Take a look at the article in today’s New York Times about Walmart and blogging. The fact that this retail giant is taking steps to integrate bloggers into its PR campaign creates some interesting implications on a new type of reputation management. Your thoughts?

New York Times
TECHNOLOGY | March 7, 2006
Wal-Mart Enlists Bloggers in P.R. Campaign
By MICHAEL BARBARO
Wal-Mart is looking beyond the mainstream media and working directly with bloggers. But the strategy raises concerns about what bloggers should disclose to readers.

Millions of people are resisting the polished, faceless information sources of mainstream media and tuning into the unfiltered voices from “real” people online. The power that these new social media hold over brands cannot be overestimated. While their absolute numbers might not rival mainstream media yet, they are reaching the elusive thought leaders, first movers, mavens, and connectors that shape brand perception. One of the most recent developments in the world of viral brand communications is the emergence of consumer-generated video through sites like You Tub and Heavy.com. Check out “iPod Customer Service - the Dirty secret.” In it, the voice of an Apple support minion is droning on about its policy of not replacing batteries to the iPod, while the user is defacing apple ad posters with an anti Apple-slogan. Apple has since implemented a new battery replacement policy, but only after this video was featured on Fox New and CBS News, covered in Washington Post and Rolling Stones Magazine, and downloaded one million times on the Web. The creators of the video are affectionate Apple users and the video ends with a credit to Apple’s iMovie software, but they felt betrayed by the company. It goes to show that even a company that seems to be on top of its brand game can slip if it doesn’t react instantaneously to citizen film makers.