Dell's launch last week of it's IdeaStorm site (www.dellideastorm.com) was exactly the kind of company/consumer online community launch we need more of. And it's exactly the kind of news this blog will put it's brightest spotlight on.
I first read about Dell's new site at TechCrunch. Marshall Kirkpatrick made some critical - I think spot on - comments about Dell's nod to Digg, and about sensitivity over user generated launches that in any way compare to pioneers like Digg. Suffice it to say there's absolutely nothing wrong about a company like Dell, or any company for that matter, inviting people to submit and vote on comments and ideas. It does strike me as unusual, however, that a company known for its early mastery of the web to reach consumers ... has taken this long to leverage the power of that web to listen 'ears wide open' to those same consumers.
I'd like to make a distinction between two user generated camps. Camp #1 example: AT&T, owner of YellowPages.com, recently announced that it was rolling out user reviews on the YellowPages site. Allen Stern's post at CenterNetworks correctly identified Yellow's move as a counter to local review sites like Yelp . This type of user generated content is, for lack of a better term, "outside in". Someone goes to a restaurant, eats and drinks, and posts their experience. The review itself doesn't require permission or participation by the restaurant.
Camp #2, which Dell just joined, is "inside out". A post at DellIdeaStorm exists because the company opened itself to this new system of open dialogue. Dell has been reviewed by Camp #1 types for years, be it magazine, blog, newspaper or your college roomate who purchased a new laptop. Camp #2 requires a company to invite ideas, praise and criticism by way of a transparent Web 2.0 pipeline. Hopefully, for consumer and company, transforming as well.
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