Blogs and Libel - or Damn, NKK!

I, like a few others in the PR blogosphere, read Micro Persuasion written by Steve Rubel.

Today, Rubel mulls over whether or not to blog about his agency's newest client in a posting, about, well, his agency's newest client. For my blog, if I do blog about a POP! Public Relations' client, I make sure never to mention the name or to hyperlink to articles, the Website, etc. It's not what my blog is about - it's about issues in PR, what I come across, and the like.

I understand Rubel's predicament, and I would give him more of a free ride, if not for the fact that he once took another PR blogger to task for posting about a nice hit in the Wall Street Journal for his client. That blogger, Matthew Podboy / Active Voice had never written in his blog prior that he would keep his blog free of client mentions. He blogs about his agency - he's a co-founder of Voce Communications - and he blogs about the work there and the clients. It's a pretty straightforward issue for Podboy. He blogs about the workings in an agency.

I came to Podboy's defence because I know him well from my beginning in public relations, and have looked deep into his heart while working with him. That, plus I had a huge crush on his wife when we all worked at M/ST.

Plus, back when Rubel first started to blog, he asked bloggers everywhere whether or not he should blog about his clients. It seems that he hasn't come to a decision yet, but is leaning toward all out hyping of clients.

Don't get me wrong - Rubel has done a great job promoting for his blog. I see Micro Persuasion linked to some well-read blogs, and PR Week even notes that because of his blog CooperKatz was able to land the new client that he blogged about today. I wonder, though, if Rubel starts to blog about clients and turns Micro Persuasion into a blog about clients, if he might lose audience share or those links.