Breaking a story and sparking a groundswell doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get the credit.
A couple weeks ago we broke the story about an interesting fuel efficiency technology known as FastSkinz. We noted that it wasn’t often that we actually broke stories, as that’s not the focus of Max Gladwell, but this was one we’d followed for some time. This story became our first direct encounter with sparking what could be considered a small groundswell. Unfortunately, it didn’t actually work according to the principles of the groundswell.
The first blog to pick up the story was Treehugger. We went with the more laymen golf ball analogy, while Treehugger took it a step further with the biomimicry angle. In other words, the FastSkinz material is similar to that of a shark. The rough surface basically creates an aerodynamic pocket that lets the car and shark more efficiently cut through the air and water respectively. Or so goes the theory. Treehugger pinged us at the bottom of the article as the original source of the story. This is where the groundswell began. And for us that’s where it ended.
The tech blog DVICE was the next to pick it up. Instead of looking to the original source of the story, though, they credited Treehugger. Next, Gizmodo, Fast Company, FeedMoo, and AutoMotto picked it up. Each credited DVICE with an appropriate link. (Golf Blogger also picked it up but not for the same reasons as the green-tech blogs.) The collective coverage generated some healthy debate around whether FastSkinz’s claims can possibly be accurate or legitimate, since there has been no independent testing. A number of self-described scientists offered their views in the comments, both supporting and debunking. But none of them credited Max Gladwell as the original source.
So while you can spark a groundswell, it’s not guaranteed that you’ll benefit from it in terms of traffic, links, or brand exposure.
Nevertheless, we’re in touch with the company and will hopefully conduct one of the first independent FastSkinz tests in the near future. We’ll see if the groundswell treats us any differently this time around.
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