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Here’s the story of what not to do when you blog. What a mess! This has resulted in dragging quite a few people and companies through the mud — Wal-Mart (ok, lots of mud there already), the blogger and photographer involved, Edelman, and even the Washington Post.

I won’t reiterate the whole sad saga here (Business Week has a good article about the Wal-Mart blog debacle) but here’s the gist of it:

The “blog” Wal-Marting Across America appeared, chronicling the travels of Laura and Jim, as they took an RV across the country. They stayed in Wal-Mart parking lots overnight (RVs can park for free there) and interviewed Wal-Mart employees across the land. The stories were all upbeat and pro-Wal-Mart. No one knew who these bloggers were and comments weren’t allowed, so Business Week and bloggers started investigating, and it all came out. Laura’s brother works for Edelman, Jim is a professional photographer for the Washington Post. They apparently are a couple, and actually on a vacation, which they managed to have Wal-Mart pay for.

And the repercussions go on and on. The Washington Post has a policy of not allowing outside work, so Jim’s in trouble. Edelman’s involvement was hidden, so they’ve got a black eye. No one’s looking good in this. Except maybe Business Week.

Some people are claiming that this was a setup from the start, and don’t believe Laura’s claim (told in the last post) that:

I started thinking about all the other amazing things there are to see in this vast country of ours. And then I started thinking about how Wal-Mart - one in every town, practically - lets you park overnight for free. The idea just sort of came together. We would take vacation from our full-time jobs and drive across the country in a rented RV, from city to city, spending the night in a different Wal-Mart parking lot every night.

Actually, the blog idea wasn’t bad. But here’s what they didn’t do:

1. They didn’t allow comments.
   This is a huge no-no. That’s not a blog, in my opinion, just a web page. Moderate if you must, but allow comments. Create a comment policy if you’re worried, and post it. Make the ground rules and abide by them. Then people can take it or leave it. But pretending to be a blog, copying the look and feel without the substance is a warning sign that the blog is not about an authentic conversation. It’s just a fancy press release.
2. They didn’t tell us who Laura and Jim were, where they came from, or why they were doing this blog.
   Is it ok to be anonymous? I’m not sure; I’d have liked to have seen something about these people. If Laura had started out with the information in the last post, and established herself and Jim the photographer, a bit, then I probably would have been ok with it. But without that, it’s warning flag #2 that this is not a blog, but PR puffery.
3. They didn’t stick by their story.
   By the time I read the blog, everything was gone except the last two posts. Not a good sign. If you’re under attack, and you’re for real, you don’t cut and run. Stick by your words. Maybe this wasn’t Laura’s decision, but it looks bad. If it were real, I’d put a post up to frame it as an archive, and keep the site up.

I don’t exactly know what’s real and what’s not in this blog — Laura sounds legit (if slightly paranoid). But even though I’d like to believe her, she’s got at least these three strikes against her.

Is it bad to have a blog that focuses on positive stories? I don’t think so, if it’s done right. But say that up front, for pete’s sake.

Blogging is about real conversations, about authentic voices from behind the corporate wall (I know they’re there), about transparency. That will appeal to people. Pretending to be something you aren’t will not.

Thanks, Wal-Mart, for the lesson!

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