Attention Wal-Mart Bloggers

Today’s New York Times examines how Wal-Mart is courting bloggers to disseminate the retailer’s message on employee health insurance and other issues confronting the company.

While the article (free registration required) casts light on bloggers who posted Wal-Mart’s message verbatim without disclosing its source, it also clearly reveals how the nation’s biggest companies, including General Electric, Microsoft and Cingular Wireless, are turning to the Internet to get their message to the public.

Wal-Mart’s blogger strategy is not so different from the long and widely-used practice of helping your allies write and send newspaper letters to the editor in support of your position. But not unlike letters to the editor, it is probably best for bloggers to pen their support using their own words.