Scobleizer - Latest Comments in This is not a numbers business

Re: This is not a numbers business

Olga — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 11:38:32 -0000

When you have something to say you have to say. Some people will use your experience and will have fewer troubles in their lives. Some will agree the others disagree but still they will have the information, the arguments to make decisions. And as more people will make reasoned decisions the whole society will benefit!
It's terrible when people think only about money...

Re: This is not a numbers business

Marc Snyder — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 08:44:57 -0000

Just demonstrating the ease of commenting on a blog to a new client. Nothing to see. Keep on going.

Re: This is not a numbers business

Dmad — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 18:50:02 -0000

@35, Its probably no surprise that even many of MS's own internal PSS folks use google to find KB articles and other support info.

Re: This is not a numbers business

John C. Welch — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 12:48:42 -0000

Robert,

I can tell you that in the IT industry, no, blogging is not doing squat to restore the trust that Microsoft pissed away. In fact, sometimes it may make things worse, because it can look like a blatant attempt to mislead and distract from the meat of things.

It's handy in that it maybe gives us another way to get things done, or maybe pick up a tip we wouldn't have gotten otherwise, but if you think that blogging alone is going to make Microsoft a trustable entity, even on a purely professional basis, then I would recommend you stop drinking so much.

Here's an example. You, and Microsoft talk all this crap about how you want to dominate the search space, yet the TechNet/support base/MSDN search engines suck, and have sucked for years. Where's the dogfooding? Why is it that I can get better results from Google than the KB search? Why should I take MSN search seriously when the company that writes it isn't using it?

Why should I take "dogfooding" seriously when you don't do it yourselves?

The Amazon thing also implies a different relationship with Amazon than with a company like Microsoft. I go to Amazon to buy stuff. I don't need employee opinions on them, they're worthless if I don't know the employee. When I want to find a particular book or video game, I don't want blogs, ratings, and the other crapola. I want:

1) I want to find what I am looking for as fast as possible

2) I want to buy that thing in a fast, efficient manner and LEAVE.

Everything about Amazon needs to help with that. The only blogging I would want might revolve around system status, (DVD store's down, should be up in an hour) or new features

If I can go in, get what I want, and leave in under ten minutes, Amazon is working *perfectly*.

Amazon's a middleman, not an end node. Blogging would only confuse that.

Re: This is not a numbers business

Vijay — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 04:48:53 -0000

Spot on! ROI isn't everything...that's why we are called human. Working in customer service has taught me to listen and understand the customer before attempting to deliver any product or service. Comments are the voices that help a blog stay true to its soul and links create a support system helping everyone stay True and stay Connected. Now...that's more important than ROI can be at any point. If this sounds silly, maybe you'll find my computer problem cartoons better( at http://spaces.msn.com/silly... )

Blog on!

Re: This is not a numbers business

Gary Wisniewski — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 03:22:18 -0000

Of course it's a number's business! Even people are a numbers business. I like friends. If I have no friends, the number is zero. If I have some good friends the number is non-zero. It matters.

Maybe I want to get more contacts in my business life. I buy a better business suit (or cool new sneakers maybe in your case) because conventional wisdom tells me that if I look better, the number of contacts I have will increase.

We have no "conventional wisdom" in blogging, so of course people are going to ask about the numbers.

And of course you CARE about the numbers! Don't tell me you don't. You talked last month about "tips to get on the A-list". No, no, let's talk about the A-list again, please!. But my point was that your post was full of TECHNIQUES designed to INCREASE the visibility of your blog, and get bigger numbers. Is it just accident that you know these things? You do many of them yourself! And, you observe how these techniques work for others.

Face it, you care about the numbers. Maybe you care about people too. I know you do, in fact. And I know you genuinely did START blogging for the reasons you describe. But, also, wasn't it because it was a "cool way" to communicate and because you "believed in it" and over time wasn't it also because you felt "MORE PEOPLE SHOULD DO IT". Numbers.

You can still be honest, ethical, and genuine while measuring how well you're doing at it.

Re: This is not a numbers business

Dmad — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 01:29:24 -0000

but you have to measure your success somehow. A company like Amazon, and any F500 company that you think needs to start blogging will surely ask the question: "what will it benefit us?" And after that, they will ask "how do we measure the benefit?". They can't measure it by feelings, or number of comments, or the number of hits they get. It has to translate it a benefit to the bottom line. Otherwise it's a waste of their time and resources. Companies exist to make money. So, while its great that blogging has perhaps had a slight improvement in customer satisfaction with their customers, I gotta believe at some point someone is going to ask if it is resulting in more software sales. The stock price seems to indicate blogging as not had a bottom line impact on Microsot.

So, when you suggest that a company like Amazon could benefit from blogging, they are only right to ask you to prove it. Because I gotta believe that everything that Amazon does regarding customer interaction is wih the ultimate intent of selling more product. Otherwise, why would they spend the resources doing it.

It's admirable that you like Microsoft enough that you want to spend your free time singing its praises and pointing out its flaws on your personal blog. But, if MS or any company would like to implement blogging as a strategy, then you'd be hard pressed to convince any CEO that the numbers don't matter when you are asking that CEO to apply their resources to such an endeavor. Again, that endeavor better ultimately result in better sales and thus more profits. That fact that a customer may think that it's great a company's employees are blogging doesn't really matter if that customer doesn't buy from that company. I submit that that is ultimately what mattered to Amazon.

Re: This is not a numbers business

Mike — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 01:28:11 -0000

One of the problems of blogging is that real-time thing. It's ok to be passionate, until you figure out you are working on week ends. Hmmm. If that's your own blog, it's all fine, but if your blog is by any mean a voice for your company, then you are working for them for free on week ends.

There is nothing wrong saying "we'll get you answer on Monday". Bloggers tend to avoid that, it's uncool.

Add that to the new nature of work these days in hi-tech with teams overseas that often require to work late hours.

Add all of this, and think again.

Re: This is not a numbers business

Innocent Bystander — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 01:12:39 -0000

I don't know - based on this:

http://news.designtechnica....

what makes you think bloggin is working for your employer?

Re: This is not a numbers business

Robert Scoble — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 20:53:32 -0000

Nobody: it's ironic that someone who isn't even willing to sign his or her name to his or her posts is saying "cheap shot."

Here's the deal. I've written now thousands of words on this issue. So have many other people. If you aren't yet convinced to blog after all that then you just aren't going to be convinced, OK? So, move along and go back to your job where you aren't even allowed to use your real name.

There's no way you're gonna blog if you aren't even willing to use your name here.

Dmad: did I say +I+ cared? I care whether customers are happy, yes, but other people care about tracking the numbers.

Blogging has been going on at Microsoft now for more than four years. If the numbers folks decide it isn't good for business, it'll stop. The fact that they haven't stopped yet means that they like what they are seeing.

But, I'm done. If you all want to keep arguing about this, go ahead. I'm going to try to have a weekend. I haven't had one of those in a while.

Re: This is not a numbers business

dmad — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 20:31:44 -0000

@5. If it's not a numbers business, then why care about what the cust sat surveys may say?

Re: This is not a numbers business

Nobody — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 20:02:37 -0000

"But, if you’re that risk adverse, then I definitely wouldn’t start a blog. You’d be boring and there’s nothing worse than a boring blog."

Cheap shot. Sorry I wasted my time trying to help you understand.

Re: This is not a numbers business

Ben Hollis — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 19:03:25 -0000

What's all this talk about needing proof of ROI? Amazon has a long history on taking chances. Remember the years when Amazon didn't turn a profit and everybody was launghing about how they were the only dot-com business that wasn't making money?

Werner was provoking you. He wasn't outlining some company policy against blogging.

Re: This is not a numbers business

Robert Scoble — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 18:25:02 -0000

Seth: true. But it wasn't setup to work. That's not why I got hired. It just happened that in the end it did work for a whole lot of things. Our customer satisfaction numbers here at Microsoft have been going up for the first time in a decade, at least in part due to blogging and Channel 9, according to our surveys (believe me, there are LOTS of people at Microsoft who love numbers too).

Re: This is not a numbers business

Seth Finkelstein — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 18:07:27 -0000

This is exactly what I mean by an unfalsifiable system.

It's set up so that BY DEFINITION, there is no way to measure whether it works or not! All measurement is rejected in terms of "people".

Re: This is not a numbers business

Robert Scoble — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 17:53:22 -0000

Nobody: >There’s a dangerous game - if Amazon takes a side (and how can they not?), then it will anger someone. Sounds like bad business.

They already do this today, albeit by an algorithm. Businesses do this all the time and live with the choices. At Borders they decide to put some books on the "featured" table.

But, if you're that risk adverse, then I definitely wouldn't start a blog. You'd be boring and there's nothing worse than a boring blog.

Re: This is not a numbers business

nobody — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 17:46:55 -0000

"I met many people at Amazon who are far more qualified to talk about books than I am. Particularly new ones coming out (they get advanced copies, and they were at our speech to book buyers in January)."

There's a dangerous game - if Amazon takes a side (and how can they not?), then it will anger someone. Sounds like bad business.

"I’d love to subscribe to a blog that talked about the Associates program. I think I’d learn something that could end up making me more money too."

That's a good suggestion. Perhaps that one might get some traction. So get Gene to do it.

Re: This is not a numbers business

Jack — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 17:41:22 -0000

> David, in my comments, reasks the question
> again: "Why would people prefer to hear from Amazon
> over the authors who sell on Amazon and the other
> customers at Amazon?"

Those are not mutually exclusive options. You can do all three.

Further, if blogging is the third option, and the least popular option, it may still be worth doing. Evaluate blogging on its merits, then decide.

Re: This is not a numbers business

scobleizer — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 17:25:17 -0000

Morgan: I met many people at Amazon who are far more qualified to talk about books than I am. Particularly new ones coming out (they get advanced copies, and they were at our speech to book buyers in January). So, yes, I'd +love+ to hear their perspective. But that's just me.

More to their business, though, I'd like to see a blog from their Associates program. I met Gene Kavner, director of their Associates program, and he was articulate, passionate, and interesting to talk to. He knows how to make you more money -- based on his numbers that he sees.

I'd love to subscribe to a blog that talked about the Associates program. I think I'd learn something that could end up making me more money too.

Re: This is not a numbers business

Morgan Schweers — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 17:04:24 -0000

Greetings,
Just to pick a nit...

Tim Bray, of Sun Microsystems chimes in: "There's a word for companies that base all decisions on ruthless quantitative ROI metrics: Bankrupt."

Sun Microsystems is not a terribly good case example to use, given that they could really, really use some serious attention to their ROI, long before trying to give a 'fuzzy, warm' feeling to people.

I don't know who's right; I think blogging is a great thing for a lot of companies, and absolutely mandatory for a small company, but I don't think that blogging will move the needle at a company like Amazon.

I also think you deeply misunderstand their business. Why is it more useful for an Amazon employee to comment on one book over another, when there's tens of thousands of Amazon users, most better qualified (i.e. more familiar with the field, the books, the author, etc.), who are quite willing to do that?

As I said, I'd bet that employees blogging at Amazon wouldn't move the needle.

-- Morgan Schweers, CyberFOX!

Re: This is not a numbers business

scobleizer — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 16:43:43 -0000

James, sorry about that, I updated the post. Thanks for the kind words!

Re: This is not a numbers business

James Robertson — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 16:40:47 -0000

Small correction: I don't run my own business, I'm the Product Manager for Cincom Smalltalk.

And: I may disagree with you from time to time, but I really respect what you are doing. I think you've managed to do something I would have said was impossible 5 years ago: put a human face on a corporation as large as Microsoft.

Re: This is not a numbers business

Ricky — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 16:34:43 -0000

"Why should they add blogging to an already successful customer touch model?"

My experience of Amazon is my experience of their website and their delivery process.

How would I characterise those experiences?

"Coldly efficient"

Is that a "successful customer-touch model"?

I don't think Amazon has as much of a "touch lead" over their competitors as say Apple might have over Microsoft.

If having 2,000 bloggers is helping (even to a smaller extent than Scoble believes) to bridge the "customer touch gap" between Apple and Microsoft, Microsoft has another 58,000 potential bridges.

Scoble, even if you don't find a way to statistically and financially justify blogging, it may just turn out that bridge building and accessibility may just be part of what might ultimately counterbalance the cold efficiency that even Amazon seems to be mistaking for "touch".

The Amazon site feels no less automated, robotic, inhuman and "touch-free" than most websites.

Re: This is not a numbers business

scobleizer — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 16:26:41 -0000

Christopher: well, I have more Christopher Coulter comments than anyone else. Not sure that buys me much, though. :-)

Re: This is not a numbers business

scobleizer — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 16:23:27 -0000

>Heat too hot in the kitchen, eh?

Heheh. Well, I'm sure this topic will come up again soon. :-)