The battle over Wal-Mart has been pitched with all the fierceness of a presidential bid entering the final months of the campaign season. The corporation frequently clashes with unions over their treatment of employees at the bottom of the corporate totem pole. And it looks like the battle is only heading heating up. But is there anything really authentic being said?
“Working Families” Stand Up?
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Working Families for Wal-Mart - a group founded and funded by Wal-Mart - has launched a blog (subscription only) to combat critics.
The blog alleges that the statements of Wal-Mart’s main critics, Wake Up Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart Watch, are actually crass attempts by outdated unions to reverse flagging membership trends. The blog’s stated aim is to discredit Wal-Mart’s critics by pointing out the money trail from the unions to Wake Up Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart Watch.
The trouble is that the site isn’t very bloggy, despite having a content management system and an RSS feed. For one thing, they don’t accept comments and don’t bother to explain why. To their credit, they link to their detractors - but the whole “conversation” reads like exactly what it is: carefully planned spin and counter-spin. This same theme is echoed by Life at Wal-Mart, another pro Wal-Mart blog created by Working Families for Wal-Mart.
Commanding and Controlling
It’s telling that despite all the retailer’s forays into the blogosphere, they have yet to take on the single biggest attack from activist groups: the leak of a 2005 memo from Wal-Mart Executive VP for Benefits Susan Chambers that showcased the company’s controversial cost-cutting tactics. The fact that they think they can start a credible blogging initiative without addressing this memo head on demonstrates that they’re still operating from a command and control mentality.
Wal-Mart perfectly demonstrated this mentality when it attempted to “reach out to bloggers in the same way we reach out to reporters” earlier this year. The outreach campaign backfired when it became big news due to alleged ethical breaches on the part of PR representatives and bloggers involved with the initiative. The controversy offered Wal-Mart’s critics another opportunity to point out the firm’s weaknesses to the general public.
Activists “Blog,” Too
The activist groups working against Wal-Mart also have blogs that represent varying degrees of authenticity. Wake Up Wal-Mart’s blog is mainly a vehicle for press releases and snippets of news that paint Wal-Mart in a negative light. Most “posts” offer no commentary, context or discussion - and I’ve yet to see any of the blog’s administrators respond to a comment.
Relative to the other two, Wal-Mart Watch’s blog is the most engaging. It features snarky commentary and analysis of the news . On the downside, it doesn’t ever openly discuss the union funding it receives, and it has a truly draconian comment policy that offers no guidelines for acceptable commenting:
WalmartWatch.com reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to remove or refuse to post blog comments.
Despite the policy, it looks like the comment moderator on Wal-Mart Watch’s blog regularly approves comments from combative trolls who have little to contribute to the conversation.
Where is the Authenticity?
If it’s hard to find even one nugget of authenticity in the midst of all this corporate and union spin, it’s because there isn’t one. After reviewing all these blogs, I found myself thinking, “where are the unvarnished human voices?” Everyone says they care about average people, but I don’t hear average people anywhere.
If just one of Wal-Mart’s critics were to say something truly positive about the company, or if Wal-Mart were to publicly admit that some of the criticisms of its health care plan have basis in fact, I would be more inclined to place some stock in their words. Heck, if either of these groups would candidly admit who pays their bills, I would be ecstatic. But as it is, I wasn’t able to find one piece of truly compelling content on any of the “blogs” I reviewed.
It looks like the blogosphere agrees with me. According to Technorati, Wake Up Wal-Mart’s blog has received 20 inbound links in the past 48 days. Wal-Mart Watch’s blog performed slightly better, receiving 20 inbound links in the past 19 days.
To put this in proper context, let’s look at another blog with a similar political bent. Howard Dean’s Blog For America recieved 18 inbound links just in the past three days.
Obviously, my informal study of Technorati links isn’t scientific proof of anything - but it does provide some anecdotal evidence that nobody believes a word that comes from either of the two sides.
The Lesson
So what can other business bloggers take away from all this? It’s simple. Creating a bad blog is just as bad as stonewalling the blogosphere. When Dell launched its corporate blog last week, it met with a lot of flack until it started engaging the issues head on. Once the unvarnished human voice came out, they were fine.
Try to be more like Dell and less like Wal-Mart. Make sure that if you start a blog, you write it with your own voice. Admit when you screw up. Say nice, true things about your critics and competitors. Comment on other people’s blogs when they say something relevant to your conversation. And above all, don’t polish everything you write until it reads like a press release.
{ 0 comments… add one now }