This PR initiative is very understandable to me from how the Chinese side experienced Bitshares and from the trouble they had with Bitshares: Open discussions about possible strategic changes in English that were easily interpreted as announcements and led to a ton of FUD. I therefore appreciate this initiative also since the
Chinese community is essential to the success of Bitshares! So I appreciate the initiative and think that James is a great person to handle this!
On the other side I think it is highly inappropriate for the English speaking side of the Bitshares community, for a few reasons:
1. The English of the announcement is not worthy of a Spokesman that is communicating in English. Try to picture how this is perceived from the outside: A non public perception sensitive communication (before this announcement) is replaced by communication with broken English.
2. I don't think BM and devs should not say anything in public anymore. There is more than all or nothing. Good PR / strategic comm. means communication that is aware of public perception and consistent in it's message but not non existent!
3. Bytemaster and his authenticity are unique in this space (and beyond). Much of the reason why I like to be here is that he let's others take part in his vision. I just always hoped that BM would be open to honest and constructive feedback to align the message he intents to put out there with the one that is received by the public.
4. How aware can James be of western narratives like this
https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php?topic=13065.msg172599#msg172599. I am a bit sad that community feedback was ignored that could have achieved (3).
Suggestion: A PR team for Bitshares which is shaped by its two relatively separate Chinese and Western Communities has to:
a) consist of a western and an eastern part that work together on a consistent message but adapt their communications according to the specifics of their audience (and I think James is the most excellent person for the Chinese side of this!!).
b) give BM as much freedom to express his vision while aligning the intended message with the perceived message and align the strategic goals of the Bitshares project with the way Bitshares is communicated (example:
https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php?topic=12585.0;all).
I tried to get a
PR-feedback-as-a-service-group for the core dev team going (mumble session Jan. 16.). Everyone (incl. BM) was happy about the initiative. I messaged BM a few times here on the forum about it to get it going - no reply.
One essential rule to avoid PR disasters would be: Vet your actions with everyone involved. If we assume that the western marketing community (nullstreet) is a group that has an opinion on the PR matter, then this rule has been ignored here with a predictable result.
I know James has a very good reputation among our eastern community members, and I am sure that is well deserved. Because of this, I will give him the benefit of the doubt that his intentions are pure and just.
However, I have to say that I his post on Bytemaster's Blog today did not have the signs of a good, professionally written piece of PR. It had several grammatical errors, awkward sentence structures, and tended to read like a damage control piece.
By "public relations", does he simply mean "speech advisor" ? His list of (7) decrees to limit the speech of the devs is appropriate and understandable in the context of private advisory, but a PR professional would never have posted something like that publicly.
That said, I wonder if James would be open to answering a few questions....
1. Is he only working in an advisory capacity to the devs, or does he plan to try and coordinate with all BitShares delegates?
2. Where is his operation based - China or the US? How much time will he focus on western markets, vs. eastern markets?
3. Does he plan to aggressively pursue relationships with western media contacts? Does he have any experience with Public Relations in the United States or Europe?
4. How soon can we expect Press Releases distributed over 1st tier western wires like PR newswire, Business Wire, or PR Web? This is a cornerstone to good PR, but is relatively expensive ($250 - $1000 per Press Release). Is he receiving funds from "Invictus" (aka. BM), or will he be relying entirely on delegate pay?
Keep in mind that good Public Relations means a steady and consistent feed of information, in order to help to "shape" the narrative. Let us keep a close eye on how well this job is handled...
Therefore we'll need a seperate investor site / Channel ... just my 2 cents!
Topic: Bitshares now has a professional PR initiative (Read 39314 times)
