The increasing influence of the blogosphere intrigues me

I am still trying to catch up on the latest buzz since returning from Vacation in the Berkshires last week. I was staying in a hotel with a phone system that didn't allow me to connect to the internet with my laptop and my cell phone only worked on a 1/2 mile stretch of road between Hillsdale and New Lebanon, NY. Off the grid! Anyway....

The latest discussion that has caught my eye is the buzz on the downward spiral of Dell product quality and customer support. This immediately caught my attention since we too have historically had problems with Dell laptops and I vowed never buy a Dell system for my company again.

A number of influential bloggers have gone on record as saying they too will never buy a Dell again including Jeff Jarvis, BL Ochman and Shel Israel . Why does this matter? Because many people read these blogs and a good number of them have blogs of their own. This is the new electronic buzz/word of mouth. And the buzz for Dell ain't good!

What's Dell's response to all of this? Well.... not a thing. Their official policy is to not respond publicly. Dell -- burying your head in the sand isn't going to fix the problem! The Mason PR team would NEVER recommend to 'look but don't touch'!

As an interesting aside, Matt Galloway attempts to use blogpulse to track if there is any up-swing in negative comments for Dell. His technique should be added to any crisis managment as another way to track buzz in the blogosphere.