Controversy “A dispute, especially a public one, between sides holding opposing views.”

Advising a blogger to create controversy simply suggests that they involve in debate over issues that would be of interest to readers; that they challenge the opinions of others. Controversy doesn’t have to be nasty, hostile, or immoral. It is lively, and it often makes for good reading. It’s the old “dog bites man” dictum that traditional journalists and bloggers alike use in evaulating the interest level that readers may have in what they write. The best stories and blog posts tell something the reader didn’t know in a way that makes him/her care about it.

I’m trying to imagine an example of controversy that would have been both interesting to Purdue’s readers and beneficial for his company. I can think of at least two reasons why that good kind of controversy is unlikely.

1. iFulfill is a shipping company, not a fashion design studio or a Hollywood movie star. Whereas we might look for Abercrombie & Fitch or Tom Cruise to be outlandish, we generally expect our shipping companies to display the staid manner of an airline pilot. I want to know that my packages will arrive safely and on time, not that they will have an exciting ride.
2. iFulfill is a small, growing company. Microsoft can take heat through its blogs without fear of losing its customer base, but iFulfill needed to maintain existing customers, find new ones, and bring in investment. In the shipping industry, I would expect controversy to work against those goals.

What about transparency? I guess the lesson is that it has limits. At the least there should be some way to verify the complaints, to distinguish legitimate ones from cranks. Ochman seems to be aware of this, at least on her own blog:

I don’t run comments on my blog unless there is a name AND a valid email address. This type of intense negativity and nastiness always comes from people who have reason to hide.

Yet according to BusinessWeek, she gave Purdue different advice:

One angry customer replied: “Well, having actual support from your suppliers would help.” The customer, who left a nameless e-mail address, detailed an 11-day “nightmare” trying to track down shipments at iFulfill. This led to “pissed-off customers and a megasized headache…. I apologize in advance,” the customer added, “for messing up your Weblog, but I don’t know what else to do but post here.”

Purdue asked Ochman if he should publish such scathing comments on the blog. Her steadfast advice: Be transparent. She argued that readers and customers would trust him more once they saw that he didn’t censor his blog. What’s more, blogs with lively comments drew more readers. Purdue not only published the critique, he also mentioned it in his blog and linked to it, so that readers would see it.