Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde? Welcome to Corporate Blogging

On the one hand there's the Wall Street Journal declaring yesterday that "Corporate America Has Joined The Blogosphere" ( just not WSJ since I can't link to the article --subscription,baby) and on the other hand there is a major brouhaha in the PR sector thanks to the launch of Strumpette the randy, bawdy and tell all blog of a character named Amanda Chapel that promises to deliver "a naked journal of the PR Business"

In it's launch just last week, Strumpette demonstrated that she/he/they( it is a blog written by a character) knows how to get publicity. As the character shares in her bio:

"Bottom line professionally speaking, I am 5’ 4” tall, athletic, Pantene shoulder-length black hair, perfect perky boobs. I present well and am most accomodating. I’ve slept with clients. I sleep with my boss. I am the consummate PR strumpette. When I was 7 my mother told me I'd "never get anywhere with that mouth." I've apparently dedicated my life in proving her wrong.

I have a BA degree in Economics with a minor in Italian Literature from Columbia. I graduated cum laude. I went on to get a law degree from Dartmouth but flunked out after two semesters. They were just way too snooty and serious. To be fair, I think I was just bored."

Type in Strumpette on Technorati and you'll get a sense of how obsessed the PR sector has become in (a) Outing the creatives behind  Strumpette  and (b) utter dismay that this whoring character is a traffic-monger.

From d:notes:

"I think this is a wee bit of a stunt and it sounds like the brainchild of a man more than something a successful woman would do, but either way I think it's great stuff. Professional life is often boring so I'm loving the spice.

Little bit of a display problem in MSIE 6.0 I noticed with the comments getting truncated on the left and right hand side - check this page as an example.

http://strumpette.com/archives/66-Place-Your-Bets,-Ghoulish-Office-Pool-Spreads.html#comments

Other than that, my theory this is some guy doing this but it's interesting to see that the interest (in the form of comments) is pretty much exclusively from men. I guess that's usually how it works "

From :infOpinions? :: Public Relations:

"T he worst aspects of PR and Word-of-mouth (WOM) were laid bare in one pitiful post this weekend. Filled with stereotypes and void of character (while masquerading as one), Strumpette busts on the scene and is quickly exposed by - a student.

A blogger, calling itself Strumpette attempted to be cute with a post about Steve Rubel.

The funniest part of the whole post, to me, is that a UK student PR blogger - Stephen Davies - was the first to point out that this is a lame copy of Spin Bunny, the first PR gossip blog - and from the UK. (That link/site is dead, by the way.) Who knows, it may be Spin Bunny coming out of the rabbit hole. I doubt it, though. That blog was creative."

And from Andrea Weckerle's New Millennium PR

For all you PR students out there, especially the women, here's apparently the winning formula:

• "Piggyback on a big name"

  • Describe your best two assets. Repeatedly.
  • Mention your willingness to accommodate your clients and your boss.
  • Include a saucy photo.
  • Play up to the gents.
  • Above all, remember that modesty doesn't get you anywhere.

Which takes us back to the WSJ and it's article "Corporate America has joined the Blogosphere". While it is definitely an interesting read, and if you have a subscription I do recommend it, it is also amusing.

Here's the interesting part:

"Despite the concerns, a slew of big companies, including General Motors Corp. and Boeing Co., have jumped on the blogging bandwagon in the past year -- joining high-tech firms like Sun Microsystems Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. For these companies, the bigger risk is being left out of an online phenomenon in which an estimated 5% of Americans maintain blogs and 20% read them, according to a February Gallup poll.

"The biggest risk with regard to blogs is not having one" because companies then miss out on a burgeoning communications medium, according to a report from Gartner Inc., a Stamford, Conn., firm that advises many companies on technology issues".

Here's the amusing part:

When you click on the hyperlink to General Motors or Boeing, it doesn't take you to their blogs. It takes you here...to their stock performance.

Now, in their defense, at the end of the article they do have a cute little chart that includes some of the top corporate bloggers and their URL's...its just that you can't get there from the WSJ because they are not hyperlinked. Maybe its time for the WSJ to join the blogosphere?

Notes: I was inspired to write this post after reading a couple of posts by Marianne Richmond on Blogher. And, to be completely transparent, Boeing is a client.

Image Credit: Flickr image by Ross Mayfield

Tags: Strumpette, PR, Blogher, Blogging, Communication, FunnyBusiness

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Comments

[Brian Connolly]

For the record, as I just reiterated on Mr. Leverington's site, if he would have read a few of the threads he'd see that I've openly admitted hostng Ms. Chapel's site. I do provide her technical assistance. We do indeed share the same IP address through RCN.

Regards,

Brian Connolly