Spotted in Dana VanDen Heuvel

Rubin added joining the conversation is far better than not talking at all. He told the audience to expect negative brand commentary but that consumer brand evangelists who blog will also be on hand to counter negativity. The net is blogging offers a company a far richer, two way conversation than does traditional, top down, one way marketing communications.

I know it's sometimes hard to accept that there is some altruism in the blogosphere and that things will even out for good organizations, but on the whole, it's really true. You will have your evangelists and your vigilantes and they'll balance. We're so afraid of negativity that it becomes an unreasonable fear that impedes progress. Which brought me to the phrase I used for companies that aren't embracing blogging: "Years of tradition unhampered by progress." I hope that doesn't sum up your company. But if it does, there's hope. The first go-round might be painful, but open discussions with your customers are certain to aid progress! You need to hear the good, and the bad from your customers.

That first segment is something Dana quotes from another source. I especially like the bolded comment though - and it's very much the case. I think blogging and news tracking go hand in hand - you have to use an aggregator to "keep an ear to the ground" and find out what people are saying about you and/or your product. If you don't respond, someone else will.

Or put another way - define your product, or have others define it for you.