Jason Calacanis Says Quit Pissing In The Well

I found this story from iMedia Connection to be very timely, and have to say Jason Calacanis, for all of the negative press, really hits a lot of good points.

Giving a speech at the iMedia Brand Summit, Calacanis had this to say:

Calacanis offered some litmus tests that marketers should ask themselves before entering the blogosphere, including the mom test, the leaked memo test, the too easy test and the ask the experts test.

"Ask yourself, would this be okay to show my mom? If this is something that you don't want fingerprints on, ask yourself how it would turn out if everyone found out-- because they will. If it seems like it's too easy, then dammit, it is too easy." Lastly, ask the experts-- there are authorities out there. "There are hundreds of people who blog about a given topic who will provide a reasonable answer to your question," said Calacanis.

This should be something easy for marketers of fake blogs and viral marketing, but they somehow miss the mark. If it is found out that you are behind something, will you be standing up and saying, "Yes I did that and am proud," or will you be standing at the podium apologizing?

Calacanis also admitted he made lots of mistakes at AOL, and says that blogs are a huge opportunity that can be used for Good or Evil. His pictures, at the link above, do a very good job of visually demonstrating what blogs are and what they do.

It sounds like a good speech - I'm sorry I missed it. As for the title - he says e-mail used to be this killer app, but spammers have ruined it, just as big portions of the blogosphere are about to ruin the trust factor of blogs.