Shel Israel has a genuine concern about the lack of credibility of the Masked Blogger.

"Masked, until you show yourself, you will lack credibility.  Just look at the comments you are receiving.  Until you show yourself, you will make finding you a game."

Hopefully my last post helped explain more about where I'm coming from. You can read it here:

Shel also offers to help answer the core questions I have about the value of "joining the conversation" and how this relates to larger businesses. These can be summarized into three main questions:

- how do corporations control the message if they let their staff blog?
- is there real value in getting involved in blogging, for a corporation and for the customer?
- is transparency and openness a risk or opportunity for businesses?

A good (but short) case study for these questions is what has happened around this blog in the last 48-hours. Is Apple getting any useful and actionable information from the resulting conversations? Do they better understand what its customers are thinking? What about Apple customers? Does participation and the value of the shared insights only matter if they are acted on? How sustainable will this be?

Shel has also given me the opportunity to verify my identity while keeping the protection afforded by anonymity:

"Masked, I'd be happy to give you greater detail, but we would have to go offline. I pledge Here and now in front of all these people that I will not reveal your identity, but I'll be very happy to answer any ten of your challenging questions, if you will answer ten of mine, letting me publish them on this blog, while keeping your name private."

Shel, drop me a note at blogger.masked@gmail.com

PS: Your book Naked Conversations arrived from Amazon an hour ago. Thank you for the recommendation. Looking forward to reading it.

I started blogging a couple of days ago. My goal was to understand the value of online conversation in the business context.

Back in August I was intrigued how Mark Shuttleworth joined a raging and somewhat angry debate within the Ubuntu community. The latest release was crashing. Lots of emotion. Mark stood up, said to the community you're right, we messed up, and here's what we are going to do about it. Almost immediately the collective focus moved to how to fix the issue. I've seen this skill in the very best customer service reps. Listening, acknowledge the problem, non-condesending empathy and action to solve. One to one it's powerful. One to many it's gold.

Jonathan Schwartz has moved the needle of my impression of Sun. Prior to reading Jonathan's blog I thought Sun was a large, previously successful company that failed to change. Perhaps it still is. What I know now is how Sun is changing. Standards based products, open source and some strong innovation. Lower power consumption systems (a biggie going forward), technologies like zFS and products like Thumper.

Can this power of conversation translate to my interests? It's been a very rewarding 48-hours. Two things resonate with me. Online conversations are powerful. And the collective wisdom of a crowd adds value. Let me highlight a couple of things I've found of value:

- a good number of you are having issues with your MacBook Pros and more importantly, unsatisfactory service experiences. There are lots of suggestions on areas for improvement.
- a good number of you are really pleased with your MacBook Pros and your service experiences have been excellent.
- there may be a difference in traditional Mac enthusiasts and "switchers" in their service expectations.
- transparency is regarded as important and good, countered somewhat by AntiBorg sharing an interesting perspective on the "Collective Consumer Market Mind". Very interesting.
- other vendors struggle with the similar issues (thanks Michael et al)
- Apple ranked highly compared to major vendors in a recent user satisfaction survey (which doesn't mean there's not more to do)
- Dell is participating in the conversations (thanks Richard)
- I've learnt that self-scan groceries is a con and only of benefit to supermarket productivity (thanks Francis )
- I'm guessing Shel Israel privately still lusts after a shiny new MacBook Pro

There has also been a lot of hype about an Apple employee blogging. My goal for joining the conversation is primarily to understand the medium. Working for Apple is only part of my "identity". Let me be very clear. I'm not going to divulge any Apple secrets or dirty laundry. I have a vested interest in Apple's success and certainly won't be leaving my ethics at the door as I enter the conversation. What's important here is the conversations and I'm sure Apple is listening. Wouldn't it be great though, if collectively we created value. Value for Apple customers. Value for Apple. Perhaps this may be a way of bringing Apple into the conversation on a long-term basis. So for some of you, time for an expectation reset.

Finally, thanks to everyone for the input, all the comments and emails. Particularly those that have taken the time to contribute thoughtful and valuable insight. This is what it's about!

Transparency:

Is transparency the core tenet for blogging and building trust online? Does understanding more about the individual, their background and current interests insert context into their contributions? Does transparency expose vested interests or any ulterior motives?

Shel challenged my anonymity:

"Masked--I just posted a comment on your site. Yours was a thoughtful post. But by being anonymous, you raise a larger question: Why should I trust a company whose employees have to mask their identities. How do I know who you are or why you are saying what you are saying. Why don't your employers trust you to speak your mind as a loyal cabable employee? Without those reasons, you are giving me a second reason to hold off on buying a Mac Pro."

Is it better to blog anonymously than to not blog at all, if revealing your identity could jeopardize your job and income?  Will trust develop as a normal part of the conversation, based on quality conversation rather than identity? What I do know is that anonymity gives me a voice I wouldn't otherwise have. Perhaps a necessary compromise?

Robert Scoble brings an interesting perspective:

"Here’s a question for Apple’s PR: what happens when only anonymous employees can blog? Hint: your PR will be controlled by anonymous people!"

Controlling the message:

Does your employer have concerns about blogging? Losing control of the message. The inadvertent leaking of confidential information. These are genuine concerns for organizations of all sizes that have invested in building and managing (traditionally) their brand.

Let me get your feedback on a hypothetical scenario. A company releases a new product. The engineering team see a "bump" in customer issues. While this is expected for any new product, the issues exceed the tight quality goals the company has set for itself. What would you prefer?

a) the company come out and say "Hey, here is the issue affecting our new product. This issue doesn't affect everyone, but has exceeded our tight threshold for quality. If this is happening to you, here's what to do .... "

b) the company just waits for individuals to contact them when they experience the issue.

What would "cost" the company more? How would scenario a) empower the front line staff to understand and address the issue? What would happen to the conversations online about the issues in both scenarios?

Is transparency and openness a risk or an opportunity for businesses? 

Benefits of Blogging:

Is there any real value in businesses getting involved in blogging and social media? How do we measure this? Shel has some interesting thoughts on ROI here.

I ask for your help again. Has anyone real examples of how "joining the conversation" has helped their business or improved customer satisfaction? What about the converse. Any horror stories?

Appreciate your help and input!

[Reply to Shel Israel's post Shel Hell Dampens my Mac Envy]

I work for Apple.

Apple is all about the product. The company hierarchy reflects this, in a similar way at Dell where it all starts with the sales organisation.  Anything that gets in the way of a sale is top of the list at Dell. Apple is a different animal.

The result of this focus for Apple is great and desirable products.  My background is with Windows, and OS X on Mac is comparatively a better experience.  To avoid any resulting jihad from the Windows vs Mac camps (and vice versa) my premise here is it's not just about the product.  Notebooks are one of the tools we use to "produce", whatever we do in our work and day to day lives.  Something like 80% of all notebook production comes out of Taiwan and China ... contract manufacturing for all the leading brands. Sure cool industrial design and better usability matter, but as the market continues to commoditise the emphasis shifts to "the other things" or ecosystem around the offering.  It is true that any of the top brands (and a number of the smaller niche players) can provide you a notebook that will get the job done.  But if there's one thing to get right, its is supporting the user. Nothing dismantles a brand quicker than the focus unhappy users and their ability to create a tipping point in general opinion.
 
I'm not sure anyone gets this 100% right.  Dell, aside from it's recent slide, use to do a great job comparatively ... and grew like crazy in the marketplace as a result. And their product, while reliable, was anything but inspiring in design.  Apple also places well in comparative user satisfaction surveys.

I think there is something missing though.  It's to do with relationship and trust.  Let me try and explain.

I did my weekly grocery shopping at my local Sainbury's Supermarket yesterday.  I used their self-scan handset that let's you scan items as you select them from the shelf. This means the checkout process is quick and painless.  For the third time in a row, their "system" dictated all the items be re-scaned at the checkout.  Ahhhh!  Turns out my purchase of 1/2 dozen re-usable carrier bags after the self-scan handset had been "loaded" at the checkout at a previous visit was flagged as a variance in items scanned.  The "system" had flagged me as someone they need to double check.

I worked out I spend over (US)$10,000 a year at Sainbury's.  They left the customer relationship to be managed by the most junior and probably the lowest paid employee's in their business and a flag in the database.  A flag that was indiscriminate to a legitimate at check-out purchase.  A great service (self-scanning) followed up by customer service that questioned a $10k pa customers integrity.  Do Sainbury's understand what happened yesterday?

I wonder if I offered the owner-operated deli, green grocer and general store on the local High Street their share of my $10k spend.  How different would my relationship with those businesses?

Two points:

Is the above supermarket scenario any different with the computer vendor support organisations?  Is the customer interaction handled by a junior member of staff and arbitrated by fixed process?  How do we develop a better trust relationships between vendor and individual to set and meet expectations (for those of us who are not bloggers of influence)?

I know there are many talented and passionate individuals in the AppleCare organisation, behind the Genius Bars in Apple stores, and in Apple's channel.  How do we ensure they understand what a failed notebook means to an individual that will have 500 people in an auditorium for the keynote presentation the next morning?  How do we empower them to help?

My guess it's similar to the relationship and trust I would build with the owner of the local deli as we got to know each others needs.  Is there a repeatable way we can make this work with the bigger support organisations?  How do we replicate the two-way conversation that makes the relationship with the deli owner more powerful than the checkout clerk at Sainsbury's?

To Shel Israel ... by a MacBook Pro.  You won't regret it.  But help me as I work from the inside to help Apple get into the conversation for the benefit of all.

My first ... and test post!  Stay tuned for an explanation on the anonymity.  It's a genuine attempt to join and advance the conversation ... to effect positive change without jeopardising my livelihood.  More shortly .....