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Web 2.0 Dumpster Diving
Years ago, in old school corporate America, many unscrupulous companies would “dumpster dive” in an attempt to dig up information on their competitors. In a business context, dumpster diving is when someone picks though a competitor’s trash in an attempt to unearth discarded paperwork that holds insight about the company’s IP, employees, customers, financials, product plans, whatever.
Recently I experienced what I view as Web 2.0’s version of dumpster diving from a competitor willing to go to any length to try to encroach on my business. In a Web 2.0 world, dumpster diving involves poaching a competitor’s friends on social media sites like Facebook or picking off, one-by-one, a competitor’s followers and those they follow on Twitter. No joke. Poach eggs not friends is my theory. After getting a heads up from a few people that my friends were being poached on Facebook, I had to go in and make “view friends” not visible to anyone who wasn’t already my friend. This prevents those people who travel on their belly from identifying all my contacts and then friending them as a way to get into my biz world. Of the hundreds of friends I have on Facebook, probably half of them are business contacts — clients, prospects, media, analysts, etc.
The Twitter incident was even more ridiculous because this competitor was actually monitoring my tweets while we were competing for the same piece of business. So not cool. I believe in a Twitter world, that bird would probably be viewed as the lowly and desperate vulture. Because of this vulture, I now have a lock on my Twitter account, so I have to approve people who want to follow me.
I have a number of competitors as friends on Facebook and followers on Twitter. Contrary to the media’s perspective that all PR people are slimeballs, I have some great, trustworthy friends who are CEO’s and employees of competitive PR agencies. These are awesome people with whom I trust with blind faith when it comes to never crossing the dumpster diving line. In some cases, I even reroute new business leads to these competitors if it is not a good fit for my agency.
Is there any more of a pussy than the person/company who is afraid to compete based on the merits of their work? Results are all that matter. In a PR environment that means one thing: securing outrageous media coverage for your clients.
With any luck these Web 2.0 dumpster divers will end up in a landfill, with their second cousin, the rat.
Have you experienced any Web 2.0 dumpster diving?
June 22nd, 2008 at 10:43 pm
This is an interesting post. It really has me thinking.
The transparency of social media has undoubtedly made it easier for the economic parasites to scavenge off the fruit of our labors. In days past these people would’ve had to work a little harder by crashing parties and poaching talent. I think you hit on a dilemma many people wrestle with as they consider the merits of a SM strategy for their business.
Do I open up the floodgates and engage a large community in hopes of growing my business through this new and exciting medium?
Or, do I take a more controlled approach where I only interact with those individuals whom I have vetted to a degree that makes me comfortable?
And of course there are many shades of gray between the two extremes.
I think it comes down to the overall strategy of your business. What are you trying to accomplish and how can a social media strategy help?
June 23rd, 2008 at 7:39 am
mike, thanks for sharing your thoughts. it’s interesting because i think many people suffer “buffet syndrome” with social media. because it’s free they tend to over-indulge and often times don’t feel so well afterwards. i really approach it with a quality over quantity perspective. as an example, with twitter i prefer to have a smaller number of followers/following and actually have genuine interests in the tweets. doesn’t mean my approach is right because there is no right or wrong. it’s just my perspective.
kel
June 25th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
They say there are no original ideas anymore in advertising, movies, TV shows… and apparently that goes for some sleazy PR firms. Should you be flattered by their outright thievery or pissed? Cheers to you for not naming these lazy hacks. But ultimately when the rubber hits the road, the truth will come out about these frauds when their clients demand coverage and don’t get it. Because at the end of the day in PR it really is all about coverage. And when these nincompoops cant deliver or get caught trying to steal more of your ideas, they will be one step closer to the landfill. and wont that be a day when those of us in the business will rejoice!
June 25th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
shane, you really need to learn to express yourself more openly. why are you holding back? hahahaha!
kel
June 29th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
WOW. Imagine if they put the same amount of work into their actual business? Maybe they’d be somewhere.
I love your blog, the honesty is sooo refreshing.