Analysis over revision: Kara Swisher's mysterious edits to Marissa Mayer's Yahoo! memo (Updated)

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Updated 12:00 p.m: Kara Swisher reached out to me on Twitter after I published this post (her tweets and my replies here, here, here, here, and here).

She said she only made minor edits to things like commas and contractions, and that she thought people would assume that she didn’t rewrite the substance. She is right; I should have focused on wanting her take on what I describe below as the interesting bits and not on her revision. She also told me I should have asked her. She is right about that, too. I stand by my wanting some analysis of the areas I mention below where Mayer’s memo departs from PR speak, but to the extent that my post appeared to question Ms. Swisher’s integrity, I am sorry._

Kara Swisher, writing at All Things D about new Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer’s recent memo to employees:

I took that to heart in tracking down this do-not-forward (oops) memo —- which I changed around > a bit to thwart those who try to stop me from getting these emails via tricky computer programs […]

“Changed around a bit” to what extent? Does that diminish or eliminate the value, if any, of the memo to readers? Was there any value to readers to begin with? My answers are probably “yes” and “no” respectively.

I’m not the only one thinking these things, some commenters asked the same questions. I think Ms. Swisher should have analyzed the interesting parts of the memo, posting little or none of the actual text. It would have been better use of her knowledge and skills, and would have been more valuable to readers.

The memo itself is nothing special. I can summarize it as “I’m happy to be here, I think Yahoo! is great, I have big plans, but don’t stop doing what you’re doing (unless you hear otherwise) until I learn more about the company’s management culture and direction.”

But Ms. Swisher’s casual mention that she edited it gives me pause. It’s not exactly a sensitive diplomatic report, but mysterious edits by a journalist to a document originally written by the subject of the article make me uneasy.

Ms. Swisher is laudably dogged about disclosing her spouse’s role as an executive at Google. There is a link to her disclosure and ethics policy at the bottom of all her articles. That’s why this offhand mention of memo-revision reads as out of place to me.

Ms. Swisher could have published the unedited version of the memo as an image, likely thwarting any “tricky computer programs” aimed at preventing her future access to such internal emails in the future. Alternatively, she could have simnply written about the bits that weren’t cliche corporate-speak.

For example, Ms. Mayer said in the memo that “While I have some ideas, I need to develop a more informed perspective before making strategy or direction changes.” That suggests the pace of change at Yahoo! under her leadership may initially be slower than observers would like, but will likely accelerate as she soaks up institutional knowledge about how the company functions.

Another interesting bit says “Please don’t stop. If you have questions or concerns about whether to continue or not, please ask. However, with the exception of a few things that might heavily constrain us in the future, the answer is most likely: Yes, keep moving.” What is going on at Yahoo! right now that “might heavily constrain” them in the future if employees don’t pull the plug?

Finally, Ms. Mayer said “We will continue to invest in talent, so we can produce the most compelling and exciting user experiences anywhere.” That tracks with the Flickr team’s response to dearmarissamayer.com, asking people to apply for jobs there.

But does Ms. Mayer’s comment suggest that Yahoo! will be ramping up compensation and benefits, going on a hiring and expansion spree to bet the company on a new army of innovators, or just building out the kind of infrastructure and marketing that will make current employees proud to work there again?

Ms. Swisher is a journalist and I am not a journalist. She is talented and successful, and no doubt has a better editorial sensibility (or at least a more refined one) than I do. But I can’t help thinking that a breakdown of the memo’s telling points would have been more worthy of her efforts and our reading time than posting it in its entirety with some unknown edits.

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