BlueSwarm Is a Hidden Branding Bug For The Masses
If Nixon was president today, Watergate probably wouldn’t happen. You don’t need to send goons to break into a hotel when you can probably find campaign strategy details and dirt in some bitter senate page’s blog or Facebook profile.
Sites like BlueSwarm.com make it even easier to find out what people are saying about you, your brand and your competition. And sometimes it’s such a bitter pill to swallow, your gag reflex will be put to the test.
The concept behind BlueSwarm isn’t new, but what it does is take the best of Google, Technorati and other online engines to create an aggregate profile of what people are saying about you, comprising everything from social media nuggets to blog entries and Twitter posts. The cool part is the dashboard, which allows you to assess the overall tone of what everyone is saying, the total mentions and when they occur, as well as a chart plotting what type of media are tracking you.
In other words, if you were paranoid before, you’ll be downright petrified now. In tracking my little freelance business, which includes reviewing movies for the local online paper, I ran across several basement bloggers making fun of everything from my lexicon to my personal appearance. Good times. Luckily, you can choose to save or block specific feeds if you, your company or brand can’t weather the self-esteem stomach punch.
Bluestorm’s one-stop-shop concept and unexpected features are brilliant. However, there are some design and functionally flaws that need to be tended to, front fuzzy fonts and error messages popping up at the wrong time to random white boxes blocking instructional copy.
Of course, as soon as this blog goes live, odds are BlueSwarm will instantly know.
