Fast Company Doesn’t Get Social Media
I reference Robert Scoble a lot on this blog. After all, he is a pioneer in this space and if you want to know which way the wind is blowing in social media, you BETTER know what he’s up to. That being said, I’ve been following his new gig over at Fast Company pretty closely. Obviously Fast Company is a well-respected brand in traditional business circles, but their foray into social media is fairly new. Bringing Scoble into the mix was a move that has been watched by a lot of people.
Scoble produces several shows for them. The one I’m focusing on for the purpose of this article is Workfast TV with his co-host Shel Israel. The premise of the show is a familiar format - Robert and Shel start off with some back and forth banter about what they did this past week, then they introduce their guest and proceed to have a discussion for the next 30 minutes or so.
It’s a trainwreck. First off, the vibe of the show is totally off. You have Scoble as the only one dressed in a suit and tie, while the rest are dressed more casually. Additionally his laptop is covered in tech stickers which totally negates any business look he’s trying to create. Second, the banter between Israel and Scoble is painfully hard to watch. Instead of being friends, you’d swear they met 5 minutes before the show. Attempts at jokes fall flat and are awkwardly laughed off. As a viewer it is uncomfortable to watch. Finally, the format is flawed. They sit around a table with the guest. While they’re bantering back and forth, the guest is sitting there uncomfortably wondering what to do with themselves. By the time they start referring to the guest in the third person, you start to cringe.
On a positive note, the production values are top-notch.
Ok, I know this was a very long-winded way to get to my point, but it was necessary for context. I posted a condensed and gentler version of the above critique in the comments of Workfast TV a couple of days ago. Guess what? The comment was deleted. Then, I started to see the bulk of the other users in the thread complaining that their comments had been deleted for being critical. Fast Company then chimed in… (Wait, I see they have now deleted their initial comments defending the deletion of user comments). So not only are they deleting unfavorable comments from users, they have seen fit to pull their initial defense of doing so. Wow.
That last piece just really cements my argument. Fast Company doesn’t get what social media is about. They thought that hiring Scoble would bring them instant audience and credibility - and it did. But now that is eroding quickly. After all, one of Scoble’s key mantras is that companies should be engaged with their consumers on the web. Fast Company has essentially thrown that way of thinking out the window.
I realize that Scoble and Israel have little or no say in Fast Company’s practices. I also understand that business is business, and they have to put food on the table. However, how do you build your career as a transparent blogger, then sit back and watch your personal brand be tarnished by a company using tactics that are the antithesis of your view of social media ? I reached out to Scoble on Twitter and Israel on his blog, and as of this posting there was no response from either of them. Are their hands tied? Does their silence mean they condone it?
I applaud companies for taking the leap and putting some money into the social web. The benefits can be tremendous for your traffic and your brand. But, you have to be willing to have a genuine conversation. You can’t put out a show about how companies are effectively using the web 2.0 world to their benefit, then turn around and censor unflattering feedback. Now, before Fast Company removed their corporate comment yesterday, they stated that they only removed negative attacks and said they were open to critiques of the show. That’s complete BS because my comment was deleted and it was a genuine piece of constructive feedback. Where is the two-way dialog in that example? Amazingly, Fast Company is actually going to be worse off in the web 2.0 space than they were before they started their social media initiatives. Instead of this being a brand-building effort, it’s now turning into brand repair.
What should you take away from Fast Company’s mistake?
1. Don’t jump into emerging media unless you really want to engage your customers in an open dialog.
2. Welcome and encourage genuine feedback in your forums and blogs. Don’t delete something because it doesn’t fit with your tightly-controlled marketing message.
3. Listen to feedback. Most of it is genuine, and although it may be painful to read, you may be able to learn from it and make something in your organization better.
4. Reward feedback, whether it’s negative or positive, by engaging participators with a response.
Scoble and Israel know these things. I bet they tell this stuff to companies everyday when they interview them. So is it not bizarre that they would work for a company that so clearly seems to hold an opposing view?
16 Comments, Comment or Ping
Mike Barash
Great piece Scott - really insightful and articulate, and I think your take on FC is right on. Seeing this not only with FC - recently had a run-in with Ziff-Davis over social media practices, and they don’t get it either.
Jul 10th, 2008
Robert Scoble
Tomorrow’s show will see a bunch of changes in reaction to this feedback, and others we’ve received.
One thing about the comments: sorry, we won’t allow personal attacks to be posted. That’s a choice that we’ve made because our comment area is for being businesslike itself, and personal attacks have no place in the boardroom.
That said, we did remove some comments that shouldn’t have been removed. Those have now been put back.
Jul 11th, 2008
Marc Canter
This should not be surprising - if you’ve ever met Ed Sussman.
I warned Robert about him and that this would probably happen. Robert is resilient and he’ll survive - but it was only a matter of time until this whole FastCompany scam was exposed.
Their social network is built on Drupal. Watch for them to try and sell it to others- and then lets see if they adhere to the GPL covenants.
Jul 11th, 2008
Scott Parent
Robert,
I’m not referring to personal attacks. I’m referring to positive constructive feedback about how the show can be made better.
It’s great that you put back some comments, but mine still isn’t there and that still doesn’t sit right with me.
Mike and Marc - Thanks for your comments. Very insightful.
Jul 11th, 2008
Ed
Scott,
The Mansueto policy is against abusive comments.
There are only two user comments deleted:
1) one called a contributor a “fool” who should “go away.”
2) the other calls a contributor “stilted, posey, insincere” and makes fun of how he was dressed, and goes on in a similar mean-spirited vain.
But here is a lnk to the many other comments from the last episode, some of which are very negative.
http://www.fastcompany.tv/video/timothy-ferriss-and-the-4-hour-workweek
The forums on FCTV are not a place for “flame wars” to break out or for “trolls” to seek revenge for their perceived slights going back years.
As this has occurred, we installed a moderation queue, as is common in social media. TecCrunch is an example of a site with a moderation queue. Moderators reigning in flame wars is nothing new to the online world.
As for Marc Canter’s comment, he does not mention that he bid for the work to build FastCompany.com and was not chosen, for which he is apparently still bitter. His source code was closed and proprietary and not suitable for our project. As for his other remarks about our future business plans, I’m sure he’s just speculating as Marc is subject to a non-disclosure agreement prohibiting him from discussing confidential information he learned while bidding for the project.
In any case, we would never “sell” Drupal — we have already contributed back to the community the slot machine we developed and will continue to do so.
Jul 11th, 2008
Trip Foster
Robert,
Its great that you re-posted and you are listening to the conversation.
I think the main concern is that the corporate wonks are sucking you into being less about the two-way dialog and more of an old-school one way conversationalist.
Everyone respects your work and enthusiasm and you have single handedly gotten respect for the channel and moved the Social Media ball forward in corporate America. We just don’t want to see your vision get blurred by a dead tree publisher.
Jul 11th, 2008
Ed
Scott,
We also have a spam filter called Mollom that removes about 600 porn/commercial spam messages a day. It’s possible yours was caught in there. If you reprint the gist of it here, I will look for it.
tks,
Ed
Jul 11th, 2008
Ed
One other point while it’s on my mind:
Wordpress, Drupal, Typepad, Ning… every open source and commercial social media platform I am aware of has an optional moderation queue for social publishers. I am all but sure that whatever blogging platform that is allowing us to have this debate right now has a moderation queue option.
Social media platform builders long ago all realized that flame wars and trolling and the like were disruptive to the conversation that some social publishers were trying to conduct. Some publishers, like yourself, might choose not to moderate any comments, but the fact that all social media platforms allow moderation should tell you that the people who literally created social media do not agree with your position, Scott.
Here’s a challenge for @Marc Canter and his company BroadBand Mechanics’ platform People Aggregator: remove all moderation queue options from your platform. Be the first commercially available to end the practice. Tell your clients that all comments are equally worthwhile to be published and if they are to be eligible to buy your platform, they must accept this. Or you won’t sell it to them.
Jul 11th, 2008
Scott Parent
Ed,
Thanks for taking the time to post.
You wrote:
“the fact that all social media platforms allow moderation should tell you that the people who literally created social media do not agree with your position, Scott.”
That is an incredibly weak argument. That’s like saying because a car can attain a top speed of 150 mph, we should all be driving that speed. Yes, moderating comments has it’s place - removing porn spam, hate speech, etc. We all get that. What I’m talking about in my article is the fact that you are deleting unflattering comments that you don’t like.
Further, you even removed the post by your company that defended doing so? Why?
If you want to prove your theory, I challenge you to ask the social media world at large, maybe via Twitter if they think your argument holds water.
Social media is about two way communication. If you’re not willing to have that, you shouldn’t be in the space. Period. Pretending to want to have a dialog, then deleting comments that you don’t agree with isn’t genuine.
Jul 11th, 2008
Francine hardaway
Marc, et al. I have been blogging on the Fast Company Drupal site since the beginning, and it is awful. I interact with three Drupal sites and they are all terrible for the user, however great they may be for the developer:-) I wish I knew more about development so I can explain what sucks about Drupal for the user, but mostly it’s the interface design and the fact that there are too many available features. And FC.com needs a great design, not just a logo slapped on it.
However, I have talked to them and they have told me changes are coming out soon. They know how bad it is. They are working on it. Interestingly enough, there are not a lot of good Drupal interface designers out there, and the ones there are are very busy. I have a client with this problem.
As for the show: I think it will get better, because anyone who knows Scoble knows he listens to the customer. He’s working in a new medium, and I think every old media company is having this problem. At least Fast Company is trying.
That being said, I liked the post a lot. And Marc’s addition, and everyone’s discussion. The thing about negative comments is a problem all over the Internet right now. I don’t think free speech means destructive bullying.
Why hurt people? If you saw Shel and Scoble in person and didn’t like them, you’d just go away and not invite them back or meet them again. If you were on a date you didn’t like, you just wouldn’t call in the morning. But on the Internet everyone thinks it’s okay to crush the other person verbally rather than just walk away. Why? This is a big question for me that threatens to ruin my online experience, which up to now has been fabulous.
Jul 11th, 2008
Scott Parent
Francine,
Thanks for your post. I appreciate the perspective on the Drupal issue.
I agree that negative attacks aren’t productive online. The biggest irony about this particular situation for me is that Robert is carrying the torch in this arena trying to show companies how to get involved in the social space. It makes it all the more disheartening that his show is falling victim to the same things that he cautions companies against all the time.
Jul 11th, 2008
Christopher Smith
Francine - I couldn’t agree with you more. Scoble will definitely change the format if FC lets him, which I hope they do. And yep, kudos the them for at least trying. I just hope that it happens quickly so that this does not become a situation where the time for change is so slow that the format becomes the norm, the noise dies down, and its back to business as usual.
Being at the front end of new media efforts requires a certain responsibility to do things differently as you look for the right way to innovate the medium and the way it is packaged for the consumer. As we have seen time and time again, listening to the audience and engaging in a dialog will continue to move that dial .
There is difference between censoring assholes that like to provoke just to get a response, and postings that are opinionated. I hope FC will realize that even negative opinion is required to carry the conversations forward.
Scott - couldn’t agree more with your comments on being genuine. Authenticity is a key in the social media world. I would have rather seen valid rebuttal to the posts that were offensive to the FC team. Delete the crap, obviously, but also be wise enough to recognize an opinion vs. a rant
Great posting Scott. Look forward to more from you.
Jul 11th, 2008
Ed
Scott,
As soon as I saw your post this morning about the Fast Company explanation of the comment policy being deleted, I asked our developers to investigate. As Francine notes, somewhat too harshly I think but point taken, our back end platform does still need work. I believe that in the process of restoring the two comments we shouldn’t have removed, something went awry. I asked for it to be restored and it is. It only benefits us to explain our position on the site since there are several comments critical of it.
Regarding your point about asking the community, I actually had a similar thought, but along these lines: two of the smartest people behind the creation of the social media movement and its expansion are Matt Mullenweg of WordPress.com and Dries Buytaert, founder of the Drupal project. I thought of asking them to explain what their thoughts are about when and how the moderation tools they built should be used.
On one point, I know you are incorrect. Matt built Akismet as his spam moderation solution and Dries built Mollom. These tools run separately and independently of the moderation queues on their platforms.
Jul 11th, 2008
Ed
@Chris,
Again, please look at the comments. Many are highly critical. We have removed two comments that we considered abusive.
http://www.fastcompany.tv/video/timothy-ferriss-and-the-4-hour-workweek
Scoble is in full support of the policy to remove abusive comments and does so on his own blog as well. He can explain for himself why he wants our discussion to remain non-abusive. The decisions as to where to draw the line are certainly subjective. But calling one of our contributors a “fool” and asking him to just “go away” is too abusive for us.
Jul 11th, 2008
Lurker
I’ve been lurking for sometime. Ed Sussman has no integrity from people who are in the know. Fastcompany has no reputation and understanding of social media. Scoble acts like he’s a knowledge source on social media but everyone who knows him can say that he hasn’t had an original idea in his life.
This crew is a perfect match for each other. Clueless and everyone is aware of it.
Jul 15th, 2008
Reply to “Fast Company Doesn’t Get Social Media”