Over a year ago I had a friend give me this, ‘What if’ blog situation. It’s not a real scenario, but it could happen:
A small, local grocer in a town creates a blog. It’s a great opportunity since the store serves as the hub of activity for the town. It’s been a family-run business for generations. Everybody loves the grocer. The blog is a great mix of commentary on the history of the store and the community. The grocer gives recipe ideas to go along with seasonal items in inventory among many other great posts. The blog allows the grocer to connect with people across the U.S. Folks that grew up in the town, but moved on to the ‘big city’ can now reconnect to their heritage. Everything is going great.
However, the attention the grocer’s blog receives among the fans also draws another group of visitors.
One of the old-style grocery items that still exists in the store is the butcher shop. A national animal rights organization discovers the blog and makes the grocer a target of negative comments, negative blog posts and soon a regional campaign protesting the store.
How can this lone grocer take on a national advocacy group with thousands of networked members? What do you do?
Starting this semester you might not have the answer now, but as you learn more this year, keep thinking about it. At the end of the year we’ll revisit this topic.
