Sun 4 Feb 2007
Redfin CEO regrets “Hall of Shame”
Posted by Marlow Harris under Real Estate
Glenn Kelman, chief executive of the online discount real estate brokerage Redfin Corp., said he went too far with a blog entry last June. He posted the name and photo of a real estate agent who he claimed refused to work with Redfin under the heading “The Hall of Shame.”
In an interview in the Puget Sound Business Journal 1/26/07, Kelman admits it unduly antagonized the real estate industry. In retrospect, “I wish I’d been more diplomatic.”
To Kelman’s credit, he hasn’t deleted the post. Couldn’t anyway, really, as it will exist in perpetuity online.
As the article notes:
But many CEOs are finding that the desire for transparency and accessibility isn’t always compatible with an executive role. Indeed, just as employees have learned the cost of posting too-personal details on MySpace, CEOs are discovering that chatting in cyberspace can backfire — sometimes disastrously.
What can one do if they write something they later regret? Is there anyway to expunge the post?
Some companies, such as Reputation Defender, have sprung up claiming to be able to erase your online presence. They claim to scour the Internet to dig up every possible piece of information about you, allowing you to select the unwanted info. Then “Our trained and expert online reputation advocates use an array of proprietary techniques developed in-house to correct and/or completely remove the selected unwanted content from the web.” The charge for this service? $29.99 per nasty item. “When we find an item of online content you don’t like, we’ll carry out our proprietary DESTROY process for you on that item. This is where the rubber hits the road. It is an arduous and time-consuming process for our team of specialists, but we work hard so you can sleep better at night.”
Of course, by using a service like this, it could backfire and you could end up looking even more foolish.
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Bloggers warned they can be sued for libel.
Courts are asked to crack down on bloggers and websites.
February 4th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Blogging is about free publicity. Sometimes going too far is good, sometimes it backfires. Either way it worked for Glenn. Although I must say Redfin sure has enough dinero to do it without the controversy. But, c’est la vie, he worked it and it was worth it. On to the liability of the whole matter. As bloggers, just like journalists we are protected by freedom of speech up to the point we do not defame people. If Glenn can back up his claims, then he is not liable. Anyone can file a lawsuit, but few will win if the claims are proven true.
February 5th, 2007 at 12:23 am
Agreed. However it doesn’t seem prudent to publicly humiliate real estate agents who he or one of his employees may one day have to do business with. Kelman has gone on record complaining about hostility from competing agents, but the complaints seem a bit disingenuous after this stunt. Our business depends upon cooperation and the anticipation of everyone acting in good faith. Even if one is not a Realtor, I think most people in the residential real estate business have the expectation that the other side will at least attempt to play fair. He may now publicly regret his impropriety, but it would be naïve for agents to think he’s backed down or has mellowed. He doesn’t regret making that post, he just regrets the negative feedback it generated.
February 6th, 2007 at 7:01 am
Interesting links, Marlow. I’ve been pondering the libel issues lately and we are only going to see more of this ‘blogging regret’ as the year goes on. Even if someone does figure out how to expunge the record on the net, it likely still lingers in readers minds. You cannot change other people’s minds so easily.
And the fact that he doesn’t regret the post, but the publicity is telling.