A minor blogosphere tussle has turned ugly. That’s nothing new; what’s surprising about this particular fight is that one of the participants, Shel Israel, is a well known author and consultant who makes a living advising others on how to avoid the very trap that he fell into himself. In the process Israel has done considerable damage to his personal brand.
Israel is a long time PR and strategy consultant, and co-authored the book Naked Conversations with blogger Robert Scoble. The book advises companies to embrace new media conversations with customers and potential customers.
Israel recently teamed with Scoble on a new project - video interviews for FastCompanyTV. On March 19 Israel uploaded the first four of twenty interviews he’s recorded.
Frankly, the interviews are pretty bad. One in particular, with Forrester senior analyst Jeremiah Owyang, is particularly poor. While Owyang goes on a long monologue, an uninterested Israel drinks coffee and holds a microphone that at times covers large parts of Owyang’s face.
Up to this point, there’s nothing much of note. Israel admits that video interviews are new to him, and he values the opportunity to learn and improve. He should have taken the comments and feedback, even the highly critical feedback, from the few people who watched the video as constructive criticism and moved on. Israel certainly would have advised his clients to do exactly that.
But he didn’t take his own advice, and that’s where the real trouble began.
Enter Loren Feldman, a video blogger and general trouble maker. Feldman seems to have a nose for thin skinned people and targets them on his video blog, 1938Media. When he saw Israel’s first show, he went on the attack, and shortly thereafter recorded a steady stream of faux interviews with a hand puppet as Israel. Feldman has now recorded ten or more videos using the puppets.
Israel became enraged at the puppet videos and went on the attack, writing multiple personal attacks against Feldman. He called Feldman a racist and a pornographer, and talked about hiring lawyers and private investigators, to go after Feldman. He also made other vaguely threatening remarks.
The blogosphere reacted, predictably taking sides with Feldman.
Israel responded, but it was too late. The damage was done.
I spoke with Israel today on the phone, and his comments reflected what he wrote in the blog post. He stressed that the video interviews would get better over time, and regretted his reaction to Feldman.
What should Israel have done? Absolutely nothing at best, or simply acknowledged the attention from Feldman as childish but somewhat funny. I know from experience that this is the best way to handle Feldman - over a year ago he also did a hit job on me, which I ignored. He moved on to other targets.
Feldman and Israel are both friends of mine today. I hosted the launch party for Naked Conversations at my house in February 2006, and Feldman is staying at my house this week (which is why I heard about this in the first place). I doubt that the two will ever be on friendly terms with each other, but I hope that something positive can come from this for Israel. He should start by reading his own book.
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Handbags at dawn, he should of admited the videos were funny. You will always come off worse if it appears you have no sense of humour.
The videos are funny, definitely. I asked Loren to learn italian and create a Luca-like puppet who speaks italenglish. Hey, it’s called satire, never heard about it? Popular people are the ideal target, and in the feet of Shel, I would be more than happy about that.
at least loren practices naked conversations in letting us know what your toilet looks like
http://www.flickr.com/photos/l.....394733186/
love it!
That front lawn in the puppet video looks an awful lot like the front lawn in a quiet street in Atherton…more specifically, your front lawn Mike.
This post should be on valleywag because i could careless
*care less
I think the puppet videos are hilarious.
Keep them coming Loren!
It certainly is motivating us to do better videos and bring our viewers more places that they’d never be able to get into on their own. For instance, in the next week you’ll get tours of Rackspace’s headquarters, get into IBM’s research labs where I move an Atom around, get into Austin City Lights where we meet the audio engineer that’s worked there for 30 years, among other things. Soon we’ll be hanging out with Ansel Adams’ family in Yosemite, too.
I’m going for making videos that are the opposite of what Loren’s doing. Instead of entertaining people by doing puppetry we are bringing smart people doing smart things onto your screen. If that’s boring, so be it. I’d rather do that kind of stuff than do what Loren’s doing.
This week I’m off to Israel to meet a ton of startups and other stuff, after that, more smart people ahead on fastcompany.tv.
Hope to meet the puppets someday and thank them for making me laugh.
Ha, Ha! Blog-drama, better than Oprah Winfrey and Heraldo! Come on Michael, give us more of this Flame War!
We love this brawling. Let’a bring these guys to TechCrunch and have them Duke it Out live and you can moderate the Match..:)
The only thing worse than being talked about….. (Oscar Wilde)
Love the idea of analog avatars though, all this digital nonsense has gone too far - next step, Spitting Image
This whole sordid puppet affair just got Slashdotted a few hours ago.
http://yro.slashdot.org/articl.....07/0310240
I get the feeling that Shel is gonna be none too happy about that.
the most funny part of the story - that Michael forgets to say - is that Loren Feldman actually managed to purchase shelisrael.com domain name !!! and he posts there all his videos.
kudos feldman, you’re a prank master !
nozobinjob did you know that lorenfeldman.tv is still available too? Did you know that michaelarrington.net is still available too? Go pay your $9 to Godaddy and you, too, can have some pranky fun!
This is hilarious, albeit not for everyone involved. And anything that keeps those egos in check is a good thing.
Israel? Feldman? Only David the King is missing.
hehe very good
Proper response? Have some fun with it
when we got feldman-rolled we swung right back: http://www.bathcasting.com 
Loren isn’t just being mean, his satire has a point;
It’s easy to do bad video. Doing video well takes talent and/or training.
It’s kind of appalling that an outfit like FastCompany could release such dreck under it’s brand when the problem could have been solved by hiring a few junior college grads who majored in video production.
It’s cool to see satire. It’s important to take it as some kind of compliment and it brings a lot of free advertising.
I don’t see why so many people take it personally. Especially if you are still learning to be an interviewer, you’ll get some steam, shrug it off and move on
Israel think’s its “cool” to be drinking coffee while interviewing someone and making that a part of the interview…That to me is an utter sign of disrespect! If I was the interviewee, I wouldn’t be pleased….
c’mon! let’s watch a really good web tv with “no boring” interviews http://www.intruders.tv
Ha ha,It’s funny.Thanks!
I knew there was a reason I don’t watch the FC videos… because I would rather watch talented journalists who know how to read and write with professional english grammar.
this interview would have been acceptable as a podcast. watching it as a video is painful - that poor dude being forced to fellate the mic.
hehe, it’s mostly the “experts” doing the stuff the worst way..
From Crunch Base:
Shel describes himself as:
“I have been involved with communications as a writer, consultant and video blogger for more than 30 years.”
From the post:
“Israel admits that video interviews are new to him, and he values the opportunity to learn and improve.”
So, WHY exactly did FastCompany/Scoble hire/partner with him?
‘I wrote a book with the word “Conversations” in it - that qualifies me!’
Let the lampooning continue!
I’d really want to hire the “experts” or “professionals” involved in all this, I feel like someone passed a mean note in English class and now someone might respond by writing something negative in someone else’s yearbook.
It was entertaining to watch Shel run around every blog written about him responding to comments instead of taking in the valid criticism, the videos are bad.
Lol, the israelis need to chill, i love these puppet videos!
-Check out my site for ways to make money online http://mikesmoneyclub.blogspot.com/
There is no excuse to go after people the way he went after Isreal.
There is something deeply wrong with bullies - however they try to rationalize hurting people
People who gratuitously hurt others are vicious, there is no other way to put it
Self hatred and low self esteem makes others do it
You must also have a hard edge
How can that person be your friend if they attack you - they will probably do it again when you are vulnerable
Also, if Israel is your friend - how can you write such a patronizing piece
HOW???????????
How can humans NOT have any empathy for others - how do they thrive on causing pain??????????????????????????????????
Arrington: “Feldman and Israel are both friends of mine today”
And naturally Loren is destroying Shel from my own bedroom!
Wow, to my surprise, I surf through my feedreader to see my large picture on Techcrunch.
I’m thinking about investing in eyelid stickers, so I’m never, ever caught off guard.
http://gizmodo.com/356627/eyel.....sleep-at-w
ork-if-your-coworkers-are-blind-idiots
And for the record, Shel does a great job focusing on content, so if you’re bothered by the visuals, just listen in.
And yeah, sorry for rambling on my monologue, I certainly can get carried away at times.
Seriously, who cares about this besides the two people involved? I would much rather read a Techcrunch post circa 2005 - “Hey, look at this cool new startup, and here’s what they do”.
And if I was going to turn my blog into valleywag, I certainly wouldn’t throw my “friends” under the bus in public just to make a point about what an astute master of online marketing I am.
Umm, is this TechCrunch or PerezHilton?
alan p #9 re: “next step, spitting image” my friend Hillary Talbot started some work on that with this great Dave Winer sculpture — http://flickr.com/search/?q=wi.....6683%40N01 — which was to become the mask for a giant puppet for one web day, not sure what happened. no traction on 1web, i think.
An interesting question here is how the reactions on Twitter vs. the general blogosphere differed. Perhaps its just because I subscribe to Shel’s updates, but it seems like Twitter was more pro-Israel.
It might be that Twitter, which provides information from friends, is not a valid early warning signal for individuals (rather than companies).
“elitest, pompess… thats america” - this guy can lick my nuts.
- Who the hell does a video that says other videos sucks; in their bed?!
- don’t feed the trolls mike
Just read some of Shel’s comments you linked to — Racist? Huh? Porn? Huh?
I sure home he was drunk when he was Tweeting like that… It’d be his only excuse (a poor one, but at least something *some* of us could forgive).
BTW — The only “racist” thing he could be referring to would be an anti-Semitic thing, right? Like that would be the only reason Feldman would be trashing Shel’s interviews. But isn’t “Feldman” just as Jewish sounding as “Shel Israel”?
Feldman is a troll.
“Feldman and Israel are both friends of mine today”
It’s one thing to ignore the video the Feldman made towards you (Mike), but to then become friends? How can you be friends with someone that totally berates you.
And this was a major dustup? Why? Because you made it so?
I read his response on his blog and Shel has been more than gracious. It isn’t too little too late.
Only a journey through gender and time will alleviate thisu pain
Feldman’s approach is interesting. It’s rather intriguing the interest he develops with his ‘brand’. I guess it’s the perfect nugget to continue the gossip machine.
Why people take joy in having fun at the expense of others is beyond me. Shel is a very helpful person. He’s not arrogant or presuming about his success. He’s earned it & it’s unfortunate that someone is having fun at his expense. (and yes I have a sense of humor too but it saddens me to see someone so humble being poked fun at).
Jeremiah has great things to say - so I think if he’s on a roll - let him share his knowledge. Have you read the comments on the original post of the video? Jeremiah has a huge following & we LIKE every opportunity we get to hear him speak. Shel knows that & was letting Jeremiah do what he does best. I think it would’ve been very distracting if there had been many questions interrupting the train of thought.
Hmmm…been reading with increasing interest that Video Blogging will be the next wave. That gave me pause, and a scratch of the head. Now I am all for reading an excellently worded blog. One that is funny and informative. But, after a quick look in the mirror, I asked myself, “Would anyone want to see my ugly mug online?”
more after the jump:
http://yeu2.com
Feldman is hilarious! Thanks for sharing:)
I think the TechCrunch-iest part of this story is that you have Fast Company and Scoble and a purported media expert who are creating a show that has just terrible execution. Yes, terrible.
As any mail-order MBA 2.0 will tell you, execution is everything. Why was this particular interview even okayed for publication? This brouhaha is a bit of an “Emperor Wears No Clothes” moment…it seems the critics and the consultants might not be the best people to the kinds of content that they talk about in their day jobs.
In other words: I don’t know how to interview either, can I have a job?
“Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach. Those who can’t teach, teach gym. Those who can’t teach gym, blog.”
I would have embraced the puppets and used them for an interview. We just never see enough puppets these days, you know? Plus, it would have simultaneously given Feldman the ego boost he wanted and let him know that he can’t actually hurt Shel.
But that’s my take. I’m not quite as “Professional” as some people like to be.
Well now, this gives me hope. When the whales at the top of the food chain are making mistakes like this. There’s hope for the little guys who are trying to be 10 times better in this space. You guys keep on screwing up, we’ll keep on watching ;). Meanwhile, still amazed the Comcast follows Michael Arrington’s tweets and dispatches repair crews to fix unreported trouble. epic, Epic, EPIC!!!!
Loren Feldman is one of the more funnier people doing video on the web today. I think his stuff is great. Feldman is also vicious. Some might say too vicious. Rightly or wrongly though viciousness sells. Howard Stern climbed to the top of the radio charts not because he was a nice guy who asked boring questions. People like cut throat humor and Feldman delivers this. His humor is very New York.
Loren can be brutal. I remember a video piece he once did on Nick Douglas where I think he described Douglas’ beard as public hair on a face or something like that. Very personal attacks. A lot of his video stuff that used to be online at Podtech seems to be offline now including that piece. I think Loren pisses a lot of people off. But sometimes that’s what good comedy does. Lenny Bruce pissed off a lot of people too.
Shel could not be more opposite. Shel is a very very nice human being. He’s thoughtful and considerate and nice.
It’s like oil and water between the two of them. Mix them together and turn up the heat and BLAM!
The problem is that the more that Shel protests, the bigger the target on his back gets for Feldman. It’s a pickle of a situation to be in I’d say.
@matt (#38) - because Mike knows how to take a joke and not hold grudges. Recent post in point, he talks about getting ugly, drawing blood, making fights big and bad, then putting it all aside and moving forward without grudges. It’s certainly worthy advice for everyone and Mike just practiced what he preaches. Life is too short to hold grudges.
@36 the racist thing is probably a reference to a previous controversy involving Loren. You can probably imagine that Lorens style applied to words about sensitive issues of race make for an explosive mixture, and this has happened a few times in the past. Whatever his motive, and whether you agree with specific things he says or not, we probably need people like Loren to talk about issues which others pussyfoot around. I guess the porn reference is to do with another controversy that I missed.
I dont really blog but I have attacked people on mesageboards & comments a few times. At the time it always feels like there is some higher point worth shouting about, that transcends individuals and makes any pain they may endure justifiable. I have mixed feelings in hindsight, maybe there was no point and it was just bad karma and pointlessly cruel. I found it hard to resist criticising Scoble on a few occasions where he didnt really seem to want naked conversations after all, or at least not ugly ones. So Id certainly agree with an important part of this story, that people who can harness social media effectively, and consider themselves knowledgable on it, should really have a watertight strategy for dealing with the ugly side of humans on the web.
Still on a certain level the whole web 2.0 thing is a bit silly really, and beyond the hype its unclear what is really there that will stand the test of time. So yes, more puppets please