Micro Persuasion: Open Letter: A Lesson Learned Twittering

Instead of being totally absorbed in Lost, I got caught up in yet another online dust-up in he blogosphere. This time, I guess it started when Steve Rubel from Edelman Twittered PC Mag is another. I have a free sub but it goes in the trash. And that posting lead Jim Louderback, Editor-in-Chief of PC Magazine, to question how seriously he should take pitches from a PR company after one of their top executives admits he just throws out the magazine. As you might have read here before, I don't always agree with Steve (Experience Manifesto: Advertising Age - You Might as Well Be Searching for Bigfoot), but in this case, he said something, someone disagreed and he apologized.

But, you have to read through the comments on Steve Rubel's post to get some really good chuckles. I just love the experts who can't wait to bring Jim Louderback to task for being upset. And while Steve Rubel, in his apology, indicated that he reads PC Mag online and through RSS feeds, he doesn't mention that in his Twitter post. Yet many people attack Jim because he's another big media company upset that people don't want to read the magazine instead of reading it online. But that's not what Rubel said. He didn't say "I don't read the magazine, but I do read it online." He simply said he throws the magazine out.

But people needed to comment on the whole new world bullshit that's probably been around since the beginning of time. Everyone thinks it's a new world. But being rude doesn't change just because you're using a new communications tool. In fact, while reading through the comments, it's clear that folks who like to trumpet the brave new world, carry on just like the middle school kids calling each other names when I was a kid. No brave new world, just a new way to behave childishly.

Hey, gotta’ take a break and re-watch Lost because I think I missed some important items. I might try to get back to this later, but I think you get my point. New communication tools don’t change how we need to behave!

The following is an open letter to Jim Louderback, Editor-in-Chief of PC Magazine, as well as any of the several hundred employees who work for Ziff Davis Media.

Dear Mr. Louderback,

Last Friday, yes Friday the 13th, I put up a post on Twitter that I wish I hadn’t. I said that I don’t read the hard copy of PC Magazine and that my free subscription goes in the trash. In a guest editorial on Strumpette you weighed whether the magazine in response should blacklist all PR pitches from Edelman, my employer, on behalf of our tech clients.

I learned a valuable lesson. Post too fast without providing context and it can elicit an unintended response. While the item is true, it does not reflect my full media consumption habits. I subscribe to PC Mag RSS feeds and have linked to several of your publication's online articles over the three years I have been writing this blog. Further, I have linked to articles from eWeek, your sister site.

Link: Micro Persuasion: Open Letter: A Lesson Learned Twittering.

Link: EXCLUSIVE: PC Magazine Considers Edelman Boycott.

Comments

[Kevin Dugan]

David: When it comes to drama, I also prefer LOST to folks that oversimplify matters by boiling them down to a cut and dry old world vs. new. Please!

[David Polinchock]

Amen brother! It was amazing going through all of those comments and seeing just what drama people were willing to create! And every time I took my eyes off of LOST, I would end up totally lost!