don't jump on the cluetrain when it's goin' down the wrong track

When I blogged on March 26 about Seth Godin's paper Flipping the Funnel, I hadn't read this NetSquared interview by Marshall Kirkpatrick, in which Seth calls nonprofits "so so clueless" for not using his new Web service, Squidoo. This disparagement was unfair and, to my mind, ironic, given that one of Seth's ideas for using Squidoo could actually be damaging to a nonprofit's brand.

I responded to the interview in a NetSquared community blog post entitled, "We, the clueless," in which I advise nonprofits not to "jump on the cluetrain when it's goin' down the wrong track." The post was headlined on the Netsquared home page, and it elicited a comment from Seth as well as a few others.

Technorati tags: cluetrain net2 nonprofit NGO nptech blogging nonprofit blogging tools web2.0 Godin squidoo

Comments

[seth godin]

So, "if it's not about [your] feelings," as you wrote in your response to my comment, then why repost our discussion with a headline like the one above?

My offhand comment that non-profits are clueless because none of them have come forward to ask for a share of Squidoo profits appears to have prompted a personal campaign from you to instruct non-profits to not even bother using our free service, or worse, to not even ask for a share of the proceeds.

Do you really think that this an appropriate response to the work we're trying to do?

[Celeste W]

I am confident of the appropriateness of all that I've posted about this topic. I posted here, on my own blog, to connect to a related conversation on the Web. This is very natural for a blogger to do and the reason that Web services like http://www.CoComment.com are used by bloggers.

Second, along with the criticism that I've published about some of your ideas for nonprofits' using Squidoo, I encouraged nonprofits to write to you to seek promotion. I also twice complimented you for the work you have done to advance the goals of the social sector.

In addition, I've twice mentioned that your paper contained some good ideas for nonprofit use of the product. For example, in my response to your comment, I wrote, "As I wrote before, I found your paper to have some good ideas for how nonprofits could use Squidoo -- perhaps some innovative soul will create a Squidoo lens on that very topic."

My criticism was sincere as is my desire that nonprofits will use the service in a fitting way.

[Carol]

Interesting issue. Good for you for daring to critique a product from such a big name.