Blogging and public relations questionnaire
I am carrying out some research about the relationship between blogging and public relations for my Chartered Institute of Public Relations diploma. I would be hugely grateful if you could spend a few minutes answering the following questions for me. Please post your answers in the comments section (anonymously if you prefer). It would also be really great if you were able to link to this questionnaire from your blog.
1 If you have a blog, have you ever written critically or negatively about consumer brands or products on your blog?
Y/n/I don't have a blog
2 If you have a blog, have you ever written positively or favourably about consumer brands or products on your blog?
Y/n/I don't have a blog
3 Has your opinion of a consumer brand or product ever been changed by something you have read on someone else’s blog?
Y/n
4 Do you read corporate blogs?
Y/n
5 If yes, have they improved your opinion of the company/brand/product that the blog covers?
Y/n
6 Which source of information about consumer brands or products are you most likely to trust – please rank in order?
a) Personal blogs
b) Corporate blogs
c) Company websites
d) newspaper/magazine editorial
e) Other independent website editorial
7 If you have any general comments about the overlap between blogs and consumer public relations, please make them here.
Many thanks for your help. I'll be correlating and posting results in early September.
Update: if you are a PRO or agency PR in b2c and would like to help with a further interview by phone, please contact me.
1 If you have a blog, have you ever written critically or negatively about consumer brands or products on your blog?
Y/n/I don't have a blog
2 If you have a blog, have you ever written positively or favourably about consumer brands or products on your blog?
Y/n/I don't have a blog
3 Has your opinion of a consumer brand or product ever been changed by something you have read on someone else’s blog?
Y/n
4 Do you read corporate blogs?
Y/n
5 If yes, have they improved your opinion of the company/brand/product that the blog covers?
Y/n
6 Which source of information about consumer brands or products are you most likely to trust – please rank in order?
a) Personal blogs
b) Corporate blogs
c) Company websites
d) newspaper/magazine editorial
e) Other independent website editorial
7 If you have any general comments about the overlap between blogs and consumer public relations, please make them here.
Many thanks for your help. I'll be correlating and posting results in early September.
Update: if you are a PRO or agency PR in b2c and would like to help with a further interview by phone, please contact me.
posted by shoppersaurus rex at 6:55 AM
44 Comments:
1. yes
2. yes
3. yes
4. No
6. a,e,d,c,b
7. Don;t trust blogs that appear personal but are put out by PR. I think (u/lined in bold) I can spot 'em and they infuriate this consumer.
good luck with dissert and with degree etc.
Hello! I'm Liz's lurker. Hope I can help by contributing...
1: No blog
2: No Blog
3: It's not so much that my opinion has been changed, as that things I wouldn't otherwise have known about have been brought to my attention. This may be because they were shown in a positive light or in a negative light, though.
4: No.
5: No.
6: Probably d,a,e,c,b. D, a, and e are really close, though, and c and b are a long way behind them.
7: Like The Beep, I'd be highly suspicious of something which purported to be a personal blog, and turned out not to be. Underhand tactics: tsk, tsk...
Hope this helps: good luck!
1. Not to the best of my memory.
2. Nope. Don't really give a shit about brand names.
3. Nope
4. Nope
5. n/a
6. a) personal blog
e) independent editorial
d) newspaper ed.
c/b) equally unreliable
7. No thoughts; my head is empty.
Sorry, that probably wasn't very helpful.
1 Yes
2 Yes
3 Yes - or rather I've become aware of products and brands that I didn't know existed, via people's blogs
4 Yes, out of professional interest.
5 Not yet, but maybe when companies finally shut up about how cutting edge they are with their blogs, they might do.
6 D,E,A
7 Well, you know, I really like the way the music industry and the mp3 blogs are working together - the bloggers aren't supposed to post up free mp3 downloads, but they do, and the record companies turn a blind eye, and sometimes even send the mp3 bloggers promotional tracks. And it's nice, and friendly, and it's a great way for record companies to market their music via people who just really care about the music, and a great way for people to find new music, and no one's making a big song and dance about it. I don't mind consumer companies making use of blogs, but what really gets on my nerves is the way they keep telling everyone how cutting-edge they are by exploiting all these new 'Web 2.0 channels' and 'leveraging user-generated content', and having 'conversations' with their 'markets'. Just shut up and get on with it, you twats.
1 yes
2 yes
3 yes
4 no
5n/a
6 a (if I know the writer), d, e, c/b (what's the difference?)
7 Too early to say...
1. yes
2. yes
3. yes
4. no
5. xxxx
6. a,c,d,e,b.
7. corporate blogs are null space! i will always go by someones personal experience with a product rather than p.r.
1. Y
2. Y
3. N
4. Y
5. N
6. d-e-a-c-b
7. I regard corporate blogs rather as I do advertorials - they are an attempt to get in under my critical radar. They are promotion masquerading as objective content. Their very existence (irrespective of their content) lowers my opinion and trust of the brand they seek to promote.
1.) Y
2.) Y
3.) Y
4.) Y
5.) N
6.) e, a, d, c, b
7.) In my case, the biggest overlap I've noticed is the random freebies offered to me - even from companies that are distanty but only tangentally related to my chosen subject matter. It's... kind of creepy in a way I can't quite put my finger on. I've accepted ones that are actual perfumes in the past, and even that started to creep me out after only a short while. I'd say 90% of these offers of freebies in exchange for reviews has come directly through the various companies'/corporations' PR agencies. It really makes me look long and hard at some of my fellow blogging peers when they go rave about this product or that. Are they doing it because they really like that product, or do they just want the freebies to keep rolling in? I've stopped reading some blogs because I KNOW those bloggers are only writing their glowing raving review because it came as a freebie (we all tend to get the same offers from the same groups generally.)I think it's all going to backfire on bloggers who are not being upfront about these sort of kickbacks for postive mentions. They won't have any credibility, since people will tune out after hearing rave after rave for mediocre product after mediocre product. Eventually, the collective value of blogs as a PR tool for any company will be diminished. I think the bloggers who will be the most valuable in the long term for publicity are going to be the ones least susceptible to the PR office's calls. None of my little spiel is very helpful or promising to you, is it? Eeek!
Now I do read ONE company blog, that of the owner of the guy who owns my server. Why I read it has less to do with his (less than) compelling writing style, and more to do with the simple fact that it's the quickest place to check if there's any changes about to happen with services. (For example, new features that will be added in the next couple months, planned outages for server upgrades, etc...)
1 Yes
2 Yes
3 No
4 No
5 n/a
6 e,d,a,c,b
7. I'd rather not be sold items whilst blogging. I read them for fun and human interest.
1 Yes
2 Yes
3 No
4 No
5 Not applicable
6 a,e
1 If you have a blog, have you ever written critically or negatively about consumer brands or products on your blog?
Y/n/I don't have a blog - YES
2 If you have a blog, have you ever written positively or favourably about consumer brands or products on your blog?
Y/n/I don't have a blog - YES
3 Has your opinion of a consumer brand or product ever been changed by something you have read on someone else’s blog?
Y/n - YES
4 Do you read corporate blogs?
Y/n - YES
5 If yes, have they improved your opinion of the company/brand/product that the blog covers?
Y/n - NO
6 Which source of information about consumer brands or products are you most likely to trust – please rank in order?
a) Personal blogs
c) Company websites
e) Other independent website editorial
b) Corporate blogs
d) newspaper/magazine editorial
1 Yes 2 No 3 No 4 No 5 No 6 d a e c b
7: It seems to me that blogs are useful tools for consumer public relations for exactly the purpose you are using this one: feedback from highly focused niche groups and, dare I say it, discerning consumers.
Good luck with the paper.
1, Y
2. Y
3. Y - but only if it is in direct contradiction to a perceived difference (e.g. I was using the product incorrectly or I had never used the product before - that is, all my opinions were thus far based on heresay)
4. No
5. n/a
6. e, d, a, b, c (if only because I know personal blog write ups can sometimes be done on the spur of the moment and without sufficient experience of the product - subsequent impressions by the writer are rarely followed up)
7. blogs take the control of public perception of a product out of the realm of consumer public relations departments to a large extent. However, sites like epinions.com and others have been doing that for yonks in a more consistent manner.
1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. No
6. a) e) d) b) c)
1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. not often
5.no
6. d-2
e-3
a-1
b-5
c-4
7. Blogs have been a great way for me to figure out which products are good and which to avoid, and sometimes to pass that info along to others (like my long post about how you should never buy an ipod.) I know that bloggers are pretty much impartial, so I'm willing to take their opinions over trad journos (as one myself, I know that product placement often dictates what gets written about) and certainly over corporate blogs, which are just shilling for the man.
1 y
2 y
3 (curiosity has been piqued, but not changed)
4 n
5 (since don't read company blogs)
6 a,d,e,b,c
7 As you can see from my above ranking, I think company blogs are more trustworthy than company sites in general. So as long as you make sure there's an editor, it should be a plus to have a company blog.
Product reviews on blogs pique my interest, but if I've already tried something it's unlikely to change my mind. So it only works for products I've never tried (and there are too many products that I have never tried, so I really ought to stop reading beauty blogs). Also, if the blogger has no negative reviews, or plugs their advertiser, it turns me off from the site.
do we win doorprize for this or something? :D
1. Y
2. Y
3. Y (usually, things i'm not sure about yet. favourable words might interest me).
4. N
5. NA
6. a/c
1 Yes
2 Yes
3 Yes
4 No
5 N/A
6
4. Personal blogs
5. Corporate blogs
1. Company websites
3. newspaper/magazine editorial
2. Other independent website editorial
7 none
1 Y, but only in passing.
2 Y, but only in passing.
3 Not yet, but it could be.
4 Not sure what they are, but I don’t think so. I always thought blogs were personal.
5 n/a
6 d), e), a), c), b)
7 Sorry; bit of a blank here. I'd certainly be wary of a blog that seemed to be pushing an agenda.
I thought I had done this. Obviously didn't post it.
a/ Yep
b/Yep
c/Nope
d/ Absolutely not
5/ nope
6/ d...e...a...c...b...
7/Pashmina said it already
1. no
2. no
3. no
4. no
5. n/a
6. a/e/d/c/b
1. Y
2. Y
3. Y
4. N
5. n/a
6. d,e,a,c,b
1 If you have a blog, have you ever written critically or negatively about consumer brands or products on your blog?
Yes
2 If you have a blog, have you ever written positively or favourably about consumer brands or products on your blog?
Yes
3 Has your opinion of a consumer brand or product ever been changed by something you have read on someone else’s blog?
Yes
4 Do you read corporate blogs?
No
5 If yes, have they improved your opinion of the company/brand/product that the blog covers?
N/A
6 Which source of information about consumer brands or products are you most likely to trust – please rank in order?
a) Personal blogs
b) Corporate blogs
c) Company websites
d) newspaper/magazine editorial
e) Other independent website editorial
a,e,d,b,c
7 If you have any general comments about the overlap between blogs and consumer public relations, please make them here.
In general, the only reason corporate/company blogs exist is to sell you something. Just the fact that they are selling makes me not want to trust them...they won't give you critical assessments of their products/services, just the positives.
I may not necessarily agree with a personal blog or a newspaper/magazine article about a product, but at least I know that there has been, in the case of the former, an attempt to use the product and the perceptions of that product expressed are (usually) real, and in the case of the latter, an objective review of the product has been forwarded. But, the key is, these are not "sales jobs."
1 If you have a blog, have you ever written critically or negatively about consumer brands or products on your blog?
Yes - mainly Ikea
2 If you have a blog, have you ever written positively or favourably about consumer brands or products on your blog?
No.
3 Has your opinion of a consumer brand or product ever been changed by something you have read on someone else’s blog?
Yes
4 Do you read corporate blogs?
Yes
5 If yes, have they improved your opinion of the company/brand/product that the blog covers?
Yes
6 Which source of information about consumer brands or products are you most likely to trust – please rank in order?
c) Company websites
d) newspaper/magazine editorial
e) Other independent website editorial
a) Personal blogs
b) Corporate blogs
7 If you have any general comments about the overlap between blogs and consumer public relations, please make them here.
I think blogs are a great platform for PR - and with sitemeters you can track trends and possibly more what your readers are looking for/doing without having to contact them via other means such as street surveys and cold calling. Not sure if that is relevant but hope it helps.
1. Yes, I have a blog www.debradejong.blogspot.com and I avoid writing negatively.
2.Yes, I did, especially on strong brands
3. No.
4. Yes
5. No, it just gave a better inside
6. d), e), a), d), b)
7. If handles properly, blogs are a powerful tool for market research, reaching out to/connecting with target audience and PR.
Debra
1. Yes
2. Yes
3. No
4. No
5. N/a
6. d-e-a-c-b
7. Nothing is guaranteed to make me skip blogs like finding an entire blogsite dedicated to the wonder of, say, the Fish-o-Matic 2000. Blogs which exist solely for the endorsement of a product tend to make me feel that the maker or advertiser is too cheap / dodgy to have invested the time, money and energy in a proper site.
However, I do feel that blogs are a very useful viral tool, bloggers being the copycats that we are - and a genuine product review on a site I already know, enjoy & respect might make me consider giving it a whirl; be it a pen, a biscuit, a cd or another website.
I think there's no harm in a bit of blog sponsorship - provided it's discreet. For example, a blog like Jolie NYC or any other independent "product" focused blog having a little sponsor link & logo in the sidebar or at the top of the page? No problem. Should it start encroaching too heavily on the actual content of the blog, though, it becomes another matter.
1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. Yes
6. Best to worst: D,E,A,B,C
7. They are a good idea, but definately not always reliable. Sometiems people aren't transparent and will praise something in their blog and don't tell you that they represent that client. It is good to check on blogs, but don't rely on them, they aren't 100% credible.
1 y
2 y
3 y
4 y
5 y
6 a, b, c, e, d
1. Not that I recall
2. Not that I recall
3. No
4. No
5. N/A
6. a, d, e, c, b
7.
1) Y
2) Y
3) N (Not really)
4) N
5) N/A
6) D&E
7) Not sure there is much overlap yet. Any there is at the moment seems to be negative - "XYZ sucks.."
1.)Yes
2.)yes
3.)yes
4.)yes
5.)yes-somewhat
6.)most to least: e, d, c, a, b
7.) If you have any general comments about the overlap between blogs and consumer public relations, please make them here.
I believe there is a definite overlap between blogs and consumer PR. As a consumer, I have often "googled" a product and ended up reading several personal or corporate blogs about the product. The search engines just love references blogs and I think they are interesting. They give a different spin that may not appear to be as trustworthy at first, it still makes a valid impression on consumers and if nothing else gets the name out there.
1. No
2. Yes
3. No
4. No
5. No
6. a,e,d,c,b
1. No
2. No
3. No
4. No
5. No
6. A, E, D, B, C
7.
1. Yes
2 Yes
3 Yes
4 No
5 N/A
6 A, D,E, C, B
7 I will often pick up on books or films that people suggest. In fact, I will often buy a text or film if someone writes well about it.
1 I don't have a blog
2 I don't have a blog
3 N
4 Y
5 N - Not by themselves
6 E,D,A,C,B
7 Blogs are more than just opinions; the best ones stimulate debate but the issue of censorship remains a thorny one
1. N
2. Y
3. Y
4. N
5. N/A
6. a/e/d/b/c
1:Y
2:Y
3:Y
4:N (I don't think so)
5:n/a
6:a)d)
Could have sworn I did this ages ago - looks like I didn't, though. Sorry!
1 Yes
2 Yes
3 No
4 Yes
5 Yes
6
e)
a)
d)
c)
b)
7 Corporate blogs are great when they're explicitly what they say they are; few things are more likely to make me vow never to buy something again than astroturfing (fake grass-roots).
1 - no
2 - no
3 - no
4 - no
5 - not applicable
6 - d, a, e, don't read b or c.
7 - no
Sorry to be so negative!
1 y
2 y
3 n
4 n
5
6 Which source of information about consumer brands or products are you most likely to trust – please rank in order?
e) Other independent website editorial
7 )I think that with so many personal blogs about, there's a blurring of the personal and the corporate - individuals are in subtle ways "branding" themselves, presenting their lives as product, networking with other "brands". Why this is, I couldn't say, but I certainly think there's an element of that - perhaps because the corporate sphere is so dominant in our lives that we can't help but absorb some of it's, for want of a better word, *moves*?
Good luck with the research GSE.
BTW - isn't there an 'S' missing somewhere?
or rather, a C...
Hello. I've just found this. Hope the response will be of use.
1 N
(although I have slagged off popstars, sort of)
2 N
3 Y
4 N
6 Which source of information about consumer brands or products are you most likely to trust – please rank in order?
c) a) d) b)
Hello, late in the day maybe but here you are
1 N (Not yet)
2 N (Not yet)
3 Y
4 N
5 -
6 d, e, a...b/c
7 I suspect it's all very fluid right now.
Sorry, latecomer.....
1. N (not yet anyhoo)
2. Y
3. N
4. N (do I bollocks!)
5. N/A
6. a, e, d, b, c
7. Errrr?
Hope it helps.
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