MediaStorm

by on June 12, 2006

OK, it is indeed a bit over the top that I'm the top tech news on the BBC right now. Can't Google announce something, please? ;-) No one paid attention to when I took my other jobs. I agree with Paul Kedrosky that this is all overdone. I was relieved when it started going down on TechMeme this morning. Now I gotta go to work and finish my Channel 9 videos.

Thanks to Hugh Macleod for the cartoon. Yes, Technorati shows that people are indeed blogging too. Whew, my head is spinning, there's so much commentary (mostly nice, but some nasty) that I don't know what to react to, so I probably won't for a while and maybe come back to it in a week after it all settles down. I am learning a lot about how media storms happen and what can be done about them when they happen (there are some things you can do, for instance by being available to answer rumors — that's one reason my cell phone is on my blog. Another one? Post fast, post often, and answer the most common questions. But, the biggest one? Learn how to hang out with, and talk with, and make friends with bloggers, podcasters, videobloggers, and virtual worlds' influentials).

scoblesleaving.jpg

  • Robert

    Congratulations on your move

    Sometimes it takes family upeavals to make us consider life and career changes.

    Life is too short.

    Take care

    Serge
    Biz:
    http://www.njconcierges.com
    Blog:
    http://www.sergetheconcierge.com
  • Well, if you look at Technorati it mostly shows you that there are still a lot of geeks on the way and that non english blog systems are not so much represented if they even put the world cup out of the top ;)
  • Robert -

    Congratulations - both in everything that you've acheived at Microsoft, paving the way for many of us to wake our own organizations up to the cluetrain - and in having the courage to jump to this new startup.

    I wish you the best of luck, and look forward to seeing what you come up wtih!
  • Congrats and life goes on Robert.

    If you must keep your heart and human face, there are a lot of people for you over there..

    So go on and on...keep it up
  • Hey Robert, what is happening to you is actually pretty darn amazing. Who would have thought that your decision of leaving Microsoft would have such a dramatic effect on the blogosphere AND the global IT community. We've heard more about you in recent days then about most current major issues (Net Neutrality, etc.). Bloggers support their own, and all of this shows it quite clearly.

    Congratulation.. with all the attention you are receiving right now, you could probably already ask your boss for a raise ;)
  • Bill
    I just saw your face on MSNBC. This is crazy. :)

    Good luck, man.
  • Yeah you’re right there has been a lot of commentary, and like you say some is nice which is great but some is nasty and very unpleasant but you have to believe in the phrase “sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me” and yeah I know words can hurt people mentally and affect people’s feelings but you have to also remember that you’ve done nothing to them to harm them so why should they arm you, they probably only say nasty things because they are jealous of what you have worked hard for and don’t respect what you have done.

    I say to them, learn the facts before spreading nasty rumors which are un-true.

    Anyway yeah take a break for a while from the commentary on your move, it will do you good, especially your head. :D
  • Hi Robert! Congratulations and good luck! I look forward to your future posts...
  • Hi
    What would be really cool; would be to try and keep some stats against a time line. Then when this has all blown over get a grad student to write a paper on the effects of the new media firestorms.
    Keep them coming
    Charlie
  • Congratulations on the massive media attention, Robert. USA Today, Reuters, the BBC, what's next, a Time Magazine cover? I hope it's not the one without the shirt! ;)
  • Rock on, Scoble. I've made a commemorative ceramic drink coaster to mark the event:

    http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archive...
  • I must admit, I blogged about this, too. Oh man, that Hugh Macleod cartoon makes me feel like such a tool! :)

    http://weblog.timoregan.com/2006/06/scoble-leav...
  • Scoble, you are generous to Paul.

    On "earning" our trust in your new job, take a look at my post

    Saving Private Scoble

    http://dealarchitect.typepad.com/deal_architect...
  • swami sudip
    Hello Robert,
    i have some important information, how i can contact or write to you .
  • I hope the Intervention helped.
    I stand ready to replace you.
    Hell will freeze over and it will be number one at technorati before that happens I fear.

    I have comemmerated the occasion, however
    http://theheadlemur.typepad.com/ravinglunacy/20...
    Good Luck in california which is different than yogurt as yogurt has live culture
  • Robert,

    May the Lord smile upon your new endeavors. More importantly, may you and Mary Anne smile about them as much as He does! I am so excited for you and your family. I pray that you are challenged beyond your current potential such that your can strive towards your true potential.

    Please know that you are one of the reasons that I joined Microsoft earlier this year. You gave Microsoft a face that was worth looking in upon. You provoked a level of curiosity in Microsoft that I had lost after Judge Jackson penned his infamous words. I pray that your example will provoke other people to look beyond the past and look towards a bright future. And I pray that you will learn from others as much as others can learn from you.

    Good luck!


    Ciao,

    Lorin Olsen
  • The Aussie papers didn't forget about you either. :)

    The Age
  • Anonymous Microsoftie
    Glad you're leaving. Now maybe you can fall into irrelevance where you belong and from whence you came. Microsoft sure gave a lot more to you than you gave to her.
  • It seems you have alot of good things about MSFT that you gonna remember and miss always, so why are you leaving my friend, stay, and enjoy, who know u might start likin HDTVs... lol... well i've been working for MSFT for just over 15 months now, and i can tell you this is an impaccable company with a few gems like you, hatts of to you, and i am goin to write about you in my next blog, please spare some time and do visit.

    I am sure no matter where you go a gem will b a Gem, My god bless you with a career full of joy and excitement.

    Thanks & Regards,
    Saurabh Dhall
  • Anonymous Microsoftie (whoever the f you are): You are the personification of what is to hate in Scoble's soon to be former employer, Mr. Chickensh** Anonymous (whether you're actually an employee or just some deluded yes-man MS customer). Whilst he has shown nothing but integrity during the hype around his departure, you come out just in time to put that ugly face back on "Microsoftie' that he has spent the last few years (successfully) erradicating.

    Congratulations Robert. I look forward to reading about your new endeavors, and insight into life after MS.
  • MS Internal Dude
    Re: Anonymous Microsoftis and Paul Roberts... While not as ambiguously direct and mean as the first post, I think that I catch his/her drift. Scoble (i'll use third person) certainly helped with external perception of Microsoft, but that's about it aside from a targeted product group or so. Fact is, that many of the things "wrong" with Microsoft from product, to people, to policies to patches are going to come from within and Scoble was almost purely externally facing. To the marketers and product managers (more marketers) he was well known, but to most everyone else...like other comments and blogs I have seen, he was an unknown. And it's those worker bees, the engineers and PMs that really make or break the products. Fact of the matter is that internally there is a resounding "Scoble-who?" of late. And if a DCR showed up in any product group with his name on it, it would be the first thing chucked in triage, mainly because internally there is very little credibility for marketers. And what's worse (and what I feel in the original comment) is that many internally feel resentment that someone could come to the company and use the company name and street cred built after many years to promote themselves. Bundle that all up and you get the comment before. I know he's leaving, best of luck...but if he had stayed, my advice would have been to put up or shut up. To either join a product group and really test his metal around people that don't put up with windbags or to join consulting and make a deep and accountable commitment to the customer. Everywhere else is in between and hot air.
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