand ever works. As a PR professional, we highly — strongly — no, forcefully recommend always responding to this thing with Mea Maxima Culpa — never engage this sort of thing in any space, really. “If you struggle, you’ll only make it worse; and, if you say nothing, it will be even worse than that” is what I say.

@David Moore That’s a very British thing to say. When I was a student at UEA, I almost punched my buddy Paul’s teeth in when he started really laying into the piss-taking. See, Paul was from Cardiff and I, sadly, am an American. We American’s really can’t take a good Mickey.

@CHRISTINE LU I have been watching you online and on Twitter with great interest. You’re doing a much better job with this than I am, that’s for sure. My sincerest condolences for your loss.

@Linda Bogie I am only impressed by @Tweetmeme because it meant that the article was spreading and so people would most certainly respond. I am not impressed. The ads were wrong and appalling. Suicide is not amusing, not funny, and I hate that Suicide Bunny (am I the only one?)

@Michelle McCormack MMM I am glad I am not a nobody. – Chris Abraham | Berlin

Matt and I rushed this post tonight. I received the email three hours ago, IMed Matt, and we got it out now. I love blogging for this. I hope you enjoy this new post, Pepsi Apologized to Me For Its Suicide Ads:

Pepsi Apologized to Me For Its Suicide Ads
A close-up look at how the marketer is handling fallout from its controversial German ads

This week, PepsiCo got into hot water with more than a few folks after some suicide-themed ads many found offensive were brought to light. Here’s how they’re using social media to apologize to consumers—including me.

I received an email from B. Bonin Bough of PepsiCo, @boughb on Twitter, responding to my tweet about the recent post that Matt Creamer wrote a couple days ago, “Pepsi Opens a Vein of Controversy With New Suicide-Themed Ads”, about some ads that were run here in Germany in a lifestyle mag—ads Pepsi says it won’t run again after they received heavy criticism all over the web.

I’ll excerpt the first part of the email from Mr. Bough, who holds the title of director-social and emerging media and is based at Pepsi’s Purchase, N.Y. campus:

I saw your tweet and I just wanted to make sure I responded personally. We agree this creative is totally inappropriate; we apologize and please know it won’t run again. Also, thanks for the feedback and the Digg, it is important to discuss these types of issues.

My best friend committed suicide and this is a topic very close to my heart. So again I offer my deepest apologies.

Feel free to follow-up via twitter to me – @boughb or Huw – @huwgilbert or respond to this email.

Thanks, Bonin

I know you all think I am going to mock Bonin, but I won’t. I think this was a very bold and risky maneuver and worthy of praise rather than a tarring and feathering. And his outreach to me, a nobody, was accomplished within two days. When I replied to Bonin, asking if I might be allowed to post his email, he replied back that I could post his email but to try to “treat it kindly.” I hope I am.

I don’t think that Bonin knew that I blog for AdAge or that I know a bit about how the marketer is surprised about how well-traveled the ads have been. The old we-didn’t-think-anyone-here-would-see-it approach. Well, that’s the Internet for you. Someone passed along the scans of the PepsiMax ad, “One is a Very Very Lonely Calorie,” to the alert gang here at AdAge.

Within two days of tweeting, I received a note from @tweetmeme, a sure sign that my tweet had gone memetic (and that I had played at least a bit part in the mad traffic to the AdAge post as well as the resulting 40 comments.)

Here’s how fast and furious social media works. The article was posted on AdAge at 4:36 PM EST on December 2nd. I read it and Tweeted at 6:16 PM EST the same day. And then I received said email from Mr. Bough at 5:21 PM on December 4. The lesson here is that social media has eyes everywhere and the network to make sure that advertisers can no longer hide stuff in niche markets. There is a word in intelligence about just this thing, and it relates to messaging and propaganda: backwash. Social media makes backwash inevitable. Here’s another one from Intelligence: blowback. Backwash leads to blowback.

There’s no way to isolate this kind of advertisement. And there is an inverse proportion between how badly you want your ad to remain niche and the sensationalism surrounding its discovery. It’s a really obvious point, but one still clearly worth stating: The internet makes it impossible for any marketer to control which geographies and demographics see any particular communication. You can’t even really control what media it appears in. Think you’re creating an edgy print ad that will only be seen in a German magazine? Think again. In the blink of an eye, your ad is on the web. You know, the world wide one. And all kinds of people are pissed off.

What I like about what “Bough, Bonin {PEP}” did here is that he responded almost immediately, rather personally, and opened himself up to us social media mavens. Bravo! Full marks. Another thing I like about his apology is that there is a very good chance that I am being played, that Mr. Bough is playing reverse psychology on me. Yes, he readily approved my posting of this message when I asked, which leads me to believe that the very act of clicking on the post right now is just going to help PepsiCo with an amazingly-savvy viral marketing campaign for PepsiMax.

I was just farting around Boing Boing Gadgets, enjoying the fine work over there, post amusement over seeing my business partner become immortal in a Boing Boing post and referred to as “a globe-trotting alpha male who spends winters rubbing elbows with bikini models down in Mauretius and summers either indulging in sport in Berlin or piloting yachts around Cape Horn.” Well, I started reading comments and there were some funny ones, and then an obvious comment spam about the Motorola Krave. Then, the wolves circled and the entire comment thread started mocking the shiller. Ultimately, Joel Johnson wrote the following awesome blog post, entitled, Motorola, could you please tell your viral marketer to get out of our comments?

Motorola, could you please tell your viral marketer to get out of our comments?

In John’s post about Steve Jobs’ purported tantrum, a commenter “MGOODE08″ made this remark:

I’m so glad my boss isn’t like that! I’m working with Motorola right now, and became a huge fan of the Krave (motorola.com/krave). I especially like the full touch screen display and html web browser. It’s awesome!

On the 14th, he made this comment:

Oh man this looks awesome! I hope they release a version for the Krave by Motorola. Ever since I started working with Motorola I have became a huge fan of the phone (motorola.com/krave). With a full list of features, like a full touch screen, I can’t stop obsessing over it.

“M Goode” loves this phone so much that he posted this at GigaOm:

This is a very good idea. I think it could be applied to any phones with a similar format. Ever since I started working with Motorola I have become a huge fan of the Krave. It has some of the same features, and I think a built in micropayment system would be great. It’s a fairly new phone, so if you haven’t seen it yet it’s online at motorola.com/krave. I wonder if they will jump on the bandwagon when/if a micropayment system is implemented.

When he’s not on tech sites, though, “M Goode” loves to relax with a good game:

I wish this game would get released for a mobile gaming platform, especially the Krave. I have been a fan of this franchise since it’s first release, and would love to have it on a cell phone, especially the krave. Ever since I started working with Motorola, I have become a huge fan of the krave. Has anyone else seen it?(motorola.com/krave) It’s so loaded with features, most important of which is the full touch screen layout. It’s DEFINITELY worth checking out.

He’s also really into the indie gaming scene:

I can’t wait to see this on a mobile phone platform! it would be so cool to see ti on a Krave! Has anyone else seen it? (motorola.com/krave) It’s a flip phone with a touch screen, 2 MP camera, full html browser and bluetooth functionality. Definitely worth checking out.

But uh oh! He might be considering switching from a Krave to the new Nokia:

My favorite phone right now is the Krave by Motorola. I became a huge fan of the Krave once I started working with Motorola. You can check out the full spec list online at motorola.com/krave. It’s definitely strong competition with it’s full touch screen

(He is also apparently working for Cirque Du Soleil, but we’ll let them pass for the moment because I love acrobats.)

“Follow the money,” they say, but in this case we don’t have to, because all we have to do is follow the link. Motorola, if you could be so kind as to tell your viral marketer to fuck right off we’d sure appreciate it. Perhaps you could spend the money instead on making your phones something that people actually want to buy.

P.S., I love our readers. Check out the replies they immediately started making:

I’m so glad my boss isn’t like that! I’m working for Burger King right now, and became a huge fan of the Mushroom and Swiss Steakhouse Burger. I especially like the cheese and mushrooms. It’s awesome!

I’m so glad my boss isn’t like that! I’m working for a pimp on the corner of wellwood and barrington and became a huge fan of Allie and her turrid backstroke technique. I especially like the pop and rock. It’s awesome!

I’m so glad my boss isn’t like that! I’m working with Cryptozoologia right now, and became a huge fan of the Trepanasaurus (Cryptozoologia.com/ Trepanasaurus). I especially like the way that, after the dinosaur-anteater hybrid rips off the top of a person’s head with its sharp teeth, it can suck out its victim’s brain with its nose. It’s awesome!

While I have already thanked all of the wonderful, generous bloggers who have blogged about Operation Survivor since Labor Day, there has been a countinued outpouring of support. As a result, I have added all of the new posts, banners, Twitters in addition to the initial posts — as of 25 November, this is everyone.

1. 5 Minutes Around the World via 5 Minutes for Mom.
2. Banner via A Disgruntled Republican.
3. Survivor Corps Program-Help! via Swimming Against the Red Tide.
4. Survivor Corps: Founds Operation Survivor Project to Assist U.S. Military Combat Veterans in Transitioning to Civilian Life via A DC Observer.
5. Survivor Corps. Rise Above. Give Back via All 4 My Gals.
6. Banner via American and Proud.
7. Support ‘Survivor Corps’ this Veterans Day via American Thinker.
8. Support ‘Survivor Corps’ this Veterans Day via Americanthinker.
9. Returning Troops…a Noble Cause via Dodgeblogium.
10. Indigenist News Items for: 11-14-2008 via Inteligentaindigena Novajoservo.
11. They don’t go away when Veterans Day ends via Around the Island.
12. Survivor Corps via Assoluta Tranquillita.
13. Survivor Corps via Jake’s Life.
14. Banner via Bearing Drift.
15. Vast Write Wing via Be Logical.
16. Survivor Corps Operation Survivor: A Worthwhile Cause to Consider via Mount Virtus.
17. Someone alerted me to the good work that Survivor Corps via Big Bark.
18. Standing up for Max Cleland on Veteran’s Day via Big Bark.
19. Twittered via How to Change the World.
20. Do Not Abandon Our Vets via understanding the effects of unresolved abandonment issues.
21. Help Our Troops This Veterans Day via Locust Fork Blog.
22. Soldiers Angels Web Surfing via MySpace: Kathie’s Soldiers Angels Account.
23. Banner via Blog Mommas.
24. An Appeal via Don Surber’s blog.
25. Survivor Corps: Help a veteran break the cycle of violence via Hormone-Colored Days.
26. Support the Survivor Corps via Burbsblogs.
27. Veterans Day via Bodhi Baby.
28. Supporting Our Troops via Booker Rising.
29. Operation Survivor via Britannica.
30. As Per Request via Budget Nomad – US Ex – Pat on the Move.
31. Per a Request via Budget Nomad – US Ex – Pat on the Move.
32. Help veterans through Survivor Corps via South by Southwest.
33. Remembrance Day via Around the World in beautiful Shoes.
34. Veteran’s Day via Danny Fisher.
35. Survivor Corps via Charming Just Charming.
36. Veterans Day via Chip’s Quips.
37. Please Help Me Support Our Troops on Veteran’s Day via Chris Abraham.
38. I Will Not Be Broken via For the Heck of It.
39. Ray via Notes from the Cookie Jar.
40. Survivor Corps Helps Injured Vets Cope via Connecticut Bob.
41. Help Our Troops This Veteran’s Day via Culture11.
42. Supporting Our Troops: Operation Survivor via Culture Kitchen.
43. Supporting Our Troops: Operation Survivor via The Daily Gotham.
44. Donate to help our Troops via Make it Happen.
45. Survivor Corp-Returning Troops via What’s Delmer Look Like?.
46. Banner via Popcorn and Sushi.
47. Banner via Supercozy WorldHome.
48. Supporting Returning Troops via Donklephant.
49. Operation Survivor-Survivor Corps and TroopTube via Where the Hell Am I?.
50. In Their Boots via Holly’s Fight for Justice.
51. In Their Boots via Holly’s Fight to Stop Violence.
52. Banner via Gapers Block.
53. Banner via Gary Presley.
54. Operation Survivor via The Political Junkie.
55. Veterans Day via On the Fringe.
56. Survivor Corps Supports Returning Troops and Their Families via GoMekong.com.
57. Support Our Troops NOW via MamaBugs…Homeschooling Where the Air Force Sends Us!.
58. Soldiers Angels Web Surfing via Hooah Wife & Friends.
59. Breaking the Cycle of Violence via Another Opinion.
60. New Book from the founder of Survivor Corps via The IAVA Blog.
61. Some Odds and Ends of the Election via The Liberal Life of a Navy Wife .
62. cross-post via Personal Injury and Social Security Disability Blog.
63. Banner via Iraq The Model.
64. In Honor of Veterans’ Day via James Kotecki.
65. Survivorcorps.org via Jelly Mom.
66. Banner via Into the Woods, Living Deliberately.
67. Survivor Corps via A Leg Up.
68. Standing up for Max Cleland on Veteran’s Day via Informed Comment.
69. Helping Veterans (a day late) via Just Enjoy Him: Ramblings of a Mid-Life Mom.
70. Soldiers Angels Web Surfing via Mail Call! Supporting the Troops.
71. Survivor Corps via Kung Fu Monkey.
72. Banner via Kim Stagliano.
73. Survivor Corps via Knee Deep in the Hooah.
74. Banner via Kentucky Progress.
75. Courage via Last One Speaks.
76. Banner via Leucadia Blog.
77. Iraq snapshot (The Common Ills) via Like Maria Said Paz.
78. Banner via Lisa’s Cookbook.
79. For a Good Cause via The Local Crank.
80. Banner via LooneyBin4Sure.
81. Tis the season to help our troops via Manatee’s Military Moms.
82. Thoughts of a conservative mind: A worthwhile charity via A different kind of Conservative Blog.
83. Banner via Married to the Army.
84. Veterans Day via State of Ohio Blogger Alliance.
85. Veteran’s Day via Weapons of Mass Discussion.
86. Operation Survivor via Big Blueberry Eyes.
87. Survivor Corps offers peer support to injured vets via Media Dis&Dat.
88. Survivor Corps via Tanker Bothers – Soldiers in the War on Terror.
89. Survivor Corps via Tanker Brothers.
90. Miss Beths Victory Dance via Miss Beth’s Victory Dance.
91. Survivor Corps via Miss Cellania Blog.
92. side bar Banner via Mommy Bytes.
93. Survivor Corps. Help for Surviving Troops via Mommy Does it All.
94. Operation Survivor via My American-Iraq Life.
95. Banner via Myrtus.
96. Mine removal personal ambition for Missouri State instructor via News-Release.com.
97. Survivor Corps: Support for returning heroes via News Blaze.
98. Veterans Deserve Your Help via New Zeal.
99. Supporting Returning Troops via Northloop Neighborhood.
100. Read Terrance D.C. via Oh Boy it Never Ends.
101. Banner via only red head in taiwan.
102. Banner via On the Upside.
103. Banner via Papamoka Straight Talk.
104. Banner via Pardon Me For Asking.
105. Survivors of War via Ponderings on a Faith Journey.
106. posted link on blogroll via Political Grind.
107. Survivor Corps: Operation Survivor via Political Reps.
108. A Day To Honor Those Who Have Served Their Country via Political Vindication.
109. Banner via Praise and Coffee.
110. Banner via Preemptive Karma.
111. Survivor Corps Supports Returning Troops and their Families! via Progressive Independent.
112. cross post via Quick Quotes Online.
113. In Banner Rotation via Redline.
114. Veteran’s deserve not just a word, but also a hand: Operation Survivor via Rich Kirkpatrick.
115. Survivor Corps Supports Returning Troops and their Families! via Right Michigan.
116. Banner via Rightwingchamp.
117. Katrina Vanden Heuvel is an Idiot via Ruth’s Report.
118. Katrina vanden Heuvel is an idiot via Ruth’s Report.
119. Survivor Corps via Sanbans Lymphorama.
120. Helping the Walking Wounded on November 11 via Serge the concierge.
121. Banner via Seven Wheelchairs.
122. palin, survivor corps, heroes and more via Sex and Politics and Creeds and Attitudes.
123. Links, Awards and Other Good Blogishness via She Lives.
124. Peace, be still. It’s Armistice Day. via Short Woman.
125. Sick of It via SICKOFITRADLZ.
126. posted Banner and review of I will not be broken via Writing in FaithWriting in Faith: Previews and Reviews.
127. Banner via Socialism.
128. Survivor Corps – Electronic Media News Releases via Soldiers Angels Network.
129. Survivor Corps via Soldiers Angels New York.
130. Survivor Corps via Soldiers’ Angels New York.
131. Need a little Inspiration? via My Life As A Military Spouse.
132. Banner via Stepping Right Up!.
133. Survivor Corps via Straight, Not Narrow.
134. Veterans Day via The Adventures of Super Mommy & Spitup Boy.
135. Support ‘Survivor Corps’ this Veterans Day – American Thinker via Survivor.
136. Operation Survivor – excerpt from website via Arthriticyoungthing.
137. posted Banner via Screw Politically Correct B.S..
138. Banner via The Political Jungle.
139. Survivor Corps via Tao of Katie.
140. Help veterans through Survivor Corps via The Reaction.
141. The bridge, the sacrifice, more via The Common Ills.
142. Banner via The Inside Dope.
143. A Belated Veterans (Day) Post via The Moderate Voice.
144. A Belated Veterans (Day) Post via Funny Blog.
145. Veterans and PTSD via Where There’s a Will There’s a Way.
146. Tuesday, November 11. 2008. via This French Life.
147. we posted? via This Fucking War.
148. Survivor Corps Website via Untreatable Online.
149. cross post via News Updated Frequently.
150. Survivor Corps via Unveal Blues.
151. Banner via VDog and Little Man.
152. Banner via Virginia Left Wing.
153. cross post via Today on Vot3r.
154. Banner via mikesmercurialmaddness.
155. As Long as We’re Bailing Out CEOs… via World-O-Crap.
156. Wake Up Americans via Wake Up America.
157. Survivor Corps via Wake Up America.
158. Xyence via The Xyience Diet Resource.
159. Please Help the Veterans via Yaw and Mog.
160. Survivor Corps Supports Returning Troops and their Families! via Young Philly Politics.
161. Survivor Corps Supports Returning Vets and Their Families! via Zimbio.
162. Mojo Mom says thank you to military families via Mojo Mom.

I daresay we’ll be get more so there might very well be another thank you email. Again, both Abraham Harrison and Survivor Corps thank you very much for all of your continued generosity and support!

Veteran’s Day this year is especially poignant since it has been 5 years since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began. Thank you to everyone who helped Survivor Corps get the message out about Operation Survivor and all the amazing work that Survivor Corps does for vets, for returning troops, and for their families. Here’s a list of all of your fine work:

• Please Help Me Support Our Troops on Veteran’s Day via Chris Abraham.
• banner via On the Upside.
• Veterans and PTSD via Where There’s a Will There’s a Way.
• Support Our Troops NOW via MamaBugs…Homeschooling Where the Air Force Sends Us!.
• Peace be still. It?s Armistice Day. via Short Woman.
• Do Not Abandon Our Vets via understanding the effects of unresolved abandonment issues.
• Helping the Walking Wounded on November 11 via Serge the concierge.
• Support ‘Survivor Corps’ this Veterans Day via Americanthinker.
• Veterans Day via Bodhi Baby.
• Veterans Day via The Adventures of Super Mommy & Spitup Boy.
• Operation Survivor via Britannica.
• Veteran’s Day via Danny Fisher.
• Donate to help our Troops via Make it Happen.
• Remembrance Day via Around the World in beautiful Shoes.
• Operation Survivor via Big Blueberry Eyes.
• In Their Boots via Holly’s Fight for Justice.
• In Their Boots via Holly’s Fight to Stop Violence.
• Veterans Day via Chip’s Quips.
• Help Our Troops This Veterans Day via Locust Fork Blog.
• Banner via Socialism.
• In Banner Rotation via Redline.
• Veteran’s Day via Weapons of Mass Discussion.
• Help Our Troops This Veteran’s Day via Culture11.
• side bar banner via Mommy Bytes.
• Veteran’s deserve not just a word but also a hand: Operation Survivor via Rich Kirkpatrick.
• Survivor Corps: Help a veteran break the cycle of violence via Hormone-Colored Days.
• Veterans Day via On the Fringe.
• The bridge the sacrifice more via The Common Ills.
• Someone alerted me to the good work that Survivor Corps via Big Bark.
• Survivor Corps Supports Returning Troops and Their Families via GoMekong.com.
• Support ‘Survivor Corps’ this Veterans Day – American Thinker via Survivor.
• Helping Veterans (a day late) via Just Enjoy Him: Ramblings of a Mid-Life Mom.
• Survivor Corps: Operation Survivor via Political Reps.
• Survivor Corps Website via Untreatable Online.
• Survivor Corps Operation Survivor: A Worthwhile Cause to Consider via Mount Virtus.
• Veterans Day via State of Ohio Blogger Alliance.
• A Day To Honor Those Who Have Served Their Country via Political Vindication.
• Courage via Last One Speaks.
• banner via A Disgruntled Republican.
• An Appeal via Don Surber’s blog.
• Mojo Mom says thank you to military families via Mojo Mom.
• Survivor Corps via Miss Cellania Blog.
• For a Good Cause via The Local Crank.
• Operation Survivor-Survivor Corps and TroopTube via Where the Hell Am I?.
• In Honor of Veterans’ Day via James Kotecki.
• banner” via Into the Woods Living Deliberately.
• Survivor Corps Supports Returning Vets and Their Families! via Zimbio.
• Please Help the Veterans via Yaw and Mog.
• posted banner and review of I will not be broken” via Writing in FaithWriting in Faith: Previews and Reviews.
• banner’ via Pardon Me For Asking.
• Veterans Deserve Your Help via New Zeal.
• I Will Not Be Broken via For the Heck of It.
• Per a Request via Budget Nomad – US Ex – Pat on the Move.
• banner’ via Blog Mommas.
• banner via Myrtus.
• banner via Married to the Army.
• Survivor Corps. Rise Above. Give Back via All 4 My Gals.
• Re: Vast Write Wing – November 2008 via Be Logical.
• Survivor Corps. Help for Surviving Troops via Mommy Does it All.
• Survivor Corps Supports Returning Troops and their Families! via Right Michigan.
• Indigenist News Items for: 11-14-2008 via Inteligentaindigena Novajoservo.
• banner via Gary Presley.
• banner via Seven Wheelchairs.
• Operation Survivor via The Political Junkie.
• Need a little Inspiration? via My Life As A Military Spouse.
• Banner via Preemptive Karma.
• Operation Survivor – excerpt from website via Arthriticyoungthing.
• banner via Rightwingchamp.
• Survivor Corp-Returning Troops via What’s Delmer Look Like?.
• posted banner via Screw Politically Correct B.S..
• palin survivor corps heroes and more via Sex and Politics and Creeds and Attitudes.
• banner via Bearing Drift.
• banner via Kentucky Progress.
• Supporting Returning Troops via Donklephant.
• banner via Gapers Block.
• Katrina vanden Heuvel is an idiot via Ruth’s Report.
• Supporting Our Troops via Book Errising.
• Survivor Corps – Electronic Media News Releases via Soldiers Angels Network.
• A Belated Veterans (Day) Post via The Moderate Voice.
• posted link on blogroll via Political Grind.
• They don’t go away when Veterans Day ends via Around the Island.
• Survivor Corps offers peer support to injured vets via Media Dis&Dat.
• Survivor Corps via A Leg Up.
• Supporting Our Troops: Operation Survivor via The Daily Gotham.
• Survivor Corps: Founds Operation Survivor Project to Assist U.S. Military Combat Veterans in Transitioning to Civilian Life via A DC Observer.
• banner via Iraq The Model.
• Survivor Corps Supports Returning Troops and their Families! via Young Philly Politics.
• banner via The Inside Dope.
• Survivors of War via Ponderings on a Faith Journey.
• Survivor Corps via Charming Just Charming.
• Survivor Corps via Knee Deep in the Hooah.
• Tis the season to help our troops via Manatee’s Military Moms.
• A Belated Veterans (Day) Post via Funny Blog.
• Support ‘Survivor Corps’ this Veterans Day via American Thinker.
• Supporting Returning Troops via Northloop Neighborhood.
• As Per Request via Budget Nomad – US Ex – Pat on the Move.
• Some Odds and Ends of the Election via The Liberal Life of a Navy Wife .
• Returning Troops…A Noble Cause via Dodgeblogium.
• Survivor Corps Website via Untreatable Online.
• Standing up for Max Cleland on Veteran’s Day via Informed Comment.
• Standing up for Max Cleland on Veteran’s Day via Big Bark.
• Read Terrance D.C. via Oh Boy it Never Ends.
• Katrina Vanden Heuvel is an Idiot via Ruth’s Report.
• Iraq snapshot (The Common Ills) via Like Maria Said Paz.
• Tuesday November 11. 2008. via This French Life.
• Survivor Corps Program-Help! via Swimming Against the Red Tide.
• Survivor Corps via Kung Fu Monkey.
• banner via Leucadia Blog.
• banner via Bearing Drift.

You have done an amazing thing for the vets and also for the mission of Survivor Corps domestically and around the world. Thank you for your posts and for your banner placement. Never hesitate to contact me personally or my team at Abraham Harrison. Also, always please feel free to contact the entire Survivor Corps team.

If you have not been keeping on top of all of the great comments streaming in to the AH Poll entitled “If John McCain died or became incapacitated, would Sarah Palin be competent to be President?” you are really missing out! Some of them are the most insightful, thoughtful, and brilliant collection of thoughts representing the best and the worst of the right and the left! Roll up your sleeves and batten your hatches because you’re going to have one hell of a ride. Oh, also, these comments are in reverse-chronological order so the most recent are at the top. If you want to keep track of them live, please go visit them where they love and breathe. Read below for the most amazing Sarah Palin comment thread of the Internets!

And, here’s an embed of the poll, if I’ve piqued your interest by now:

The International Medical Corps and my team have been working on winning $1.5 Million dollars through American Express’ Members Project. IMC needs to be in the top 5 in order to win. Please check out the Member Project page, Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children, and then please vote.  I would like to personally thank each and every one of you who have blogged about the issue and about the contest — see below:

• Help Feed Hungry Children via Danny Fisher
• Help Save Kids via Three Sons and a Princess
• Seeking $1.5 million to feed malnourished children via Bearing Drift
• International Medical Corps Matched With Top 25 American Express Members Project, via The Colombo Times News Blog
• Altruism – For Whose Sake? via Jakartass
• Cast a Vote, Help Save a Child via The Blog That Ate Manhattan Goes to Italy
• Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children via Here There and Everywhere
• International Medical Corps Matched With Top 25 American Express Members Project Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children via Samotalis
• International Medical Corps responds to the food crisis with emergency nutrition programs food relief aid agricultural assistance and training via Fight to Stop Violence
• Calling All American Express Card Members via All 4 My Gals
• Russia using cluster bombs and humanitarian efforts for children… via Glass City Jungle
• I’ve got this via E-Mail To Publish on this site, For the sake of children via The Triple Gem!
• In This Election, The Winners are the Children via The Blog That Ate Manhattan
• International Medical Corps via Christefideles
• saving malnourished children via Lotusinthemud
• Help Save the Lives of Malnourished Children With International Medical Corps via Myrtus
• Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children via Ontario
• International Medical Corps via Sakshum…cultivating dreams
• International Medical Corps via Jumping Monkeys
• Banner on Site via Nerds Eye View
• Fabulicious Friday #26 via cookienotes
• Sharing Saturday – AmEx and Int’l Medical Corps via My Life as a Hot Professional
• Cause Everyone Needs to Eat via Grassroots Activism
• International Medical Corps via Yoga and Judaism Center
• Radyo Inteligentaindigena-09-20-2008 via Inteligentaindigena Novajoservo
• Help IMC save the lives of malnourished children in Africa! via A Romanian in Africa
• Fighting Deadly Malnutrition: This Time, A Morally Imperative Rescue via The Cogitamus Blog
• Fighting Deadly Malnutrition: This Time, A Morally Imperative Rescue via litbrit
• Do the right thing via Bloody Brilliant
• Let None Go Hungry via Pipecleaner Dreams
• Click to Help Malnourished Children! via A Red Thread Connection
• Tweet via Bloggapalooza
• Here’s Something Cool via Cool Mom Picks
• A Different Vote: Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children via Sexy Spanish Club in Buenos Aires
• Saving Lives for Malnourished Children via Connorcolesmom
• This won’t take a minute. via Miss Cellania
• People Watching in Lipscani via Writers Bloc
• A Good Deed via My Boyfriend is a twat
• Corporate do-gooding: Vote for the best ideas that American Express is sifting through via Religion Blog: Dallas News
• Please consider voting via Living in shkoder Albania
• Banner via Andres V
• Help Save the Lives of Malnourished Children via Progressive U.org
• International Medical Corp via Jaden’s Journal
• We Get Stuff via Winds of Change
• International Medical Corps, Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children via Art of the Possible Online
• Banner via Postcards From Across the Pond
• Another AmEx Submission… via Fat Doctor
• Up to 5 million children a year die of malnutrition – with one mouse click, you can help via Shakesville
• Help International Medical Corp Save Starving Child With Just One Click via William K. Wolfrum
• International Medical Corps Needs Your Vote via The Rotten Word
• Give ‘em a vote via Army of Mom
• Int’l Child Relief NGO Needs Our Votes…1.5Million At Stake via The Democratic Daily
• Members Project by AmEx is amazing. Vote to send their money to help children here. via Craphammer
• Reaching Out in the Love of Christ via The Day of the Lord
• Do you Hear the Cry? via Christs Redeeming Passion
• Compassion that makes a Difference. via Passion that Redeems
• The Greatest Gift is Love via About the Father’s Business
• Making a Difference via Redeemed by the Passion of Christ
• Be a Light that Makes a Difference via Life in Christ
• Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children via What’s a Delmer Look Like
• banner via The Legless Blog
• Contribution to a Noble Cause via Aa..Ha [Thinking Inside The Blog!]
• Help International Medical Corps Earn $1.5M via Turning Left
• Help International Medical Corps Earn $1.5M via eNews Park Forest
• They Need Your Vote … via Freaked Out Fathers
• posted widget via Albtranslator
• Please check this out via Braveheart Does the Maghreb
• Saving the lives of malnourished children via Tongue and Cheek
• American Express’ Members Project International Medical Corps via Sugar and Spice
• International Medical Corps Matched With Top 25 American Express Members Project Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children via Budget Nomad – US Ex – Pat on the Move
• Vote for International MedicalCorps to Help Children in Need. via humorgrafe
• Voting for International Medical Corps via Tall Skinny Kiwi
• Thank You for Blogging About International Medical Corps! via Chris Abraham Because the Medium is the Message.
• Dora the sheep droppings explorer via The French Mountain Dweller.
• Int’l NGO Needs Our Help To Win $1.5 M For Starving Children via Daily Kos.
• Thank You Bloggers for Blogging about International Medical Corps via Memes.org.
• Thank You International Medical Corps Bloggers via Abraham Harrison.
• Vote for the International Medical Corps! via Ben Heine.
• Feeding Hungry Children via Kuru Lounge.
• Your click could mean $1.5 million for malnourished children around the world via Pirate Pappa.
• One Click to Save Lives via So a Blonde Walks Into a Review.
• Members Projects via OBVI.
• With One Click You Can Save Thousands Of Malnourished Children via Blogher.
• Help International Medical Corps Feed Hungry Children via Chrisfernando.net.
• Thursday September 25 2008 via Island In the Pacific.
• Your click could mean $1.5 million for malnourished children around the world. via Fresh Motivation.
• Click for $1.5 million – A win-win-win situation via Stet.
• Vote to make a difference via Onlinefundraisingblog.
• Something About Saving Lives? via NDAGHA.
• Click to Donate via More Than An Army Wife.
• Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children via The Existential Lip.
• International Medical Corps via Backyard Missionary.
• International Medical Corps Matched with Top 25 American Express Members Project, ‘Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children’ via Bio-Medicine.
• Time is Running Out!!! via Pre School Mama.
• The International Medical Corps Please Consider This Good Cause via Working With Word.
• Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children via javajive.
• Things I should have avoided whilst pregnant via Whitterer on Autism.
• American Express Members Project: Join me in voting for the project Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children via Make College Pay Off.
• Interested in Saving a Child From Malnutrition? via Reservoir.
• Go Vote for the International Medical Corps via Christian Spirituality w/ Edges.
• Vote for the International Medical Corps! via Understanding The Psychology and Effects of Abandonment Issues.

Also, please let me know if I missed your post in the Chris Abraham comment area — and if you want to post about the contest and the issue, please feel free and pop the URL into the Chris Abraham comment section and I will add you and thanks in advance!

If you need more information, please check out our informational page, International Medical Corps Matched With Top 25 American Express Members Project, “Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children”