brentashley

Adam Curry points to this story about Sony’s practice of using planted actors acting as tourists or bar patrons to hype their product.

Reminds me of the story of Jonathan Lebed, the teenager who precipitated stock gains for himself by hyping them in trading-related message forums under various pseudonyms.

Jonathan’s been subjected to hours of grilling by federal agents, months of stress and legal uncertainty for him and his family, various penalties and sanctions.

Sony just considers it a smart marketing plan.

I’m sitting with my decaf outside at ther Letieri cafe, Queen St and Spadina Ave, Toronto, on a lovely sunny day. Neither the net connection nor the coffee are wired.

Now that’s comfort.

Just had a yak with Glen Murphy in his new dChat thang. Paul Sowden was along too. My, my, what a small world when three people who’ve never met each other, from their homes in in London, Toronto and Melbourne can meet up together on a virtual streetcorner and all know who each other is and gab like longtime mates.

I really put a lot of effort into being reliable – meeting expectations, following up on promises, arriving on time at appointments. I put even more effort into recovering from the inevitable circumstances that get in the way of being reliable – phoning to warn that I may be late, delivering that little bit more to balance compromises that had to be made, emailing to apologize or explain lateness or inability to attend. I’m ALWAYS thinking about the other person’s perspective.

Dunno why, but in return, I’m always the guy arriving 5 minutes early but still pacing and looking at his watch a half hour after the appointed time. The guy sitting waiting for the promised phone call that never comes, as neither does the call or email explaining the missed appointment. The guy who just lets it slide and moves on when the other person strolls in an hour late with nary an apology for having wasted my time.

I’ve been a “pleaser” for much of my life. I expect I will continue being a pleaser. But no more doormat for me. Anyone who displays the kind of lack of respect associated with this type of inconsiderate behaviour gets one chance. Unless they redeem themselves without my prompting, then NO MORE.

I will not wait more than 15 minutes for someone, ESPECIALLY if I know they have a cell phone. I will not put off doing anything for me while waiting on someone else’s promised input.

As it happens, this particular rant isn’t about anyone specific, but if you were thinking it was about you, then it’s time to kick yourself in the ass for being such a putz and start being a little more considerate.

I just noticed that any email to beta@blogchat.com was being bounced back. It must have been like this for a few weeks since it’s because I was redirecting it to a list that rejects any mail without its name in the To or CC. Soooo… if you’ve been sending emails to get in on the beta, just give it another try.

Dave and John have some thoughts on the stock market, including quotes from Allan Greenspan’s recent comments about reading the fundamentals of the market through the fog of corporate malfeasance.

I’ve watched my mutual funds drop 10% over the last 6 weeks. I pulled them out into interest-bearing investments this week, expecting there is still some drop to go as more and more of the corporate shenanigans iceberg is revealed. Call me a pessimist but I’m fairly confident we’ve only seen the tip, and the political fallout hasn’t even started to gather steam.

Now is exactly the right time for every corporate executive to get a copy of The Cluetrain Manifesto. Consumer and investor confidence will return quickest to those corporations who really sincerely grasp the concept of two-way communication with their market.

People are now more than ever wary of suits, bafflegab, slick salesmanship of any sort. Transparency and humility will win back investors and customers. No bullshit, no *seeming* to be trustworthy. Cards on the table time. A blogging executive has an advantage in building trust with his or her market over an executive whose human persona remains unrevealed.

Armin’s off and running:

Jon Udell recognizes Jeffrey P Shell’s thinking out loud as knowledge management. He’s right, you know.