Yesterday, I attended a conference that looked at the role of creativity and curation in a world influenced by the ever-changing media environment. Likeminds aimed to provide a learning experience, so that partipants could gain maximum value from the two day event and walk away better equiped to make practical decisions.

I’ve very quickly jotted down some things that I learnt. Some may be useful, some may seem random, but here they are anyway:

• Spamming the Likeminds hashtag is a silly idea.
• The gap in awareness, understanding and use of relevant tools needed to curate online content is absolutely massive amongst businesses and internet users.
• Joanne Jacobs gave businesses social media advice with exactly what they needed to hear – bluntness (is this a word?), relevance and honesty.
• There is more money in the music industry than many lead us to believe.
• Apparently, I look like Chris Carey. Three people said hello to me, thinking I was Chris.
• Staring in to someone’s eyes is uncomfortable for most people. Not all.
• Immediately after this exercise, one group attempted to stay ‘present’ with Karen Brooks, whilst the other returned to their technology.
• The #21days challenge was mentioned in the Likeminds Magazine and as part of various conversations.
• The Big Society could bring some exciting entrepreneurial opportunities.
• Andrew Dubber looks for answers, rather than just posing questions.
• Many of us dislike having ‘real conversations’ whilst consuming live media, but still participate in ‘silent online conversations’ at the same time anyway.
• Sometimes you don’t know that you know something, or even have an opinion on something, until you start talking about it in the first place. People-to-people sessions encouraged these moments.
• The people-to-people model of the previous Likeminds event was retained well, with learning built on top.
• Whether you agree or disagree with Robin Wight’s content, the man has clearly mastered his craft.
• The future is social. Well, it should be.

Those are just my quick thoughts about what I’ve learnt. A few could possibly be expanded, discussed and turned into individual posts themselves. Likeminds always seems to tackle some pretty hefty issues, but after all the post-event thinking and talking that there is bound to be…

Do you think many partipants will make decisions based on what they have learnt?
Did you share some of the same learning points as me?
Do you disagree with any of the points I have made?

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I recently came across the following tweet from LinkedInQueen:

“Writers block? We set up and write blogs starting at $100! http://bit.ly/8PanVX”

I was pretty astonished at first. How could someone else possibly know the ins and outs of a company when they have never stepped foot inside Head Office? Why would a company want someone else to speak to their customers? Why would a company be misleading and pretend that they created the content of a blog or that it is their voice?

After clicking on the link I discovered that the “Social Media Service” could write content around 3 areas of the company’s choice, as part of the basic plan. So, it may work like this: I give the brief…hand over the money…ask for blog articles around marketing, finance and skills…they produce the content…content is discussed and mutual changes are agreed…I give it the OK…it then gets posted to my company blog (which they have created) as my own content.

I am actually a little uncomfortable with this. In the vast majority of cases a company’s blog content should be controlled by the people that work for the company. They keep the cogs going round, they know the business inside out, they engage with customers, they are the experts, they are the company.

After stating that I did not agree with the approach, the author of the tweet responded: “There are clients who really need help & we work closely to translate their words w/ their approval”.  So, is this a way of saying it is a copywriting service? Or does this service write blogs for companies?

In an extreme example, there may be an extremely creative, self-employed entrepeneur who has very poor literacy and no computer skills, but wants to use the internet to share his ideas under the company brand. If his ideas were translated word for word after a discussion, then this may be copywriting. If there is any element of control or creativity being handed over to the agency, then would the blog content be 100% his? Translating and writing are two very different things.

After racking my brains, and after a brief discussion with Kimmo Linkama, the only times I can think of when it may be OK for a company to have blog content produced and then genuinly passed on as their own, is as part of promotional blog articles (Press Releases, Interview Transcripts, etc). Readers may expect other contributers in thse instances. However, an outside agency writing articles to display a company’s level of expertise and knowledge, or even just their opinion, just doesn’t sit right. That is not blogging to me.

• When do you think it’s OK for a company to have blog content created for them and then displayed as their own?
• Do you think it is wrong for others to write your company blog?

Vote in the poll below and share any opinions you have on this subject. It would be really interesting to hear your thoughts and experiences. If I am looking at this the wrong way, tell me.

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