Fortune has an interesting article about blogs and business.
The bloggers had a lot to say about the story by me and Dan Roth on blogs in FORTUNE's last issue. But the single most popular, and remarked-upon, item in our story was a quote from legendary ad-man Steve Hayden, vice chairman of New York-based Ogilvy & Mather. Said Hayden: "If you fudge or lie on a blog, you are biting the karmic weenie. The negative reaction will be so great that, whatever your intention was, it will be overwhelmed and crushed like a bug."
For bloggers, Hayden's quote touched upon an underlying and not well-understood beauty of blogs: That their communal nature pushes them toward total honesty. They can reveal different aspects of a news item (think of CBS's "60 Minutes" report on Bush's National Guard service) or discuss a product's vulnerabilities (think of Kryptonite locks).
The most interesting part of the article? This little blurb at the end:
Has your company's CEO blogged, or spoken to a blog, yet? Maybe it's about time.
The balance of power is shifting…I wonder where it will end up.
