eBay PR clarify blogger’s statement

by Sue Bailey

This post was written in March 2008; specific information contained within it may be out of date.

Richard Brewer-Hay’s blog hasn’t even launched yet, but already eBay’s corporate PR are intervening to clarify his statements.

Going back to the original CNN/Fortune Small Business piece, I was surprised to read this sentence:

I’ve been reading external blogs since I got here, too, and I think there’s great dialogue going on there. Scot Wingo’s blog eBay Strategies, Only eBay - all these blogs have a dialogue already, but they’re external. I plan to be linking to those blogs from the corporate blog, because I think that the external discussion is important.

What, no Auctionbytes? And unsurprisingly, Ina, Auctionbytes’ editor, thought the same thing.

A comment from eBay Corporate Communications came pretty quickly:

Richard’s point to Fortune Small Business editors about talking with bloggers was within eBay to coordinate editorial content with those authoring blogs that support eBay, PayPal and Skype; not outside bloggers.

As another commenter says, this clarification could do with some clarification. Is RBH supposed to be talking to other bloggers within the eBay group, as PR seem to think, or with those of us who don’t work for eBay, as he seems to think? I’m pretty sure that Only eBay and Scot Wingo aren’t corporate shills for eBay, but maybe PR think different. I think we should be told.

Tags for this post: , , ,
Author: Sue Bailey
Posted at: Friday, March 7th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Filed Under Featured
 

Comments

14 Responses to “eBay PR clarify blogger’s statement”

  1. Randy Smythe on March 7th, 2008 3:28 pm

    Sue, RBH will have free reign to say what he wants and then eBay corporate communications will run around the net clarifying what he said.

    “What he actually meant was…”

  2. Sue Bailey on March 7th, 2008 5:33 pm

    I’m always happy to meet someone as cynical as myself, Randy :wink:

  3. Josordoni on March 7th, 2008 6:07 pm

    OMIGOD - TWO of you!!

    :shock:

  4. Sue Bailey on March 7th, 2008 6:08 pm

    Of course, if eBay had a few people whose job it was to run around the net dealing with the negative things that people said about them, that might be a much better idea than corporate shills in-house bloggers. That way, the customers get to set the agenda, and they feel like eBay are really listening to them.

  5. Sue Bailey on March 7th, 2008 6:09 pm

    :razz: @ Lynne.

  6. Randy Smythe on March 7th, 2008 6:59 pm

    Sue, that is a great idea! I would have a lot more faith in the information though if it came from an independent source that had direct access to the company.

    So what they need to do is; invite you, me, Ina, Chris and other bloggers to San Jose for a blogger summit and give us access to the decision makers, then we can speak independently about what is going on. :)

  7. Sue Bailey on March 7th, 2008 7:05 pm

    Randy, I hope JD is reading your comment :grin:

  8. Chris Dawson on March 7th, 2008 7:45 pm

    Fancy a trip to California Sue? Wonder if they’d make it in the Summer :grin:

  9. Sue Bailey on March 7th, 2008 9:05 pm

    Yeah, why not :grin:

  10. Josordoni on March 7th, 2008 9:13 pm

    Randy, that is a brilliant idea… I do hope they are watching…

  11. Randy Smythe on March 7th, 2008 10:37 pm

    Josoroni, they are watching. :)

    Stranger things have happened. They just agreed to credit sellers affected by the P&P glitch on the US site. As far as I can remember eBay has never compensated sellers for an error on their part.

    There is hope. Maybe they can hold the Blogger Summit in Chicago at eBay Live. (If they don’t cancel it)

  12. Sue Bailey on March 7th, 2008 10:42 pm

    If they won’t hold a blogger summit for us, maybe we should hold our own? I know Suzanne (eBay Selling Coach) is going too.

  13. Randy Smythe on March 7th, 2008 11:13 pm

    Sue, that is a fantastic idea. We will all be there so it would make sense. Ina, Tamebay, Suzanne, Gary from Auction Rebel, the mystery blogger from OnlyeBay, Wingo, and my self. A star studded group if ever there was one.

    eMail me I have some ideas.

  14. Sue Bailey on March 7th, 2008 11:30 pm

    YGM :-D

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