Gizmodo Gives Bloggers a Black Eye

I couldn't agree more. It's unbelievable to me that an organized and successful blog like Gizmodo could be that stupid. As I said in my blog, I would have liked to see an open letter to CES, Motorola, any other companies affected, CES visitors affected, and the bloggers of the world. Instead, they would like to just pretend it was no big deal and hope it goes away.

Not nice.

Big mistake gizmodo..

Im glad they are getting sued. Its an appropriate action.

I mean, think about it. Lets say you were some big company and you had invested millions into the research, development and production of your new product (and all the money for the jobs that go into the whole process). Then of course you have the cost of the expo space. The cost of the expo is worth it because of all the press about the product.

So lets say we're demo'ing your new 150 inch TV, you've got the press eating out of your hands and its costed millions to get up to this point. Then, some little shit comes along and turns off your demo screen. It hurts the businesses reputation by giving all watchers "well, if their demo screen broke... must be crap build quality" and all the press are present to pass on the message. All that free press is now gone and it'll cost even more millions just to get the same value out of it. Good on you Gizmodo.

That was really unpleasant :(

Thinks someone in their team will be fired especially, when they told someone to release that comment.
What the hell were they thinking :?:

damn..it is not fun..it was very mean, childish, and stupid. They better hire big time lawyers..bad press help traffics but not this..

Um, WTF were they thinking?

No need to get excited. Everything of any importance will be forgotten a month from now.

I trust most bloggers, something I can't say about the professional hacks that attend certain anti-blogger events.

"Your blog has a greater reach than most small city newspapers, but I'm sorry. You're not a real reporter. Besides, we're far too intimidated by you. Your efforts are destroying the top-down business model that we thrive on, and encouraging people to express themselves. We can never forgive you for participating in the democratization of the media. We want a dictatorship. Come back when you have the same contempt for democracy that we do."

Totally hilarious. And blogging isn't legitimate press and shouldn't be treated as such.

I can see this maybe being funny at Best Buy etc; but not at a major trade show like CES. They definitely crossed the line.

Maybe it was for the environment ;) All this green speak over the last few years made Gizmodo listen and try to conserve some energy by switching off a wall of 20+ LCD's :)

While it shouldn't make any difference to how CES sees blogging it's certainly done nothing for it's reputation either. Gizmodo should know better and I hope the powers that be make an example of them.

Seriously, stuff like this was funny once in 1998, to go around and disrupt one of the highest profile events is just stupid. Companies like Motorola will put a lot of resources into their presentations, to be interupted like this is infantile irresponsibility. Shame on you Gizmodo.

Turning off the demo wall TVs was entertaining. Turning off the TV used for a presentation by a guy who probably has the success of their first quarter as well as his job riding on it has crossed the line in the sand.

I think you're trying to inflate this entire story a bit too much. The video *was* funny, and yes - I agree with others - they over-stepped the mark.

It hasn't effected the perception or viability of blogging at all though. Outside of a very narrow niche, this story has not been reported at all. It was a prank too - go read about some of the things Woz did back in the day - following your reasoning, the entire industry should have been set back several years as a result...

So does this mean that any publicity is still good publicity? :evil:

What the heck where they trying to do?

I'm not saying that what they did was ok but I do think that the real mistake was bragging about it on Gizmodo. It's one thing to do it and joke about it with other Gizmodo employees it's another thing to do it and brag about it on your website for everyone to see.

Oh BTW John, you spelled fatal1ty wrong when you linked the URL, you have it as "fatail1ty".

LOL what sneaky little devils :twisted:

Gizmodo, you are idiots for doing this. But CES should take it out on these idiots, bloggers in general.

On the media debate - things have changed during this decade.

No longer is it mega corporations alone who can hold the populations attention. No longer is it mega corporations alone who can build the best quality websites.

YOU can command more traffic than the big boys if you do it right and have something valuable to share (daily). traffic is paramount, not how big the company is, It's traffic pure and simple, those who have it vs those who don't. The money goes to those who do.

Gizmodo didn't just get a ban, they're likely getting sued (by CES and/or motorola and others affected). Gizmodo staff is on BIG TIME kiss butt mode today sending out appologies profusely I'm sure. They don't deserve one, that was just plain "Grade two" in my books.

I don't even read Gizmodo (or Gawker Media blogs in general) because of the constant flow of "look at my cool speak" writing so it doesn't surprise me that they pulled a "i'm an attention whore idiot" move. It's going to take them pulling off a long string of inteligent things to remove that stigma now.

I hope they get sued HUGE, so that they never forget they are priveledged to be where they are (were) and not some 9 year old in a candy shop like they act all too often.

All they did was turn off some monitors. It was not a big deal, no matter how I look at it. I think it was funny :mrgreen:

Perhaps it was bad what they did, but it is still funny.
I just think they could have toned it down a bit. That is, stop ruining so many people's presentations.

Reporters (especially print) are pissed because their medium is increasingly irrelevant. And television reporters are just shills for whatever sponsor is paying their salary this week.

Both print and broadcast journalists go to blogs for half of their info, anyways, because the real difference between reporters and bloggers is that bloggers break stories before the traditional media even knows a story exists.

Sorry but that notice pissed me off more than the Gizmodo prank.

I think blogging is still in its infancy. Particularly because I feel small business hasn't really bought in especially in the UK.

Heck, some still haven't got a web-site. And even then, the quality is still poor.

It can be a business in itself (which I suspect this one is John?). It can be a social and fun thing. It can be both a business and a hobby.

But it can also be a medium to engage with your clients and feed stuff back to them. And widen that audience beyond your immediate clients.

Even when you can only deal with a local or regional market - and I mean within a city because you are geographically restricted in what you do, it certainly has a place.

I think it will gain increasing credence as blogs become the TV channels of the future.

It's a shame that such a high profile brand can lower itself to such a low standard.

I have never been a great fan of Gizmodo myself but this has certainly lessened the chance of me ever changing my opinion.

[OFFTOPIC]
Hey John, Did anyone ever win that TTZ Media Contest?! I never could find a post. :)

Thanks!
Jonathan Volk
www.jonathanvolk.com

What's the difference between bloggers and reporters?

Bloggers write interesting stories.
And make more money. :wink:

Yeah, that was very childish of them. I can appreciate the humor in shutting off a wall of demo TVs, but interrupting a press event was uncalled for.

I wouln't have done that if I were them.
But that was fun, I imagine what would be like if someone took one of these devices to some Microsoft (usually bugged) presentation :-D .