But then, people across the internet have sure been talking about it over the past week and notification for the new search engine has reached a hell of a lot of internet users…

@PRJack – Eventually the Cuil folks noted their mis-steps on their blog. Too late, arguably, but at least it showed some recognition of the challenges…

@Erika – I think there’s a whole other post in your comment!

@Giacomo – I did note that “the buck stops” with the Company; not sure where the disagreement lies. Anyway, enough lessons for all to learn!

@Shel – thanks, as always!!

When the client is full of bluster and bullshit, it’s just hot air around the conference room table. When the PR practitioner mindlessly repeats the same unsubstantiated claims, it is their credibility and reputation that gets blown away, leaving them with very little to carry forward in their careers.

Having been involved in many sites going through both alpha and beta testing, being an active professional in the SEO realm and just a downright web junkie who works with PR folks daily, there was a Romper Room’s worth of balls dropped here.

If you’re heading-up the PR thrust for a tech startup/launch, I’m thinkin’ (just thinkin’) your firm might want to be savvy in that space. From classic CYAs/disclaimers like “ALPHA/BETA” tags to focus groups who can tell you real-time what the perceived problems are with your application, the Agency missed the boat. Honestly, they didn’t even bring their client to the dock. Cuil was about ready for some water wings and a kiddie pool, with plenty of potential to compete with the big boys one day.

Now the hype has gone south, and if you really believe that any PR is good PR, you may believe Cuil is still afloat in the search engine Matrix.

Personally? I think it’s the signs of an Agency that had no business operating in the space and at the magnitude they went into. While the client pulls the trigger, it’s the Agency’s bee-hind on the line.

What chance do they have now of garnering the next tech startup/launch account? Slim to none. Damn shame, really. With all of the potential collaboration that could have occurred with a wide range of tech space professionals and marketing/PR types, there’s no reason for this launch to be floating belly-up in a fishbowl like a 3 day-old goldfish from Petsmart.

FWIW!

Reuters and AP pitching success demonstrate how superficial can be mainstream information in a world that is definitely going too fast for traditional media.

In conclusion, from my point of view, everyone in this story comes out with a big failure, losing a small piece of credibility. And credibility is the real asset of the future.

Regards

Giacomo Cambiaso

That the product itself wasn’t fully baked and that claims were so horribly overstated is bad enough. But for the company to not even say anything – ANYTHING! – was even worse. When one went to the Cuil site yesterday and took a look at their Press/News page the only thing up was the original news release from Monday. No position statement. No explanation, or even something to say an explanation was forthcoming. Nothing.

And what of those places where people were coming out with some pretty serious allegations against Cuil? Check out the first comment in response to this blog. Is there anything there from Cuil to counter the allegations? Nope.

Cuil’s silence is as damning as any of their other problems. Maybe even worse because they’re either saying that everyone else’s point of view is unimportant or that they have no answers. Ouch, that’s gotta hurt.

1) http://twitter.com/ikepigott/statuses/871476584
2) http://twitter.com/ikepigott/statuses/871490181

Sadly, this could have been averted with the use of one word: EVENTUALLY

As in, “our more complete indexing and contextual algorithms will EVENTUALLY return more relevant search results.”

Eventually. They didn’t temper expectations, and the bloggerati didn’t temper their frustrations.