Robert Scoble is leaving Microsoft — and why it matters: I don’t like blogging about the “transactions” of business — the movement of people among jobs, the mergers and acquisitions, etc. That is the “business-to-business” news flow that I find a chore to track and, frankly, while is takes up most of the space in trade magazines, it is the part of b-to-b media that bores me the most. The blogs I follow are less about transactions and more about personal observations — and personal stories: be they about work or about the person’s life and passions.
With that as my preference, it is no surprise that Robert Scoble is among my most favorite “A List” bloggers. He has (without him knowing it at all) done more to influence my understanding of the role of personal media (blogging, vlogging, sharing photos) than anyone else. He demonstrates daily — many times daily — how “business” news is better conveyed by focusing on personal stories and observations — than simply transactions. By example, he has influenced both the way business is now “covered” and the way public relations practitioners will do their jobs from here on out. In some ways, he has helped change the practice of corporate public relations more than anyone since Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays. (I’ll leave that debate to people who’ve heard of those folks).
Robert is leaving Microsoft. If you follow anything about the blogosphere, you already know that. The rumors exploded last night (as tracked by techmeme.com) and the confirmation came from Robert early this morning (eastern time).
All I can say is congratulations to Microsoft to whoever was able to keep Robert there for as long as they did. He did more to humanize (and soften) Microsoft’s perception in the minds of a small, but influential, community of geeks than anything in the company’s history.
And kudos to PodTech.net for an amazingly successful move.
Congratulations, Robert. I look forward to telling you the same in person.
