Dell’s Loss is Blog Council’s Gain

The big news in the world of social media today is the departure of Dell’s social media chief, Bob Pearson, who will now be batting as part of The Blog Council.  If you’re not familiar with The Blog Council, it’s a industry group that focuses on social media.  Members are leaders in social media and corporate executives who work in social media.  The Blog Council is led by Andy Sernovitz, word-of-mouth marketing guru extraordinaire.

This is great news for The Blog Council.  It’s always great to be able to attach a big-name company to something.  It should also provide Pearson with a greater ability to actually lead social media efforts rather than being stuck under a corporate structure that is inevitably cumbersome to innovation.  I’m sure his efforts met many roadblocks during his time with Dell.  Nothing against Dell – that’s just how big corporations are.  They can’t get out of their own way.

But I think Pearson said it best himself.  In an article on BrandWeek.com today, Pearson was quoted as saying,

“The biggest challenge is what I call the antibodies,” Pearson said. “Every organization has them, and the larger ones have more. These are the people still trying to do things like they’ve done the last 10 or 20 years. They tend not to say no but not to say yes. They have lots of ways to stop progress with a smile.”

So true.

All I can say is it’s a great time to be involved in social media!