Steve Rubel (a PR guy who works for Edelman, another PR guy doing, presumably, PR) shares the following regarding the Pew Internet Project study released today:
As Reuters correctly notes, the research demonstrates that blogging is moving more mainstream, thanks to the surging interest in social network/blog hybrid sites such as MySpace and LiveJournal (MySpace is an Edelman client).
My question is, when is disclosure appropriate, and when is it mere self aggrandizement and name placement? I think the latter obtains in this case, since (first) a careful reading of the Reuters piece does not show them saying anything like what Steve says they said, and (second) neither Reuters nor the Pew study characterize MySpace and LiveJournal as social network/blog hybrid sites. These are Steve Rubel’s words. So it looks like Steve took this opportunity to flog his client’s brand, which would make disclosure appropriate, but the inherent dishonesty in implying that there is movement represented by these static data and the movement is toward Steve’s client should be an embarrassment to everyone. If I managed MySpace I’d pull the account. Who needs that kind of gratuitous misrepresentation?
Update: It has been pointed out to me that this would be a lot clearer if I just said Steve Rubel is full of hooie. Actually, “hooie” was not the word.
Update-update: It has been further pointed out to me that disclosure is not really what I am on about. Rather, it is the relentless floggery.
