Dell Can't Beat Bloggers, But Now Joins Them

I asked Michael Dell

His answer: Nope. He said he had a way of getting his message out "using a variety of different methods."

Well, the company's founder himself hasn't yet penned a blog entry but his employees now are. The Round Rock, Texas-based computer maker this week launched one2one, billed as "Dell's Weblog."

Lionel Menchaca, Dell's Digital Media Manager, explains:

It's not the only big change Dell is undertaking in its effort to bounce back from months of bad public relations and disappointing financials. It's begun taking a number of actions and, later this week, is set to take some significant pricing actions.

Jeff Jarvis, who writes the influential blog Buzzmachine.com, and was among Dell's most vocal critics - nay, he was the most vocal critic - of the company in the blogosphere last year, has weighed in. He appears unmoved and unimpressed:

One of the first laws of blogging is that a blog shouldn't be a public relations effort, it should be a conversation. This is one conversation that's not starting out with a happy tone. But that doesn't mean Dell won't keep trying.

In another entry at one2one, Manish Mehta, Dell's director of Global e-Commerce, writes this invitation: "We are focused on making things easy again. Love to hear what you think."

Like it or not, Dell is about it hear it.