This is one of those times.

(Link from the Bad Pitch Blog)

New regulations require soldiers to clear content of blogs and e-mails with a superior officer, Wired said. The directive, issued April 19, could lead to the end of military blogs — known within the military culture as ‘miliblogs’ — observers told Wired.

Military officials have wrestled for years with striking a balance between the need for discretion in wartime and the benefits of allowing troops in the field to connect personally with the public, the magazine said — especially since the troops are often seen as among the most effective advocates for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I understand that some of the information coming out of the war is extremely sensitive, and the military needs to ensure confidential information isn’t accidentally distributed. In the real world, though, the majority of superior officers will simply not have the time to go through each and every blog post for approval, and blogging will shrivel up. It’s a shame, because most milbloggers strongly believe in their mission and are able to articulate their hopes and successes. They’re a rare source of positive PR in the war.

I would have really liked to have seen the military adopt a blogging policy similar to some large companies (such as IBM) which outlines what you can and cannot say, what information is confidential, and so on, and possibly require milbloggers to simply alert their superior officers to their blog’s presence. They would have the best of both worlds in terms of accountability and freedom, and I’d still be able to look forward to stories from the front lines.

A paradigm shift of this nature requires a 180 degree shift in approach. Businesses must resort to influence now, and understand that controlling the message is a luxury of times now gone. Further, this influence is based on trust, so more than ever true relationship building is thrust upon corporate America. This means they have to be honest, communicate, give as well as take (value for $), and be prepared for feedback.

The real challenge for those who provide PR counsel is to convince clients that this is an area worth participating in, and then allocating the proper resources to do it right. Not only do we need a 180 degree shift in approach, but a 180 degree shift in perception, as well.

C&W is also sponsoring a new blog by Tom Foremski, the author of the industry-changing post, “Die! Press release! Die! Die! Die!“, which became the inspiration for the New (or Social) Media Release. Tom’s new blog, called “New Rules Communications,” reports “on the new rules of media and pr.” If you’ve ever read Tom’s other blog, Silicon Valley Watcher, then you’ll be familiar with the high level of quality found here.

While I hemmed and hawed about posting a response, the far more qualified and eloquent Shel Holtz just nailed it, dropping knowledge on why the press release “still matters” and why the “new media release” makes sense. It’s a long post, but all of it is crucial reading.

UPDATE: For a little background, Todd Defren of SHIFT Communications has been tracking the “Stowe Meme” with a customized del.icio.us page.

There’s some really good stuff here, but my favorite quote comes from Andreas Kluth at The Economist, who advises, “Be ‘rare, relevant and short.’” So poignant and so perfect.

My question is: Doesn’t the ethical burden fall upon bloggers to disclose they’ve received the machines for free and what they plan to do with them after the review? Unless I’m missing something, I fail to see how Microsoft and Edelman are in the wrong. Josh Morgan puts it very well:

This is a review program. Many, many hardware and software
companies send products for review trade, consumer and business
publications all the time. For something as big as an OS it’s
practically required because most reporters don’t want to install a new
one.

If people keep the laptops, then they have the ethical problem, not Edelman. Not Microsoft, and not Acer.

Transparency should be the name of the game, right? Robert Scoble gets it right when he says he would have "forced disclosure by those who get the laptops." That detail would have saved a lot of trouble.

While I have no idea who received a machine for review, it looks like plenty of recipients have disclosed their receipt of the machines or intend(ed) to at the time of review. A few even intend to auction the laptops for charity, which might be the way to go in this situation.

Ultimately I think Microsoft and Edelman (and anyone in PR, for that matter) can chalk this up to a learning opportunity. If companies seeking blogger reviews insist on full disclosure and more clearly state the terms of the review up front, ethical dilemmas such as this one can be avoided.

As an aside, I’ve been thoroughly impressed with Spin Thicket (which pointed me toward the aforementioned article), which has been described as "Fark for PR." It’s not only a great site for those in the industry, but a fun site, period. It’s one of the rare RSS feeds I’m excited to check every day!

Is it true?

We can be relatively certain users and submitters are gaming the Digg system to make money and get publicity. Services like User/Submitter actually pay users $.50 to Digg three stories, and submitters can pay a flat fee of $20 plus $1 per desired Digg. This becomes an attractive proposition when you consider an investment of a few hundred dollars could rocket your story to Digg’s front page and result in significant exposure.

Fortunately, Digg allows users to "bury" stories that are inaccurate or uninteresting. The sheer number of Digg users, numbering in the hundreds of thousands (just under 500,000 in August 2006, undoubtedly many more now) still offers a great degree of democratic control of what stories make it to the front page, thus garnering the most views.

Since we know, at the very least, there are services that exist to pay users to Digg stories, isn’t this just another form of Astroturfing? I think it’s extremely unethical to pay users to promote stories, but I run into a gray area when it comes to PR firms promoting clients’ products or services by adding them to Digg. On one hand, it is being paid to submit a story to Digg, but on the other, it’s relying on the Digg userbase to promote or bury the story as they see fit. As long as one isn’t paying the users, how is it different from sending a press release to a reporter? I get paid for that, and it’s simply part of my job – However, if I promised gifts or money to a reporter to ensure the story ran, it would be a tremendous breach of ethics for both myself and the reporter in question.

Ultimately, these are the dilemmas we will continue to run into as media becomes more democratized and "social." What do you think? Is it ethical for PR firms to submit stories to Digg and other social media sites on behalf of clients?

A man in Ireland was so fed up with having to continually repair his G5 iMac, he threatened to take a 156-mile walk to the nearest Apple repair center with his computer strapped to his back. From Ars Technica:

After issues with his iMac G5 surfaced, including several logic board
replacements, a new power supply, and perhaps the most important
replacement: the back casing, Apple agreed on August, 14 to replace his
ailing iMac. They just needed to send out his new iMac after they
picked up the old one. Well apparently a week is unacceptable and Mr.
Hayden, the customer in question, has decided to walk to the nearest
Apple service center to deliver the iMac back to Apple, a walk that he
has labeled the "Walk of Shame."

Apple learned of the planned walk, and soon the man received a call from Apple’s Head of Corporate Affairs. 90 minutes later, a brand-new iMac was on the man’s doorstep.

I’ve heard of some pretty amazing cases of customer service after disgruntled customers staged elaborate protests or posted negative stories about a product on their blogs. This story might take the cake, though. Aside from generating good will among one customer, Apple avoided a potentially embarassing (negative) publicity stunt.

However, I hope copycats don’t get any ideas from this guy…