Jerry Yang’s post: good or bad?

Written by Lois Kelly on May 5, 2008 – 4:01 pm -

Jerry Yang of Yahoo yesterday blogged (“OK, so now what?” ) about Microsoft’s decision to withdraw its offer. I give Yang credit for writing something and allowing comments, which is more than most CEOs do.

But Yang’s post doesn’t sound genuine; it sounds like something the corporate PR folks wrote in a committee. Too bad. In today’s world, people want the real language of the person behind the ideas. After reading the post my reaction was, “Does Yang really care — or is this just a PR move?”

A better approach would be to give the CEO a few of the major points that communications thinks should be conveyed — and then let him express it in his own words and style. Who cares if the words and grammar aren’t perfect. Neither are real people.

What do you think about his post? A good example of Marketing 2.0 — or misguided?


Tags:
Posted in corporate communications, public relations |

One Comment to “Jerry Yang’s post: good or bad?”

  1. Joe Pulizzi Says:

    Thanks for the post Lois. This is actually a very interesting example of a blog that’s not a blog. This is a press release sent out in blog format. Of the zillion comments below that I could see, Jerry didn’t respond to any. On a real blog, the author would be getting involved in the feedback.

    Not sure what they were trying to accomplish. Looks like they had good intentions, but then fell silent once the conversation emerged. It’s a difficult situation and I admire the trying, but it seems like they only went half way.

    You are right, though, about the style. As David Meerman Scott would say, too much gobbledygook.

    Best
    Joe

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