Jeff Jarvis's Dell Hell blog can serve as a Harvard Case study for many reasons but the most important of all are to demonstrate the power and influence of blogs in todays media and how CEO's should address these new powerful critics. If Dell would have approached this media frenzy in a different way, the negative publicity would have never affected the company as it did in 2005.
Why are blogs so powerful? Blogs started out as online diaries where people would write things that interest them or things that are on their minds. Today, blogs serve as an unfiltered tool where journalist and people express their ideas to the world. Since most newspapers are restricted from publishing certain subjects or comments due to interest of the board or repercussions to the paper, many have now turned to blogs as a way of expressing their ideas without any filtering from a third party. This virtue is the essence of a blog and it is why they are so powerful. Bloggers write the truth (their version and opinion of the truth) and people who share their opinions or experience relate to them and engage with the writer through comments, something no one was able to do with a newspaper in the past.
In the case of Dell Hell, it wasn't that Jeff Jarvis wrote a poetic blog or an award wining novel, the reason for its popularity was because it expressed the general sentiment and experience of many Americans. Each blog of the Dell Hell series had upwards of 200 comments. He wasn't the only one, he was one of many.
The Snowball Effect. It is very hard to stop an avalanche from happening once it is coming down the mountain so the best way to avoid an avalanche is to take preventive measures. Ski resorts actually use explosives to break away staked snow before it becomes a threat of a huge avalanche.
Dell's mistake was that it did not respond to the blog. Maybe they thought that a small blog would not impact the company in any way. I am positive that if Jeff Jarvis's experience would have been televised in CBS'S 60 minutes, they would have addressed the issue right away. My belief is that they underestimated the influence and attention this blog would get. Once it got to the New York Times and other well known media outlets the damage was already done, the avalanche was already on its way down. The lesson: pay attention to blogs and activity generated by their articles.
What should have Dell done?Dell should have done what it eventually ended up doing. As Mei Ling Fung posted on her blog (http://www.customerthink.com/article/you_can_learn_dell_hell_dell_did), Dell eventually addressed customer complaints and Jarvis by creating a dedicated corporate blogger. Michael Dell assigned a 14 year Dell veteran Lionel Menchaca to head a Dell blog to address issues customers were posting in blogs. His approach was to be honest and to communicate valid problems and issues to Dell headquarters. He connected Dell to its customers base and addressed customer issues before they were put on the New York Times.
Hindsight everything is 20/20. In all honesty, I did not know the influence bloggers had until very recently. If I would have been the Dell's CEO I am not so sure I would have paid so much attention to a little blog.
The fact is that today bloggers are a force to reckon with, they can either build you or destroy you. Twitter became so popular because of bloggers and most companies now a days use bloggers to promote their products assuming bloggers think well of them.
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