I’ve held back, so far, on comment on the Watson Farley & Williams so-called trainee law blog. The dust has now settled and the issue is well covered by Justin at Human Law. But here’s my take.
This is not a blog: anyone familiar with blogs visiting it will see that it exhibits none of the hallmarks of a blog. Approach via their Publications page and you’ll see that it’s just a category in their CMS.
This was misguided spin: blogs are hip, so let’s call our initiative a blog.
So what lessons do we learn?
- Know your stuff. Find out what blogs are about before you claim to have one.
- Call a spade a spade. Your effort may be worthy, but sell it for what it is.
- A corporate blog should aim to engage, not deliver thinly disguised PR.
And a lesson for journalists/bloggers: check the source, don’t just regurgitate their PR.
Ah, guilty as charged. I failed to check it out before blogging it, but did realise this yesterday when I got around to look at their site. Sadly Blogger is refusing to publishe anything for me at the moment so can’t yet correct the facts on my own blog. The ‘blog’ (which isn’t one) is a bit lame really isn’t it. The Blog as individual pdfs with no interaction. Very disappointing.
Corporate Blawg agrees with all – it was an outrage. Corporate Blawg even emailed the Times Law Online Blog to spit further vitriol at Wallies Fibbers & Winkers. The Times declined to print.
Corporate Blawg’s main point was that the blogosphere is a court of public opinion (See http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/cyberone/2006/09/11/day-one-comes-to-a-close/), and in this court a new law is developing. Like current law, it is meant to be a law founded on common sense.
The barring and public humiliation of WFW is a a new natural law phenomena, created and fueled by a technoficient community. When WFW remove their blog, or rebrand it then justice will have be seen to have been served. Currently, WFW must face the penalty of public humiliation, as bloggers point out the many misrepresentations of the law firm to the public.
As the natural law of the blogosphere evolves so it will shape the way many of our industries operate and present themselves.
Indeed, it already is affecting marketing and PR industries to a great extent. http://farisyakob.typepad.com/blog/
And as for WFW, well they should be aware that ignorance of the law is no excuse.