Updates are usually good things, resulting in a cool new design, added features, or greater reliability. But MyBlogLog seems to have goofed – while introducing tagging to its site, the Yahoo-owned social network basically called social media optimizers “spammers” and “schmoes.”
“If you think someone is spamming you, tag it out loud!” wrote Robyn Tippins on the MyBlogLog Blog. “Internally, we like to call a user who games the system a SchMOe (Social Media Optimizer). Tag anyone who spams you with the term schmoe.”
Right. Well, several notable figures didn’t take to that too kindly. Search industry guru Danny Sullivan responded, “Internally, you know, I like to call anyone who stereotypes an entire industry by the actions of a small number within it kind of stupid.
“Fair enough,” Sullivan continued, “to ask anyone seeing MyBlogLog spam to tag that with the word spam. But calling an entire industry a bunch of spammers? Not smart, frankly, when some of those in that industry also have communities that thrive on MyBlogLog. Oh, and not smart when MyBlogLog is just one of many Yahoo properties that effectively sit at the top of the social media optimization food chain by optimizing the ‘social’ to drive everything to them.”
But Andrew R.H. Girdwood took a slightly different approach to Tippins’s comments. After considering some negative possibilities, he concluded, “This is a little joke – schmoe is funny. It could well be the case that Robyn didn’t mean to suggest that everyone who offers social media consultations is a spammer.”
And in the “Comments” section, Tippins herself responded, writing, “I love social media people, shoot I’m a social media junkie myself. Social Media Optimizer was a good way to explain what spammers do when they take social media applications and game them (optimize is a kind word).”
Tippins ended her post by swearing, “No SMO hate here, I promise!”
It’ll be worth seeing if the situation goes any further. As an (unintended) experiment in PR, updates, and, perhaps, social media optimization, the results have been quite interesting. Oh, and by the way – MyBlogLog did indeed introduce tagging.
