Bloggers & Corporate Public Relations Departments

I’ve spent the past few days debating if I should post this at all. I finally decided that this is an important issue many bloggers are facing and wanted to start a discussion on this topic.

I’ve been working on HackingNetflix.com since last fall. I like Netflix (I’ve been a subscriber since September, 2002) and wanted to start a blog to discover and share information about this company. The blog has since grown, and I’ve built up a community of people that visit, comment, and exchange e-mails with me. I really enjoy working on this project.

I’ve worked in the technology field since 1985. I’ve worked in technical support, programming, marketing, sales, and many years in public relations. I’ve won many industry awards for companies, including a PC Magazine Editor’s Choice Award, InfoWorld’s Best in Class, and even the highest software award, a “Codie” from the SIIIA.

I’ve approached Netflix public relations twice since I started HackingNetflix.com. The first time was to ask if I could be added to the press list, and they declined. No big deal, I can get the releases from other sources.

I approached Netflix last week with the intention of running an “Ask Netflix” story. The plan was to ask you, my loyal readers, for questions to present to Netflix for answers. I would e-mail the questions to Netflix public relations, and they could answer them at their leisure. I called them, and when they didn’t call me back, I e-mailed the idea.

Here’s my original e-mail:

From: mikek@hackingnetflix.com

Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2004 1:41 PM

To: XXXXXXXXXX

Subject: Working on a new "Ask Netflix" column...

Hello,

I am working on a new "Ask Netflix" story for my Web site,
www.HackingNetflix.com. I would like to put out a request for
questions, edit them, and then send them to you for response (you can
always decline to answer a question).

Are you willing to participate in this story? HackingNetflix.com gets a
lot of traffic and has a very loyal group of Netflix fans. I know there
are questions not answered by your FAQ that people would like answers
to.

I would also like to know if I can arrange to get a tour of a
distribution center (I live in Connecticut, so a local one would be
preferred).

I promise to keep this friendly (I do like you guys).

Just out of curiosity, have you seen HackingNetflix.com before?

- Mike

This is a very common request for public relations departments, and I’ve been on the receiving end of these, so I tried to make it easy for the Netflix people to handle.

This is the response I received from Netflix:

Hi Mike,

We appreciate your interest in Netflix, but we must decline your request at
this time. Thank you for your zeal for Netflix and we wish you the best for
your site.

Best,
XXXXXXXX

I was seriously disappointed. When I worked in public relations I tried hard to answer every phone or e-mail request, no matter how small the publication. I spoke at user groups at every opportunity (and public speaking used to make me physically ill!). Blogs are a small online community, just like a journal or user group.

I think most companies don’t get blogs yet. I know Netflix public relations is concerned with making USA Today and the New York Times happy, but how can you ignore a community that has tens of thousands of your customers? I had 1,000 people visit my site today, plus an untold number that read my site through RSS and Atom feeds. If you do the math it’s easily 20 – 30,000 readers a month (and growing!).

I know I’m not alone. It’s hard to get companies to take bloggers seriously. I really like Netflix, but they are slowly withdrawing, closing themselves off from their customers (they recently removed their phone numbers from the site). Instead, companies should be embracing these online communities, comprised mostly of the highly desired “early adopters” that evangelize products to the general population.

Comments

[Jim Biancolo]

Wow, too bad. Unsurprising, but still unfortunate. I wish I had some insights for you. I'm not sure if it's a blog thing, or just another symptom of the seemingly universal decline in customer service (PR being customer service for the press). Well, keep at it! Grow this site big enough and they won't be able to ignore you.

[Sam Gallant]

I suggest that everyone that reads this send a request to customer service to be more communitiy friendly. I prefer companies who embrace the community that supports them and realize that it benefits them in the long run. (ie:. Tivo) Below is a link to send an email to Netflix customer service department.

http://www.netflix.com/ContactCustService?

[Dave Winer]

As I started to read your post I was sure you were going to say that their lawyers had told you not to use their name in the title of your weblog. I think you should count your blessings. I remember the kid with the NY Mets fan site, that they shut down by lawyers because he had used the Mets name in the title of his blog. You've done the right thing, told the story, and it's not so bad, and of course I'm happy to point to it. Dave

[Susan Mernit]

This is surprising--and sad. Given that Netflix is a disruptive channel, you'd think they'd be more sensitive.
Have you considered sending the same request to one of the senior managers (who live in Silicon Valley, where many people are plugged into blogging) with a CC to PR and seeing what happens? It may require someone more senior wanting to make this a priority.
Good luck--I love what you do here and visit regularly.

[John Stanforth]

In re: contacting senior managers, I've forwarded this to a friend who is a chief architect there. No guarantees of anything except that someone (very intelligent) outside PR will see it. There still may be 101 reasons they don't want to get involved here; companies (even disruptive ones) are hesitant to discuss possible arrangements when the entire discussion is already being public reviewed and taking a negative slant. Perhaps not how the world ought to work, but often how it does.

[Steve Rubel]

Mike, I applaud your professionalism in handling this matter. I love how you elected not to publish the name of the PR rep you are dealing with. I wish more of my colleagues in the industry would reach out to bloggers. It's a regular practice at my firm.

[Oleg]

I cancelled my Netflix subscription recently ... This simply confirms my decision.

[Shannon J Hager]

For those of us still on the fence and gathering data, NetFlix blew a good chance. This negative action on their part will not cause too much damage in to my opinion of them but they wasted the chance to put a slew of free publicity in front of my eyes. I have to assume that ever answer they gave would show them in a good light and would have added more to the [+] side of my fence.

[Shannon J Hager]

For those of us still on the fence and gathering data, NetFlix blew a good chance. This negative action on their part will not cause too much damage in to my opinion of them but they wasted the chance to put a slew of free publicity in front of my eyes. I have to assume that ever answer they gave would show them in a good light and would have added more to the [+] side of my fence.

[Fred]

It is a bit disconcerting that Netflix isn't a bit friendlier with it's customers. But actually there have only been a few big companies that I would consider friendly with us common folks.

[Gary Potter]

Sadly, blogging is still not embraced in the corporate space. And I very much agree with Steve - you handled this very professionally. I'm a Netflix subscriber and will continue to be but I think they missed an opportunity. Perhaps one of the blog readers in the print media will pick up on this.

[Chris Dickens]

And now that you've been linked to Scoble I'm sure your readership just went up! I'm another netflix member who just subscribed to your feeds.

[Rick]

I think part of the problem Netflix may have is the name of your site. Just what does "Hacking Netflix" mean if it's supposed to be a friendly and helpful site? "Pissing Off Netflix" makes about as much sense. Why not try "Netflix Fan Club"? Then they'd be more likely to listen...

[Michael O'Connor Clarke]

Utterly clueless. This is precisely the kind of wrong-headed PR "control" that gives my profession a really bad name.

It's clear that the Netflix flacks know about your blog - which presumably means that they've read it and realised that you're not some crazed moonbat. What on earth they hoped to gain by turning down this innocuous request, I don't know.

As is often the case - an ill-advised attempt to control the communications channels on their part has quickly turned around to bite them.

This goes against one of the cardinal rules of PR - it is absolutely impossible to manage or control the channels through which your news gets distributed. All you have control over is what you choose to put into the channel. Just as you can never control the outcome of an interview: you can only control what comes out of your mouth. (self promoting link: I blogged a list of what I believe to be the cardinal rules almost a year ago, here: http://tinyurl.com/2v6hv)

And if you choose not to put anything into the channel (declining to comment) we're left to have all sorts of fun speculating as to the reasons why.

Oh - and by this point you don't get to play anymore, I'm afraid. You already abnegated your ability to comment when first you were asked. Don't come crying to the media (including bloggers) after the fact if you don't like the treatment you're receiving.

It will serve Netflix right when bloggers and blog-readers grok their cluelessness and switch to something genuinely net-savvy, such as Peerflix.com, for example.

[bill gates]

i completely agree with Netflix's decision. Why would they in the least bit want to be affiliated/connected to a website called "hackingnetflix". Would you think microsoft would ever even consider reading an email from someone at : @hackingmicrosoft.com ???
And also you got what you wanted, which is more readers to your site by posting this. Some lame wanna-by journalist who want to tour the Netflix distribution center, what a joke. Does microsoft/yahoo/sony etc etc also joe-shmose with a blog to come tour their centers? They have alot of better things to do than sit here and worry about your 1k readers who have nothing better to do with their lives than sit in front of a computer and read your thoughts.

[Ryan]

I'm interested to see how long this DNS lasts... Netflix could go either way.

[Becky]

I share your curiosity. I'd love to see the setup at the local DC.

[Shishir]

I think this attitude towards blogs will change with time in the corporate world.

I'm not speculating on the effects your site's name would have on their decision, but its also true that a lot of companies don't have policies in place with regards to how to handle such requests.

Also, they may not have the bandwidth to take on this kind of a responsibility. Despite your request to let them answer "at their leisure", they just may not have the bandwidth to take on this sort of a public Ask a question type of service at this point.

Surely a customer of Netflix can e-mail questions and get a timely response directly? I know I expect that when I'm paying a monthly fee!!

[spin_cycle]

Sad, but they're getting too big for personal service. Obviously you are on their side, but they are just plugging in the form letter at this point.
I had a problem and used their email help system, so obviously a keyword response that after 3 times around the ring, I gave up.

They're still the best, and I can't imagine anyone else catching up with their total package.

Hey-you gave it a good try.

I am totally unsuprised as well. Working at a large midwestern telecommunications company, our marketing/pr people periodically talk about engaging users by setting up some sort of "community" [they mean blog or forum], totally disregarding the existing, highly robust extant community that already exists.

If any big enterprise was to underwrite such a thing, btw, I am sure that it would be highly censored and monitored. I had hoped that NetFlix would be more techno savy (like, be aware that hacks are okay and not evil, cracks -- for example -- are not); I guess be lucky that they didn't send a cease and desist over use of their name. That's what I thought was gonna happen when I started reading this also.

[Derek Scruggs]

Re: the name. Anyone ever hear of the best seller "Google Hacks?" I think Google was quite happy with its name.

Google is uber powerful, has hundreds of thousands of advertisers, and has trucks dumping cash in their backyard, and yet they still have reps who monitor and post in forums like this. I suspect if this got further up the chain to the CEO or someone in marketing, they'd change their tune.

[Mike Schinkel]

http://blogs.xtras.net/mikes/PermaLink,guid,96c72d9f-9d25-442c-a28f-3aed8597782f.aspx

[Aron Miller]

I understand the distress here. Like you, I spend a lot of time following this company. And like you, I've attempted recently to get past the wall there with no success. In my case, I wanted to help them understand what makes their churn reporting inaccurate. In both our cases, it would be worth their time.

[Debbie]

I heard about netflix on a tech show called "the Screensavers", i thought it was great and subscribed. 2 years later and i look forward to the demiss of this company.

I cancelled this month as i will not pay higher rates for bad service.
What i would like to know is if this company is stilled owned by the original creator?
debbie

[Becky]

Marc B. Randolph and Reed Hastings were each founders, presidents, and CEOs of Netflix, but Marc Randolph appears to have sold his share in the company, so only Reed Hastings is left running the show.