Where's the dialogue?

ChemNutra, the company responsible for the recent contamination of pet food and death of thousands of pets, has started a blog in response to the recent crisis.

Props for this blogger for exposing the flaws in ChemNutra's blog.

ChemNutra's "blog" is merely a collection of press releases and does not allow readers to comment on each post. Check it out.

How cold can ChemNutra be? They are already responsible for the death of thousands of pets. Do they want to anger pet owners further by putting up communication barriers? These pet owners need answers, and they want to express their thoughts. ChemNutra needs to take responsibility for their actions, buck up and let the negative comments come.

I can see where ChemNutra is coming from, in the sense that they wanted to create controlled media; however, blogging requires two way communication with the blogger to the reader. So where's the dialogue?

They've made a mistake, but now is the time to be straightforward, honest and provide the affected parties the information they need.

In my opinion, no blog is better than a pathetic one.

Getting Hooked

I'm starting to catch onto this blogging thing, and honestly, I'm getting hooked.

Prior to taking the Intro to Public Relations course at the University of Oregon, I had never really heard of blogging or social media. Sure, I've seen a few Live Journals over the years but never realized how powerful blogging had become.

It was Christmas day. Presents had already been opened, dinner wasn't until 4pm, and I was bored. I tried just surfing the web, but I couldn't find anything of interest. Then I remembered my PR professor, Kelli Matthews, had started a blog called PRos in Training. I thought to myself, "I might as well check it out."

That was the end of me. I couldn't stop there. I started searching and found Church Marketing Sucks, Swerve, Spare Change and the list goes on.

I've been reading, and reading, and reading. I love this stuff.

But now the time has come to start my own blog. I'm officially hooked.

Am I ready? Probably not. Do I have much choice? No. Am I excited? Actually, yes.

So here it goes...

Enjoy the ride.