Like many, I subscribe to Chris Brogan's blog and give it a read pretty regularly from reader or my inbox. Today's post "What Timberland Taught Me About Retail" kind of stopped me in my tracks for several reasons. As a disclaimer, I like Chris, I may not follow his every tweet or live by the words on his blog, but I generally think he is a nice guy and thought he was, for the most part, professional when we interviewed him at SXSWi last year. 

The point of my post is that I think Chris's post today serves as a pretty good example of a few downsides to some prominent voices in the blogging community. This is by no means meant to be a rant against Chris personally, nor a stab at bloggers in-general, just a few thoughts that have been in my mind for a while and Chris's post happened to be the one that drew them out.  Here they are:

1. The Social Media Hedge Fund
2. With great power comes great responsibility (Cheesy... yes, but well-said Spidey!)
3. Live by the sword; die by the sword

1. The Social Media Hedge Fund - I love the fact that business has evolved/started to evolve, and through current tools like Facebook and Twitter the "average" consumer now has a viable and amp-able voice in the marketplace. I also love the fact businesses are held to more accountability for their actions in this modern environment and less can fly under the radar.  However, in some cases, our new advocates and leaders e.g. techno/twitteratti are slipping into a place similar to a hedge fund short-selling. By that, I mean the negative effects of their post/tweets cause a "group think" response and people begin to pummel said company/brand without much independent thought. Now, I recognize both views of short-selling and recognize I am NOT a financial expert so feel free to critique my analogy. Though those who "digitally short" a brand by remarking about its enormous "sucking power" are not necessarily gaining financially by the value/equity of the brand declining, they are in some cases gaining financially from the thousands of followers and readers that closely follow their lead and subscribe to their thoughts fairly close to word-for-word. How many times have you seen RTs, quotes and theories taken practically verbatim from the mouths and text of Chris Brogan, Gary Vaynerchuk, Guy Kawasaki etc.? This can be a powerful thing, as well as a very positive thing as long as point 2 is kept in mind.

2. With great power comes great responsibility - Yes, I know it is a cheesy quote from Spiderman, but it is definitely legit and should be taken into consideration by all of our digital celebs. Though I love the fact we have an increased voice as a consumer, there is a form of censoring or filtering our words and voice needs to go through as our voice grows in resonance.  If the POTUS went out and started speaking his mind freely, there would definitely be backlash as he is highly influential and must consider his every word, even in a country where we put tremendous value on free speech and press. The same is common to corporate officers and their words. If they were to publicly release harsh statements via their blog or interview, they would quickly be blasted by many of our online colleagues and peers for doing so. We need to keep that in mind and carefully choose our words as our voices grow. Though transparency is highly rewarded in today's society there is still a place for some choosing and filtration of what should be blogged about or posted on Twitter or Facebook.

3. Live by the sword; die by the sword - The Online Model is quickly catching up with the Traditional Models of business we are so quick to criticize and claim to be dead. In fact, the traditional retail model is not dead. We are merely reviving it online and are encountering the same problems in a digital environment, where we can more easily voice our complaints and praise. Here, I use Chris's post as an example, sorry Chris, where he complains about the broken experience he recently encountered, trying to find a pair of Timberland boots. I encourage you to read it as it is an important example and quite a good post...read the comments too! Some of the things he talks about and criticizes as flaws in the brick and mortar retail model are things evident in his very post.

We are often quick to criticize a lack of action or response to complaints and questions from companies and corporations. But, if you look at some of our digital leaders and top blogs, there are many complaints or comments that go unrecognized. Why is this? Chris and others like him are simply too busy to answer and reply to every comment, criticism or question. This is the same fundamental problem we criticize traditional businesses for having.

In his post, Chris also mentions a problem in the communication through channels e.g. Timberland retailer, Journeys and Macy's and their logistics in carrying an ample supply and having appropriate knowledge of the brands they carry as affiliates. Again, there is a flaw here. In Chris's post there was a logistical/technological error that seemed to occur in the post and reply that was made by Chris (a representative from Timberland) to apologize for the issue. Should Chris Brogan be held accountable for this error? He does get to choose his service provider, blog platform and host. In reality, things happen and most would not think to criticize Chris for that error, it just doesn't really make sense even though it is a possibility.

Another issue mentioned in the post was a wait time of 10 minutes while contacting other possible carriers. I went back and looked at the time between comments and replies from Chris on his post. On the comments he chose to reply to there was on average 1-3 hours in delay. We find this acceptable from blogs as we view them differently, for some reason, than the brands and stores we criticize. Actually, I would venture to say that many of  those who read and commented on Chris's post were in fact Chris's customers. Perhaps they purchased Trust Agents, paid for the Thesis theme, paid to attend one of Chris's speaking engagements or Podcamps. Should we hold our digital leaders/brands to different standards?

Obviously I am being a bit facetious and dramatic, and truthfully I recognize the need to pick and choose replies and understand a non-instant response as I too run a business and know the logistical and time challenges business owners and executives face on a constant basis.

All in all, this is just something to consider. I truly love what social media has brought to the forefront and the changes it has evoked in the way we do business. That being said, I think we just need to calibrate and be considerate of the full 360 view before we take to the streets with our picket signs of revolution.

Thoughts?