Some Wise Words About Marketing and PR on the Internet by Gabe Newell

"Don't ever, ever try to lie to the internet because they will catch you. They will deconstruct your spin. They will remember everything you ever say for eternity."

Gabe Newell, the president of Valve (I've covered them before), telling it like it is. He and his company are among of the biggest names in video gaming, a fan favorite, and a huge thorn in the side of the classical businessmen and bean counters working at Electronic Arts.

What he says might not necessarily hold true for all businesses, but if you plan on marketing to the teen-to-early middle age group with any level of internet savvy on a topic they actually care about, take these words to heart - it might not be perfect, but the internet spite machine does not tolerate spin tactics and lying very much. If you want to know why you should respect the opinion of a fat dude who runs a video game company, think about it this way: he has taken on one of the most difficult to please, whiny, and unreasonable demographics to have ever existed, and made them love him. That's pretty darn impressive.

On a broader scope, we're rapidly approaching the era where owning up to mistakes and taking the time to fix them might actually be the more economically sound path for big businesses, and I'm both really excited and terrified to see what that's going to be like.