The Buzz Bin

OK, now that the LComm commercials are over, let’s discuss something meaningful. Rich Becker and I reviewed Direct2Dell on this week’s BlogStraightTalk discussion of best practices.

We thought it would be a great case study because of all the acclaim it has received. In particular, Dell has been lauded for transparency, openness and willingness to address product issues.

Au contraire. It seems to me if Direct2Dell is a great corporate blog, then the bar has been set really low. This blog suffers from self-centered focus, marketplace myopia, and just flat out uninteresting content. Are transparency and willingess to take criticism the only things that drive corporate blog greatness? Customer support can be achieved in better, easier ways like a wiki that posts latest news. Or how about press releases with comments enabled?

Snippets from Becker’s comments:

• And does Dell understand why people read its blog at all? My best guess would be that it doesn’t.
• The writing is boring. And even the chronic apologies — sorry I haven’t blogged lately — are too painful to read.
• Across the board, Dell’s communication reads as dry as crushed white soda crackers; fragmented beyond repair and often leaving purchasers wondering where they might go first for information.

Snippets from my comments:

• Direct2Dell suffers greatly from corporate propaganda, a definite disconnect on what its readers want (note the great variance in the popularity posts as demonstrated by comments).
• Dell is high tech. Where’s the high tech graphics, video, anything? Plain old text seems boring on this blog.
• Readers care about their experience, and how Dell is going to make it better, not Dell promotions. And that’s the core problem.

You can read the whole thing at BlogStraightTalk.