A little bit of a dustup about our Amazon talk

March 31, 2006 By

I see Rick Segal picking on Amazon's CTO after reading a bunch of blogs this morning about our Amazon talk (and the ensuing controversy about whether or not we answered questions very well or not). I love how Rick called friends at Amazon and did some homework.

Hey, I want a rematch! Scoble (Microsoft evangelist) vs. Werner (Amazon CTO). Topic? Would blogs be good for Amazon? Think about the draw that'd bring at some conference! :-)

Other good comments on this topic? Loren Heiny, blogger (he started a software house too). Jim Minatel, Wiley employee (book publisher!) and blogger.

Update: I answered the questions Werner raised, and more on a post here.

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  • http://www.bynkii.com/ John C. Welch

    It sounds to me like you and shel went in assuming that because blogging has worked well for some companies, it will work well for every company, and didn’t do any homework on how it would help Amazon. A winery, a computer company, and an online-only reseller are not the same things. “It works for everyone else” is not the same as “here’s why it will work for you”.

    You went in unprepared, and you got blown out of the water. Maybe next time, you’ll do your homework better.

  • http://www.bynkii.com/ John C. Welch

    It sounds to me like you and shel went in assuming that because blogging has worked well for some companies, it will work well for every company, and didn’t do any homework on how it would help Amazon. A winery, a computer company, and an online-only reseller are not the same things. “It works for everyone else” is not the same as “here’s why it will work for you”.

    You went in unprepared, and you got blown out of the water. Maybe next time, you’ll do your homework better.

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  • http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ scobleizer

    John: it was a book reading. We were presenting our point of view, yes, but it was based on 188 company interviews.

    You’re right that next time we’ll be better prepared.

  • http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ scobleizer

    John: it was a book reading. We were presenting our point of view, yes, but it was based on 188 company interviews.

    You’re right that next time we’ll be better prepared.

  • http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ scobleizer

    Ross: we were prepared. We’ve been a lot better giving speeches lately than the Les Blogs one. The day before the Amazon one we gave a talk at Microsoft. That’ll be on the Net soon so you can have a look.

    By the way, if you’re gonna hold Les Blogs against me, then you gotta know that at the Google Zeitgeist conference I was #2 rated out of 30 speakers and at LIFT many people said my speech was the best (and it’s gotten the most traffic of any of the videos).

    When you give a speech next time, let me know, and I’ll be there.

  • http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ scobleizer

    Ross: we were prepared. We’ve been a lot better giving speeches lately than the Les Blogs one. The day before the Amazon one we gave a talk at Microsoft. That’ll be on the Net soon so you can have a look.

    By the way, if you’re gonna hold Les Blogs against me, then you gotta know that at the Google Zeitgeist conference I was #2 rated out of 30 speakers and at LIFT many people said my speech was the best (and it’s gotten the most traffic of any of the videos).

    When you give a speech next time, let me know, and I’ll be there.

  • http://www.EuroRoss.blogspot.com/ Ross

    Cool, I’ll be sure to check them out. You certainly do great work with the Channel 9 interviews, impromptu presentations like at Northern Voice, and with your writting (the book was excellent). I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if Les Blogs 2 was an isolated incident, in fact I’d be surprised if it wasn’t.

    You were prepared, fine. A bad day, caught off guard, treated aggresively… for whatever reason it seems that you were unable to answer questions as effectively as you now have afterwards on your blogs (Shel included). I’m sure your authority and views on the subject will better present themselves at the “rematch”, whenever that should be.

  • http://www.EuroRoss.blogspot.com Ross

    Cool, I’ll be sure to check them out. You certainly do great work with the Channel 9 interviews, impromptu presentations like at Northern Voice, and with your writting (the book was excellent). I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if Les Blogs 2 was an isolated incident, in fact I’d be surprised if it wasn’t.

    You were prepared, fine. A bad day, caught off guard, treated aggresively… for whatever reason it seems that you were unable to answer questions as effectively as you now have afterwards on your blogs (Shel included). I’m sure your authority and views on the subject will better present themselves at the “rematch”, whenever that should be.

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  • Megan

    Hi

    I am looking for one of your fellow coworkers from the Seattle Amazon Headquarters.
    His name is Chris. He has short red hair and freckles. He was visiting the weekend of June 24-25 in Vancouver, BC (sailing).
    He works at the Headquaters with computers (I know who doesnt).
    Anyway I would really like to get a hold of him, can you please forward my email address to him and my number 604 626 1147 if you know a red headed Chris (late twenties to early thirties) who is a current employee at Amazon.

    Thanks,
    Megan

  • Megan

    Hi

    I am looking for one of your fellow coworkers from the Seattle Amazon Headquarters.
    His name is Chris. He has short red hair and freckles. He was visiting the weekend of June 24-25 in Vancouver, BC (sailing).
    He works at the Headquaters with computers (I know who doesnt).
    Anyway I would really like to get a hold of him, can you please forward my email address to him and my number 604 626 1147 if you know a red headed Chris (late twenties to early thirties) who is a current employee at Amazon.

    Thanks,
    Megan

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