Forbes magazine current issue features a cover story on the dark side of blogs. Blogs can break companies, careers and politicians, as the publication illustrates.

The story makes some spot on observations. Blogs have made it easy to publish both positive and slanderous content. Nothing new there, but it's now easier than ever to do so.

Example 1 from the story:
Industry analyst Sara Radicati wrote a critical report on IBM Lotus Notes. Blogger Ed Brill launched an attack and rallied an army of consultants who make money from selling the application and undermined her authority by claiming the study was paid for by Microsoft.

Example 2:
Circle Group Holdings developed a fat substitute. The publicly traded company was on its was up, until an anonymous blogger attacked the company, calling its CEO deceitful, unethical and a pathological liar. Investors got scare and the stock plummeted. It turned out that the author of the slander pieces was a former stock broker who is under investigation by the SEC for taking part in stock price manipulation scemes.

The examples are fair enough. But reading the article, I kept feeling that the complaints are those of the old world versus the new world. Of a world that understands and embraces blogging (sometimes for the wrong reasons) versus one that shuns away from it.

The story actually goes on to illustrate how you can defeat attack bloggers at their own trade. Circle in the end found an ally in the  FinancialWire online news service – they too had had a run-in with the blogger by the name of Timothy Miles. Together they dug up some dirt on him and put it out on the internet, fighting fire with fire.

These cases more than anything illustrate that companies need a blogging strategy. You need to have established a presence online so you can be ready when you need to be.

If an attack comes, clients and partners will look for your side of the story. If it isn't there, you're screwed.

Attack blogs are just like bullies in school. They're only successful it they catch you off guard. That is why Robert Scoble is such a huge asset to Microsoft – because they are probably the most attacked company in the world.

In the process, your blog can provide a powerful tool in advertising your company and your products. But that's something that Forbes forgot to mention.

Tags: blogoshpere, forbes

28 Oct 2005