Of toxic blogs!

We all would agree that the mainstream bunch of blogs are mere vehicles of self-expression made possible by the ubiquitous and powerful medium of the internet and the blogging tools that enable “push-button” publishing.

But there is another genre which target business rivals by proxy, according to an article by Daniel Lyons in Forbes.com. This is what he laments about:-

Web logs are the prized platform of an online lynch mob spouting liberty but spewing lies, libel and invective.
………………….
Blogs started a few years ago as a simple way for people to keep online diaries. Suddenly they are the ultimate vehicle for brand-bashing, personal attacks, political extremism and smear campaigns. It’s not easy to fight back: Often a bashing victim can’t even figure out who his attacker is. No target is too mighty, or too obscure, for this new and virulent strain of oratory.

But this blog paradigm has also brought in a new line of business for sifting through millions of blogs to provide “watch-your-back service” to many clients who feel threatened by such belligerent blogs.

Blogs as a class have been found to be a very powerful medium capable of shaping public opinion, especially since they are not identified with any mainstream media house. But this also throws up a distinct possibility of the existence of some rogue blogs indulging in proxy blogging for settling personal and business scores.

But what is interesting is the “counter attack” strategy outlined in the sidebar of the story. The following is the array of procedures suggested by the columnist to engage the potential blog threats:-

• Put your own people or hire a watchdog firm to spot blog smears before they can spread, and stamp them out.
• Hire a blogger to do a company blog or encourage your employees to write their own (and surreptitiously insert company statements).
• Bribe popular bloggers to eulogize you and your company. (outright unethical!)
• Create discord among bloggers and discredit the tormentors. (It is a war, stupid!)
• “Throw the book” at the web hosts of the bloggers. Indulge in nitpicking and legal skulduggery.(No holds barred, what!)
• If nothing else works, sue the bloggers’ ass!

You can read the opinion of a “citizen journalist” as a sequel to this article here.

But all accept the fact that the percentage of such “special” blogs are infinitesimal. The general blogosphere is populated only by innocent and humble net-savvy intelligentsia, incapable of causing any harm to the mankind!

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