Note to Oracle: not me

April 27, 2007 By

Hey, I’m an egotistical baaahhhhsssttttaaarrrdddd. My business relies on getting invites to companies to video the latest cool stuff. Thanks to Oracle’s Justin Kestelyn for working to get me an invite.

But if I really was honest with Oracle I’d tell them not to invite asshats like me. That’s not how you’ll really get noticed on the Internet. First of all, I don’t have credibility with the audiences that you really want to reach. When was the last time I’ve been inside a data center?

Second. If you really want to change a company’s PR, start at the bottom of the stack. Find the bloggers we don’t yet know who are writing about Oracle. Go for diversity. Link, link, link often! Bring them in to meet Larry Ellison and your management teams. But even better, let them talk with the engineers building your products.

Let them video, audio, blog, MySpace, wiki, Twitter — whatever they want. But, resist the big-company PR impulse to only invite those who are perceived to be at the top of the A list. You’ll add value by discovering unknown people and bringing them in. Oh, and if you’d like me along to video too, I’ll be happy to show up.

Filed Under: 1
  • Justin Kestelyn

    Hey, you have to do both, right?

    You need that invitation because there are some interesting things going on here - and not just for the data center. I’ll keep you posted.

  • Justin Kestelyn

    Hey, you have to do both, right?

    You need that invitation because there are some interesting things going on here - and not just for the data center. I’ll keep you posted.

  • http://robertscobleizer.com/ Robert Scoble

    Of course! But I keep hearing big companies only inviting someone with big audiences. I think that’s a mistake. Plus, I listen (and link to) people who have micro audiences, but actually are more influential than I am. Of course I hope you invite me, but you’ll get more good feelings and notice by inviting lots of undiscovered bloggers too.

  • http://robertscobleizer.com/ Robert Scoble

    Of course! But I keep hearing big companies only inviting someone with big audiences. I think that’s a mistake. Plus, I listen (and link to) people who have micro audiences, but actually are more influential than I am. Of course I hope you invite me, but you’ll get more good feelings and notice by inviting lots of undiscovered bloggers too.

  • http://www.campusfish.com/Jeff Jeff

    Video: Still not a verb.

  • http://www.campusfish.com/Jeff Jeff

    Video: Still not a verb.

  • http://spazidigitali.com/ Luca Mearelli

    hmm I think i don’t agree, as I have seen many Oracle bloggers partecipate to the flow of conversations in the blogsphere over the years. A couple of examples which has been source of some of the best (technical, but not only) material online on Oracle: http://tkyte.blogspot.com/ and http://radio.weblogs.com/0118231/

  • http://spazidigitali.com Luca Mearelli

    hmm I think i don’t agree, as I have seen many Oracle bloggers partecipate to the flow of conversations in the blogsphere over the years. A couple of examples which has been source of some of the best (technical, but not only) material online on Oracle: http://tkyte.blogspot.com/ and http://radio.weblogs.com/0118231/

  • http://www.beercosoftware.com/ Chris

    I have a pending patent, not yet in the DB because it’s 3 months old, that Oracle would crap their pants for, if it is approved.

    But I won’t get into that here.

    http://kakaostats.com/usum.php?u=960311

    Scoble, please do a story on the folding@home project to fight cancer. These are my personal PS3 stats, and I have been fighting cancer with Stanford U for a couple months now. I would have done it sooner, since I got my PS3 last fall, but the update only came out a couple months back.

    Protien folding is largely misunderstood, so everybody leave your PS3′s on an burn some electricity for science!

  • http://www.beercosoftware.com Chris

    I have a pending patent, not yet in the DB because it’s 3 months old, that Oracle would crap their pants for, if it is approved.

    But I won’t get into that here.

    http://kakaostats.com/usum.php?u=960311

    Scoble, please do a story on the folding@home project to fight cancer. These are my personal PS3 stats, and I have been fighting cancer with Stanford U for a couple months now. I would have done it sooner, since I got my PS3 last fall, but the update only came out a couple months back.

    Protien folding is largely misunderstood, so everybody leave your PS3′s on an burn some electricity for science!

  • http://www.beercosoftware.com/ Chris

    Also, you said so much about 2nd life. I expect a HUGE story about the PS @home debut. It looks about 10 billion times better than 2nd life.

  • http://www.beercosoftware.com Chris

    Also, you said so much about 2nd life. I expect a HUGE story about the PS @home debut. It looks about 10 billion times better than 2nd life.

  • http://www.musecrafters.com/bloggingpoet Billy The Blogging Poet

    I agree 100%. As a matter of fact I make this same point in my soon to be released free blogging book. You know, the one I told you I was releasing back in December? Darn thing keeps on getting bigger. And hopefully better.

  • http://www.musecrafters.com/bloggingpoet Billy The Blogging Poet

    I agree 100%. As a matter of fact I make this same point in my soon to be released free blogging book. You know, the one I told you I was releasing back in December? Darn thing keeps on getting bigger. And hopefully better.

  • http://www.dahowlett.com dahowlett

    Can you clarify Robert - have you actually received an invite? According to Justin’s blog, it’s a work in progress.

    As to your ‘asshat’ reference, some of us remember the Shai Agassi shoot with some amusement.

    Larry E’s charming in person and always great interview value. I’d really try and go for it. I’ve got a list of questions if you want them -:)

  • http://www.accmanpro.com Dennis Howlett

    Can you clarify Robert - have you actually received an invite? According to Justin’s blog, it’s a work in progress.

    As to your ‘asshat’ reference, some of us remember the Shai Agassi shoot with some amusement.

    Larry E’s charming in person and always great interview value. I’d really try and go for it. I’ve got a list of questions if you want them -:)

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