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Phil's Blogservations

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Posted by philgomes 4:51 PM
Bacon's Survey: Similarities to Edelman/Technorati Survey

Bacon's Survey: Similarities to Edelman/Technorati Survey

There are times in this "perso-professional" blog where I must shift abruptly to the latter. This is one of those times.

On Oct. 26, 2005, at 10:13 a.m. PDT, I received this in my inbox from Bacon's:

Dear Mr. Phil Gomes
Phil's Blogservations

I am writing from Bacon's Information, a national source of media information for corporations and public relations professionals. We are asking for your help in updating our blog database by completing the following survey. This information will assist us in updating your FREE listing in Bacon's online media databases and print directories. Feel free to also include any contact preferences you have, including what types of information you would or would not like to receive from public relations professionals. You may reply to this e-mail, fax your updated information to 800-922-2477 or contact us at any time at blogs@bacons.com. Please contact me with questions or comments.

Thank you.

[Contact info withheld.]

Steve Rubel and Steve Baker indicated that they received a similar email.

As it turns out, the survey questions in the MS-Word document attached to the email are quite similar to the study my employer, Edelman, undertook with Technorati. (In any event... Sending unsolicited attachments, especially in virus-carriers like Word documents, is a tactical faux pas.)

By way of examination... From the Bacon's survey:

11) When looking for product information, which do you consider the most reliable?
  • Company press releases
  • Company web sites
  • Corporate Blog
  • Other Bloggers
Compare to a similar question from the Edelman/Technorati study, fielded Sept. 26:
16) When looking for product information, which do you trust most?
  • Company press releases
  • Company web sites
  • Corporate Blog
  • Other Bloggers
Here, the Edelman/Technorati survey answers were clearly repurposed, even down to the miscapitalization of the word "blog".

Another one of the Bacon's questions, received on Oct. 26:

10) How credible is a blog endorsed and produced by a company?
  • Very credible
  • Somewhat credible
  • Occasionally credible
  • Not credible
And Edelman/Technorati's, fielded Sept. 26, with emphasis added:
14) What is the trustworthiness of a blog endorsed and produced by a company?
  • Very trustworthy
  • Somewhat trustworthy
  • Occasionally trustworthy
  • Untrustworthy
Small degree of Thesaurus-play, but essentially the same question.

Here's Bacon's question #5, received Oct. 26:

5) What can companies, organizations or PR Firms do to better communicate with you?
And Edelman/Technorati's, fielded over a month ago:
5) What can companies/organizations and their PR representatives do to better communicate with you?

Different punctuation. Slight rewording.

Bacon's question #4...

4) Would you like product samples from companies in order to evaluate products on your blog?
...is absolutely identical to that of the Edelman/Technorati survey:
4) Would you like product samples from companies in order to evaluate products on your blog?
NB: Though the similarities between the two surveys would indicate that perhaps some collaboration might have taken place, the Bacon's survey was not done in partnership with Edelman.

Edelman did receive a note of apology from a Bacon's senior executive this morning PDT. Nevertheless, I felt the need to post this based on private correspondence I've received on this topic and to ensure that there weren't any misunderstandings.





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This is the blog of Phil Gomes, SVP with Edelman Digital and senior advisor to the Society for New Communications Research. This blog not only discusses PR and media matters, but Phil's everyday observations about a variety of topics. Phil currently resides in Chicago, IL.

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