Trevor Cook has started an interesting discussion about value of targeting popular bloggers for links.

This sort of thing is often written up as 'revolutionary' when really it is the worst sort of schmoozing and publicity-seeking dressed up as something else. It has nothing to do with public relations, as most practitioners would understand it.

The comments on Trevor's post continue the discussion. There is even a note from Robert Scoble about 'some' of the influence he can have.

One of the issues I see with attempting to target a few select bloggers is that your plan can backfire. Especially if you make a stupid pitch. Back in November of 2004 I posted about Scoble reacting to a lame pitch during the FireFox launch. (Read Scoble's post from Nov. 11, 2004)

These mishaps can be amplified on the blogosphere. If you make a stupid pitch to a journalist you will lose credibility with the journalist, but chances are they aren't going to dedicate a column to how stupid you are. With a blogger things are a bit different, they just might post something about how stupid you are.

Worse yet, what happens when a blogger does not like the product or information you have advanced them?