It took me a while to figure out what feels so wrong about the way 37signals is looking for firms to redesign their blog, but here it is:
To be considered, designers must tweet an advertisement for 37signals.
One thing that’s universally reviled on Twitter is when companies turn your friends into marketing robots. It’s why we hated automated Alltop tweets a year ago, it’s why we hate automated Foursquare tweets now.
Word of mouth is sacred. When our friends tell us to check something out, whether it’s a new restaurant or a funny website, we want to know that they are doing it because they love us and not because they’re being compensated.
What smells wrong about 37signals’ approach here is this: while they say it’s about finding a great design firm, the subtext screams marketing exercise.