We at Ragan gape in happy disbelief at an unexpected flurry of, at this writing, almost 900 signups—Mom, I swear, I only told a few people!—to our new social media site, MyRagan.com.
Others have doubts. Some of our friends—and probably some of our employees—say, "I see you're excited about this, but where's the revenue stream?" To them, we only say: How can it be bad for business to have your whole market partying hardy in your front lawn?
That doubt, from friends of the company, has a natural flipside. In a MyRagan forum discussion about what members hope the site becomes, Toronto communication consultant Sue Johnston wrote that she hoped it would be "a place to focus. A real community of practice."
But for that to happen, she added, MyRagan would have to be "an environment of trust."
And she asked: "Can that be done in a site sponsored by people who also are a commercial organization that wants to sell us stuff? We'll see what happens."
More violent than Johnston's doubts was the reaction of Social Media Club blogger Chris Heuer to a comment Ragan CEO Mark Ragan made in which he plugged MyRagan. Obviously Mark was trying to promote our new site and probably he wouldn't have found his way to something called the Social Media Club if he wasn't.
But Heuer's reaction, in an e-mail to Mark, was on the snarky side, shall we say. He removed Mark's comment and then e-mailed him to say, in part:
"Should I be using your MySpace 'clone' to promote our workshops and events? Somehow I don't think you would appreciate this, but perhaps I am wrong, in which case I would like to apologize. Thing is, I don't know anyone who appreciates it when someone comes into their party and invites all the guests over to their house. Our goal is to be inclusive and to address all things social media, which would include your network site--so if you want to join the conversation instead of swooping in and promoting your self and heading out, please do so ...."
Mark's reply, also in part:
"To answer your questoin, yes. I want you to use my 'MySpace clone' to tell my users about your seminars. Hell, I will help you do it, if you like. You know why? Because I am serving the same people you are serving. Why wouldn't I want them to know about what you have to offer. I don't fear you.
"You bloggers attack mainstream media for its efforts to limit conversation, but your rules are more onerous and self-righteous than anything seen in the so-called 'dead tree' business.
"Think about it. You created a club for people interested in social media. Along comes someone who just launched the first-ever Social Media site on the MySpace model in the business-to-business world, and you kick them off and write a nasty letter. Wow. Go figure."
So, to sum up: Ragan's friends worry we won't make money on the site; bloggers worry that we are money-hungry pigs who want to own the whole communication community so that we may suck its collective bank account dry.
And Ragan's customers, if they are represented by Sue Johnston, aren't sure how it's all going to work, but they're willing to give it a try, since it seems like a pretty cool idea, and it's free. (Oops. We're at 924.)
I guess I've got to side with the customers on this one. It's usually the best bet.
Comments (13)
I'm a Ragan customer. And Ragan has been one of my clients. And I've been stealing stuff from Ragan's publications ever since I entered this business nearly 20 years ago. Seemed to me that was the whole idea.
Mark's got it right on a lot of counts. He's right to call the bloggers on the carpet for being self-righteous and hypocritical. And he's right that by introducing the first B-to-B tool based on the MySpace model can only be good for his business, in the long run.
In the 7 years I've been an independent consultant, I've operated under the principle that there is plenty of business out there for all of us. Have I had to compete with other consultants, including Ragan Communications and my friends like Shel Holtz, Steve Crescenzo and my mentor Les Potter? Well, of course I have. And we've also partnered from time to time. And we share ideas and criticize each other and have a hell of a lot of fun doing it all.
Candid communication like Mark has modeled for us, taking calculated risks like he is taking with MyRagan and keeping the best practices flowing in all directions only makes our industry stronger and all of us the better for it.
Come to think of it, IABC might learn a thing or two from this episode about being bold and trusting the process of wide-open communication. Looks like there's a new network in town.
Posted by Robert J Holland, ABC | May 7, 2007 2:39 PM
Posted on May 7, 2007 14:39
"Partying hardy?" David, you are so '80s.
Posted by Eileen | May 7, 2007 2:40 PM
Posted on May 7, 2007 14:40
I think the "new guy" usually gets a bit of flak when the "new thing" first hits the marketplace, so being confused about what the MyRagan.com site is, or is meant to be is probably to be expected.
From my perspective, this site allows me to meet, talk to, and learn from communicators literally all over the world, which I would NEVER have the opportunity to do in person or even via a Ragan seminar. So for me this is an opportunity to learn and grow and participate in a profession I love. How can that be a bad thing.
On the whole "where's the revenue" question, I believe there continues to be value in the Ragan publications I subscribe to (and will continue subscribing to) because they have a structure and a specific mandate and an established approach. Same with their courses (when I can beg or cajole the funds to go to one from my company). The new site is an informal and creative addition to the menu and I don't think it has to be either/or.
The other thing I love is how "not afraid" the Ragan folks have always been of competition. Perhaps because they are so good at what they do they have no issue with healthy competition and are even willing to learn from it. It always seems to be "the other guys" who get all bitchy when Ragan participates in their supposedly "open forums". To me, that pretty much says it all. Rock on MyRagan.com!
Kristen
Posted by Kristen | May 8, 2007 7:17 AM
Posted on May 8, 2007 07:17
Just as Steve Crescenzo teaches that fear is the reason why corporate communications generally continue to be so crappy, fear is also the reason many great ideas die on the vine. I agree, Kristen. Ragan tends to be pretty fearless. Sometimes foolishly so, but then they learn from the missteps and move on. That's a pretty good model to follow.
Posted by Robert J Holland, ABC | May 8, 2007 7:33 AM
Posted on May 8, 2007 07:33
"Ragan tends to be pretty fearless. Sometimes foolishly so, but then they learn from the missteps and move on."
Truer words were never spoken. I've made so many missteps at Ragan my toes stick out of my shoes.
Anyway, thanks for your supportive words, guys.
Now, where are those nasty bloggers out there who resent Ragan's entry into the social media realm? Or have I created a straw man?
Posted by David Murray | May 8, 2007 7:48 AM
Posted on May 8, 2007 07:48
I think Mark Ragan overreacted just a teensy bit when he "snarked" back at Chris Heuer. MyRagan is in the power seat; I would have preferred a more reasoned, inviting tone from Mark in the face of what was a pretty predictable complaint from Heuer. After all, we ARE all still learning the rules and making them up as we go along. Mark could possibly have converted Heuer rather than just pissing him off even more with sarcasm. I guess maybe Mark's still learning the rules, too....
Posted by Jane Greer | May 8, 2007 10:35 AM
Posted on May 8, 2007 10:35
I see your point, Jane, but...
Nah! I like the snarky Mark! :-) (At least in this case.)
Posted by Robert J Holland, ABC | May 8, 2007 10:58 AM
Posted on May 8, 2007 10:58
I see your point too, Jane.
But Mark rhymes with snark, not with meek. Converting Heuer wouldn't have happened unless Mark had truly groveled and said he had done a terrible thing. Which was not ever going to happen, because he didn't believe he had done a terrible thing.
The only choices here for Mark or any self-respecting Raganite were: Attack back, or ignore the Heuer.
As you can tell, we usually err toward "attack back."
Posted by David Murray | May 8, 2007 2:44 PM
Posted on May 8, 2007 14:44
Consider me warned.
BTW, have I told you yet today how wonderful I think you are?
Posted by Jane Greer | May 8, 2007 3:39 PM
Posted on May 8, 2007 15:39
No, Jane. PLEASE!
Posted by David Murray | May 8, 2007 3:46 PM
Posted on May 8, 2007 15:46
My reaction was far from violent, and to charcaterize it as such is the sort of yellow journalism and manipulation of facts that everyone in the world (not just bloggers) is really offended about with traditional media and PR practices. Coloring someone who disagrees with you in an unapproving light is I guess the norm.
The thing that your post is missing here of course is the fact that I invited Mark to repost his comment to make it relevant to the post he was commenting on, rather than simply promoting your new network. I am glad you can serve your boss so well in defence of bad practices, but in that Shel Holtz is a personal friend of mine who explained the real back story, am even more unimpressed with your slanting of the story. So that this is clear, here is my entire response, his orignal comment and the full reply he sent to me.
Rather than posting all the nastiness and vitriole that your CEO spewed at me, I will save him the embarassment of posting the entire thread here, but pelase do judge the initial exchange for yourself....
From: Chris Heuer
Sent: Mon 5/7/2007 1:09 AM
To: Mark Ragan
Subject: Re: [Social Media Club] Comment: "What's this Knowledge Market Thing?"
Mark.
I don't think this sort of comment spam to directly compete with what we
are doing with Social Media Club is appropriate, nor is it very classy.
Further it is not really on topic with regards to the post itself - just
a commercial promotional piece for yourself. This is not how we do
social media, or engage in the conversation - personally, I think it
shows a lack of understanding of how the media should be used, but we
are interested in hearing what you have to say if you want to join our
conversation rather than sell your services in this manner.
I am going to remove this comment - if you would like to post another
one that is on topic and related to the conversation in the original
posts, where you might add value rather than merely promoting yourself
and recruiting social media club members to your new network, please do so.
Further, it was the SNCR New Comm Forum event that you co-produced. We
support SNCR and were at the conference - I lead the panel on the social
media press release in fact.
Sincerely,
Chris Heuer
Founder
http://www.socialmediaclub.com/
Mark Ragan wrote:
> > New comment on your post #314 "What's this Knowledge Market Thing?"
> > Author : Mark Ragan (IP: 24.148.32.62 , 24-148-32-62.nwb-bsr1.chi-nwb.il.cable.rcn.com)
> > E-mail : ceo@ragan.com
> > URI : http://www.myragan.com
> > Whois : http://ws.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl?queryinput=24.148.32.62
> > Comment:
> > I love the idea for this site. There is nothing more important in marketing, PR and communications today than Social Media. A few months ago my company held a conference in Las Vegas on this topic and over 400 marketers, advertisers and PR people paid nearly $1,000 to attend.
> >
> > Now we have launched a new Social Media site for us---PR, marketing, communication. It's based on the MySpace-type model, and it has soared since launching last week.
> >
> > I would love it if readers of this blog checked it out. I think its our attempt to "walk the talk."
> >
> > Would you all let me know what you think?
> >
> > You can see it (and register for free) at www.myragan.com
> >
> >
> > Mark Ragan
> > CEO
> > www.myragan.com
Posted by Chris Heuer | May 23, 2007 12:17 PM
Posted on May 23, 2007 12:17
Dave:
As the company that says that it wants to educate public relations officials on how to relate to the blogosphere, does it really make sense to make broad generalizations about "bloggers" ? Aren't those exactly the people you hope to teach PR professionals how to interact with?
Ted
Posted by Ted Shelton | May 25, 2007 8:03 AM
Posted on May 25, 2007 08:03
I don't know about the whole thing, but I do dislike the PR release and the conception it is the first B2B Myspace clone... it is more like number 162, LoL. Mashup.com has many different B2B clones on its archives.
PR agencies do need to learn to work a lot better within the blogosphere and social communities, so it is strangely interesting to see two different social media groups conflict in such a manner.
I think the failure is indeed in the communication, that it probably could have been avoided with live interaction, and that working against one another is against the very grain of the blogging majority.
Posted by Barry Hurd | May 26, 2007 8:51 PM
Posted on May 26, 2007 20:51