If anything should drive a well-deserved stake in the deplorable PR practice of planting negative stories about one's competitors, last month's blow-up involving the PR agency Burson-Marsteller, Facebook and Google should do the trick.
The blogosphere has been all over this tale, but in case you missed it: Early last month a pair of new employees at Burson, both of them veteran journalists, contacted a security blogger and offered to help him write and place an op-ed piece that exposed “sweeping violations of user privacy” by Google.
The target was a rumored product called Google Social Circles that would provide limited information about the activities and affiliations of a member's social network connections. While Google has never admitted that such a product exists, it has selectively leaked some of its thinking in this area, no doubt to test public opinion.
The Burson reps contacted Christopher Soghoian, a security researcher and Ph.D. candidate who specializes in online privacy, and offered to help place an article critical of Google in outlets like the Washington Post, Politico or Huffington Post. Soghoian's response must have surprised them: He asked who was paying them to circulate this story. The Burson reps wouldn't say, so Soghoian did what any self-respecting blogger does these days: He posted the entire email exchange online.
It didn't take long for a couple of reporters at USA Today to tease out the fact that the client behind the whisper campaign was Facebook. Chaos ensued, with Facebook eventually fessing up, Google taking the high road and Burson retreating into stony silence. It has issued only one brief statement on the incident.A GLIMPSE OF BLOGGER CULTURE
Much has been written about how stupid this idea was in the first place, as well as the irony of Burson's response, which basically violated every rule of crisis management. But as a student of blogging culture, what interested me most was the actions of the blogger.
Whisper campaigns are nothing new in PR. As a longtime journalist, I've been on the receiving end of several. The idea of a whisper campaign is to play to the competitive nature of journalism, betting that a reporter will take the bait for a chance to scoop the competition. Although most journalists abhor these tactics, a few will bite.
Not so with bloggers. Outside of the few who write for competitive news blogs, the vast majority of them are motivated by passion for their subject matter, professional recognition or simply the opportunity to share. Few care about competition or exclusivity. Most are all too willing to link to each other's work as a mark of professional courtesy. It's illuminating that Soghoian has not made a single reference to the incident on his blog.
The two former journalists who carried out this campaign must have been stunned by the reaction. They thought the scoop would be irresistible. They learned the hard way that that isn't the case—Not by a long shot.
Consider this story if you're building an influencer relations program. Blogger outreach is becoming a mainstream service of PR firms, and that's a good development. But understand that bloggers differ from journalists in some fundamental ways. Mostly, they're collaborative, collegial and usually very knowledgeable. They don't play the game, and they don't even want to know how the game is played.
Whatever you do, be aware that even your private email communications may become a matter of public record. My best advice on whisper campaigns: run away screaming.
