What Will Dell Do with the Exploding Laptop Meme?

It’s already making the rounds of the blogosphere, showing up on both digg and BuzzMachine. But with all the negative press that Dell has been receiving in the blogosphere since Jeff Jarvis started talking about his sub-par experience with their customer service, you can hardly be surprised when everyone latches on to a story about a spontaneously combusting Dell laptop at a conference in Japan.

It may seem like an odd comparison, but these days, Dell is an awful lot like beleaguered pop star Britney Spears. It seems that whatever she does, the paparazzi and the press assume the worst and run with the story. Spears recently told NBC’s Matt Lauer that she wishes the paparazzi would leave her alone. But she continually offers them a gigantic target by refusing to listen to the image professionals that have helped her craft her career. Spears would do well to heed their advice.

Dell has the same problem. Yes the blogosphere pundits can be a pain in the tuchus at times, but when it comes to Dell they have a point. And by continually stonewalling the blogosphere’s criticisms, Dell has offered them the same kind of target that Spears has given to the paparazzi. So whenever something goes even slightly wrong for Dell - like an exploding laptop, or a bad quarter - the blogosphere latches onto the story and runs with it - drowning out anything good or redeeming that the company might say.

Just like Spears, Dell would do well to pay attention to the advice of some of the many smart people who understand the blogosphere. I think they should start by giving Jarvis a candid interview about what they’ve done wrong and what they’re starting to do right.