I like to judge the issues of the day that are particularly relevant to me not by Twitter trending topics or the most read list on BBC.co.uk, but by the articles that crop up in my RSS reader. They are, after all sources I have hand-picked because they are likely to contain content that I find interesting.
And if these are indeed a fair reflection of what is and isn’t hot right now (in my world), then Spinvox is certainly winning at the moment. On both counts!
But, I can’t help being a little bit mystified by all the attention.
Yes, I know the service is one of the darlings of the Web 2.0 world and, here in the UK at least, has been promoted all over the Twitterverse by its social-media-guru-dude, James Whatley. But why all the recent attention?
You probably know the gist of the furore that has encompassed the company in recent weeks. If not, you can read about it here.
The whole incident has generated unprecedented media attention: numerous posts on the BBC website, national newspapers, Techcrunch… the list goes on.
Then yesterday, Spinvox invited its main detractors to attend a demo at its HQ to see for themselves (or not) just what the fuss is (or isn’t) all about.
Which still leaves me with the question – why all the fuss?
I’m not trying to let Spinvox off the hook. They’ve made mistakes and there is a clear lack of transparency there somewhere. I also don’t think the PR has been handled at all well during this little spat (but that’s another post for another time). Anyone that thinks any publicity is good publicity is misguided.
So is this just an example of a media man/company-hunt? Did the lack of a clear and quick response from the company create a mountain out of a molehill or does the company really have something to answer?
It’ll be fascinating to see how they try and recover from here. Despite their buoyant claims about increases in sign-ups following the BBC coverage and their latest funding round, I think it’s going to be a battle.
