The noise from discussion groups and forums swiftly created a huge outcry forcing Intel to replace millions of defective chips. A company asleep at the mouse can soon be knee deep in muck. Most online newsletters are starved for original content and will accept submissions of reasonably well-written articles. And since the better ones have loyal readers, being published in them is a good opportunity to get a point across to a willing audience. The sites cover more than 50,000 subjects with over 1 million links to resources on the Net and high quality original content.
Topics range from pregnancy to cars, palm pilots to painting, weight loss to video game strategies.
You can post your point of view in any of the forums and begin a lively discussion on a topic, provided that other participants care about your subject. Self-serving trumpetry will be ignored, as will anything that smacks of advertising or commercial intent. It is wise to monitor the forums relating to your field and to be ready to put out fires if rumors are started. People online respect a company that will come into a forum, offer its point of view on an issue and be willing to answer questions. If you think you can post corporate-speak or dodge tough questions from forum members, don t even bother to show up.