The most amazing thing about the AOL->TMZ meme was the thoughtful commentary.
- “I have to admit that yes, it’s probably time for a change.” Bill Hartzer
- “Mark my words, this is the act of a frightened set of executives that don’t realize that they are the big dog and they control the shots. They need to focus on how they’re going to market to potential customers instead of over-reacting. These are exciting times online. It’s only going to get more exciting. Rebranding will hurt AOL ultimately.” comment on Bill Hartzer’s blog
- “No one cared that much about Alvey while he was here so I can’t value his insight that highly.” comment on Bill Hartzer’s blog
- “It will be stupid thing to do. How come they are ready to bury their reputation and brand value? Do you think you can become popular by changing the name and starting the game again from square one?” comment on Bill Hartzer’s blog
- “Hey, some people thought the name ‘Wii’ was a joke.” POPwink
- “AOL hired child molesters in their kiddy chat areas”… “TMZ will inherit the same bad reputation that destroyed the AOL brand, and when you consider that TMZ will be using the same Big Brother tracking that AOL used – it will soon be known to all that their surfing on TMZ might be reported to the world, possibly Big Brother and definitely advertisers – people will stop visiting TMZ.” comment on Shawn’s Blog
- “SRSLY? TMZ? As in the celebrity gossip silliness? Isn’t that gonna freak millions of senior citizens out when they go to check their email ( using their 2400 baud modems )?” comment on Ryan Block’s blog
- “I RTFA. Did you RTFA? How is that article a joke? what is a joke is that you got 26 digs by people who did not RTFA.” comment on Digg
- “This is BS. Why would they change their name to a celebrity gossip site? That makes no sense. TMZ stands for ‘thirty mile zone’ which refers to the area around hollywood. It would be absolutely retarded for an ISP to name themselves that.” comment on Digg
- “This post is an example of how to reply to a comment. Please look closely and learn.” comment on Digg
- “i suppose they think if they just simply dive bomb into the ground they’ll come out on the other side a great company people want to use.” comment on Digg
- “The best part of AOL is Weblogs Inc…” comment on Digg
- “Good idea – stop pretending you are mainstream and start working solely on media-whoring.” comment on Digg
- “‘The Moron Zone’ doesn’t have nearly as nice of a ring to it as ‘Army of Lamers,’ I’m afraid.” comment on Digg
- “This could really spell a unique opportunity. AOL has been sliding for a while now, and they’re so far gone in the real search race that maybe the time is now for them to look in a new direction.” The Online Marketing Guy
- “No, what Alvey didn’t mention — but would make more sense — would be to free TMZ from its warring parents, and all their conflicts. With 9.4 million unique visitors a month, TMZ could easily stand on its own. Forget an AOL spinoff. Bring on the TMZ spinoff.” Valleywag
- “If you notice, Alexa and Compete graphs say that traffic for AOL has been decreasing steadily, and traffic for TMZ has been increasing. Personally, i think that this is a good decision, because AOL is renowned for the word dial up, and Internet newbies.” Kedoa Blog
- “Why the hell would AOL do something so stupid? It would require so much work on their part, and it would be absolutely retarded for them to change an established name brand.” Tumbblogr
- “Why do I get the feeling I have been had?” comment on Netscape
- “How long do you think TMZ will last as a name?” Product-Reviews.net
Fantastic.
Brian Alvey 