Phorm's terrible, terrible PR
When I wrote about Phorm in my PA column last year - in quite mild terms, given the far more strident things being said about it elsewhere - I discovered very quickly that the company's approach to PR is aggressive.
I got a call. The PR representative laid into me in the manner of a headmaster: "Giles, I've just seen the piece you wrote about us in your column. I must say, I expected more of someone of your experience and reputation." (I paraphrase, but that was the gist.)
This reference to my "experience and reputation" is a ploy, of course. They're trying to make me feel important, in the hope that if I think that they think that I'm important, I'm more likely to do what they want me to.
I queried the cause for concern, and was subjected to complaints. Yes, I had made an error in my copy, saying that Phorm resulted in "more" advertising whereas in reality it's just "more targeted to your personal habits and interests". I apologised for that.
But the PR rep was determined. He whined about how Phorm's message was being twisted and misrepresented. His tone suggested that my mildly-worded piece was a gross distortion of the truth and potentially damaging to the nature of journalism itself.
Undeterred, I made some comment about the nature of Phorm - the fundamental problem that everyone's been complaining about from the start. You know, that niggling stuff about monitoring what internet users are doing, without giving them the basic courtesy of opting in to it.
He didn't answer my point, ranted a little bit more, and ended the call.
At the time I thought to myself: "My word, they're desperate aren't they? Aggressive PR like that ain't going to get them anywhere."
And here we are, a year or so later, and the awful, cringe-making, vitriolic embarrassment that is Stop Phoul Play has raised its angry, spitting face out from the rock it was conceived beneath, ready to shout and hurl abuse at anyone and everyone who dares make a criticism.
Dear Phorm: I don't know if this is something you've thought up in-house, or if your PR advisors thought it up for you, but for goodness sake stop now. You are doing nothing but damage to your brand and your professional reputations.
What's more, you're not going to change anyone's mind with this sort of aggression. Guess what? I still think Phorm is a bad idea, and that won't change no matter how much you froth at the mouth in my general direction. Honestly, truly: you are behaving like a bunch of kids. Spiteful, nasty kids, the ones that everyone else turns away from.
Grow up a bit, thicken your skin, sack your PR advisory team, take a deep breath, delete your awful web site and start again from the beginning. This is the web, you know: it's about listening.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
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Planning for the next GeoCities
I tried making the point back in October last year (see Photography, and longevity of web content) that relying on third parties for long-term storage of data is risky. But it's a risk that too many people seem to completely ignore these days.
Yahoo! has decided to kill GeoCities - not just close it to new users and leave everything archived, but to actually remove the whole damn thing from the web.
What's a little unnerving about this is that, back in those days, GeoCities was huger than huge. It was the Wordpress of its day, a day that didn't have a Blogger and a Tumblr and a squazillion others to choose from.
Putting your stuff online today is trivially simple. You can email any old rubbish to Posterous and it's online in moments, if you wish. But back in the mid-90s, putting stuff online was difficult for most internet newbies. Until GeoCities came along.
For a few years, if you wanted a web site (no-one had thought of blogs yet), the chances were that you'd end up using GeoCities to host it for you. No-one cared about the ridiculous neighbourhoods concept, no-one was bothered about the huge URLs. No-one had thought of link shorteners; domains weren't considered a vanity consumer item. You had your sub-sub-sub-sub directory and you were thankful for it.
No matter how well-intentioned GeoCities' founders might have been, in the end the service was sold. This happens to corporate entities and commercial products. Someone you trust might own them one day, but sooner or later someone else will take ownership. Will you be able to trust them?
Wordpress.com account holders (indeed, users of any hosted blogging service), consider this: you trust Automattic (the company that provides the service) now, but how long will you be able to trust them? Ten years? Twenty? Fifty? What happens when the Automattic founders grow older, get bored, sell it off and turn their minds to other things? Who'll be in charge of Wordpress.com then?
How long will it be before some future corporate vice-president decides that Wordpress, just one among many web properties on his list of responsibilities, isn't necessary any more, and says to a minion: "This Wordpress thing. Let's ditch it."
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
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Homage
This poetry lark
it's a walk
in the park
after dark.
Like an ark
that's afloat;
you know, a boat.
This poem that
I wrote,
this medley,
in the style of
John Hegley;
it mentions glasses
and dogs.
But not frogs,
because John never mentions them.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
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My ideas are in Scrivener
Storing ideas. A thing I often think about.
I like the Tinderbox concept: like an index card, or a sticky note, that you can zoom into. Your overview shows you all your cards, all your ideas. That's useful.
But Tinderbox isn't for me. And I've tried everything else I could think of: text files, email folders, outliners, Stickies.app (no, really, I tried it), Yojimbo and all the others, the whole gang.
Your latest trick: a Scrivener document. Scrivener does that thing, that cards-you-can-zoom-into thing. It costs a fraction of Tinderbox's price, and has none of the learning curve.
ideas.scriv is my new playground.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
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It's partly my fault
The Guardian: Video reveals G20 police assault on man who died.
It's partly my fault. After all, I was one of the people who voted for Tony Blair in 1997. I was one of those people.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
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A somesuch number of people did a thing
The phone rang, and it was a chirpy but businesslike lady from a PR agency.
"Hello Giles," she guffled. "Is now a good time to chat?" I'd been reading something on Metafilter, so of course it was a good time to chat.
"Sure," I said. "Fire away."
She wanted to give me first look at a story she had. In a survey, it turned out that something out of somesuch number of people did a thing that was significant to somediddle or other. Apparently.
I tried to be diplomatic, because I always do. I don't want to be rude to anyone. They're just doing their job, and as a journo it's part of my job to expect phone calls from people doing PR.
So, diplomatically, I said: "I tend to avoid stuff about surveys. I - err - I don't really like using surveys."
Because surveys aren't news. I've written up plenty of surveys in my time, but those days are gone. These days I grimace when I see a survey-based press release (and they are so, so common). People in PR: be more imaginative! I would much, much rather have a chance to look at your product, and perhaps talk directly to one of the people who made it, than try to turn some semi-fabricated survey gubbins into a news story that's worth reading.
Just trying to be helpful.
So when I diplomatically say: "I tend to avoid stuff about surveys," what I actually mean is: "I never ever ever write stuff about surveys. But you can still email it to me, if it'll make you feel better."
I'll bin it, though.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
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iPhone apps you must own
Last night I did a quick talk at the latest Bathcamp evening infomesh, which was all about mobile.
Mike Ellis asked me to get my slides online, so I've uploaded them here so you can see them.
Thing is, they don't convey the message I was trying to get across, because they don't include the gags and sarcasm I was saying over the top. In other words: you had to be there. And: it's NOT ACTUALLY ABOUT IPHONE APPS YOU MUST OWN.
I had to leave early because I was shattered, so apologies to the people who did stick around until the end. I'd like to have hung around too, and chat to some of the people who were asking me questions at the end. Next time, though, eh?
Thursday, April 02, 2009
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