I suspect we’ll go through the typical awkward teenager growth phase, complete with mood swings and zits, but at some point PR agencies will learn how to interact with bloggers and bloggers will develop their own code of ethics, in the same way journalism (sort of) has done over the past century as advertising evolved.

We may just need to help them along the way

Carole – whilst I totally understand that such service can cut down research time, I am concerned that not many PR agencies know how to deal with blogger engagement, and will not bother forging relationships with bloggers…

We do huge amounts of research for our clients into which blogs are relevant to them – i.e. who out there online is either talking about them or about the topics that are relevant to them.

A resource like the Social Media Library would serve to cut down some of the initial research time – it wouldn’t fundamentally alter the way we approach contact with bloggers.

So whether we’ve spent the tiem working out spheres of influence etc or whether someone has done it on our behalf, that work will take place regardless.

It’s what you then DO that counts – i.e. once you’ve identified interesting and relevant bloggers in a particular area, it’s about reading, following, getting to know and then (if it’s appropriate) contacting bloggers with something that might be of interest.

PR agencies will sometimes get it right and sometimes get it wrong – but that’s completely regardless of whether or not they buy in to a database to help them get some basic research done. I agree with Lea’s point – this isn’t about ethics so much as effectiveness.

I very much appreciate your concerns. One of the main reasons for launching Social Media Library was to help marketers better understand social media. There is currently a lot of misunderstanding about how you find blogs and how best to engage with them.
We hope that by categorising social media sites for marketers in an easily understandable way, we can help bridge this gap. In addition to a directory of contacts, we also provide marketers with guidelines on how to best integrate social media into marketing and PR campaigns. Our guidelines for blog relations, for example, cover off a lot of the points you rightfully point out in your PR Policy. i.e. make sure your communications are relevant and human. I’m happy to send these over to you, if this is of interest?

Please feel free to let us know any questions you may have – really interested to hear your thoughts!!

Also, if you’d like, I’m happy to take you through Social Media Library in more detail to show how it works.

Kind regards

Michael

Social Media Library has been in development for the past 18 months

Phil, I think they look at both your influence (technorati authotrity, page rank) as well as your various online presences. Big Brother is watching you…

On the one hand I completely agree and that such database is disrepectful. But (and it’s a big but) it’s also an incredibly positive sign that blogging is being taken seriously by the traditional marketing fraternity. Databases are their age old tools. And just as a media buyer is able to access a world of information regarding readership and demographic for traditional press, it seems to me that it was only a matter of time before the same was offered for new media counterparts.

My concern on their behalf is more of a ‘head shake’ and ‘eye roll’. I don’t believe their old methods will work in this new world. Bloggers take their audiences and publications far more personally than traditional publishers. For a start it isn’t just a commercial exercise and that in itself changes things drastically. So for me, as a marketer and blogger I don’t so much question it’s ethics as its effectiveness.