Comments on: Ghost blogging? It’s going to happen. Get over it already.

By: The Greatest Viral Ever - and other assorted examples « Brendan Cooper, your Friendly Digital Social Media PR, ummm, Thingy

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 17:38:24 +0000

[...] about ghost blogging. I also know that you need to be careful because it can damage your brand. In many ways, I wished I hadn’t written the ghostblogging post even though it did get a lot of attention. And I’m sure Quechup wished they hadn’t [...]

By: The PR Friendly Index for June 2008 « Brendan Cooper, your Friendly PR Social Media Planner

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 19:56:09 +0000

[...] posts Getting along with TwitterAboutGhost blogging? It’s going to happen. Get over it already.You’d avoid using Lotus Notes if you were me – Part IIThe PR Friendly IndexFour buzz charts, one [...]

By: Whatleydude

Whatleydude — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:01:06 +0000

Interesting post dude, especially coming from someone at PN.

Not sure if you heard the recent BBC stuff on this… ?

By: Dos Comentários e das Conversas | Comunicação Empresarial

Dos Comentários e das Conversas | Comunicação Empresarial — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:36:35 +0000

[...] autores e público; as de Karen Russel, que ensinam boas maneiras e perdas de tempo; a tese de Brendan Cooper acerca dos “bloggers fantasmas”; a anti-tese de Simon Collister acerca destes, [...]

By: Kevin C

Kevin C — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 10:43:50 +0000

As one of many journalists now earning a living from PR, I think the ‘ghost blogging’ debate is missing the point. Surely, it’s all about whether the information or opinion being communicated has any value to the recipient.

I would concede that many a statement from a CEO or corporate entity is worthless when a ‘content value’ test is applied. When drafting such statements – and certainly blogs – on behalf of such people you have to ask: would that person ever have uttered those words? Do they sound as if they came from a human being? If not, why bother?

Bland, uninformative communication is a waste of blogspace and will instantly be seen as such by customers or anyone else who happens upon it.

Good PR people understand the mindset of their clients and can often articulate their thoughts and the ‘vision thing’ better than they can themselves.

By: Gerry

Gerry — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 05:28:28 +0000

Oh, and by delegate to someone more lucid I mean anyone, anyone BUT the PR team (our credibility aint so good this weather y know?) G

By: Gerry

Gerry — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 05:27:07 +0000

I’m with the Doc on BS and Simon on the difference between blogging and flogging; from my perspective B you’re totally confusing consistency and authenticity; For me, the object of blogging is not some slick marcomms/PR channel (talking to you Ian); if the CEO ain’t a wordsmith let him say that, and delegate bloggin’ to someone who’s a bit more lucid and real; but more PR simulation… Nah, not what this PR counsels.

By: Is Ghost Blogging wrong? « Grapevine Consulting

Is Ghost Blogging wrong? « Grapevine Consulting — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 15:47:46 +0000

[...] PR | Tags: ghost blogging, Shiny Media, the cluetrain manifesto I added my 2 cents to this article by Brendan Cooper the other week. It’s been interesting watching the discussion develop and [...]

By: Brendan

Brendan — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:40:03 +0000

I’m not sure I did say they’re getting any better! To continue the Garden of Eden analogy, I expect Adam and Eve were fairly fed up that they couldn’t just kick back and watch the grass grow any more.

I still haven’t seen anyone give a convincing reason why ghost blogging is different from ghost writing, other than that ‘it’s just not the done thing old chap.’ Which is why I suspect we’re getting quite an opinion divide here.

I’ll restate my position: I do agree that blogging should be, by definition, a person’s opinions and beliefs stated by that person, which enables engagement and exchange. I do agree that, if this were to change, it would not necessarily be a good thing. But, when I look back at how the web was initially considered a ‘pure’, unmonetised space and how it is used by big business now, I naturally extrapolate and predict that the same will happen with, for example, the blogosphere, and, specifically, ghost blogging.

Put it another way. I just returned from a web copywriting stint in Madrid. I used to live there, about 15 years ago. Funny thing is, 15 years ago the web was nascent. Now it has changed the world, and entire industries have sprung around it.

By: Doc Searls

Doc Searls — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 07:07:01 +0000

This all reminds me of the great philosopher George Burns, who said “Honesty is the best policy. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”

What’s truly naive is to imagine that “pushing messages,” much less out of “every orifice” will survive in a world where customers can advertise their real wants and needs — in secure ways the protect their privacy — at least as well as sellers can push the guesswork we call advertising. This will happen, and when it does, the speculative money river that comprises far too much of the advertising boom will surely bust. Count on it.

Brendan’s right that things keep changing. But that doesn’t mean they’re getting better.

It should be plain that ghost blogging is BS no matter how well you rationalize it, how “savvy” its purveyors may be, or how much money is wasted on it.