Speaking Of Linkedin's Brand: Reid Hoffman's Astonishing Answer To Guy Kawasaki!

On Linkedin Answers at:
http://www.linkedin.com/answers?viewQ...
Guy Kawasaki asked the following question: "What should I write my
next book about? (I'd like to learn what my buddies on LinkedIn think
I should cover in my next book. All ideas considered, but I don't want
to write about the venture capital business. The real test is, "What
book would a vp of marketing or sales of a consumer brand read and
then want to hire me as a keynote speaker?" "Guy's Guide to Venture
Capital" obviously fails this test.)"

That's a good, healthy question and a great use of Linkedin Answers.

But, what's of greater interest, indeed, of greatest interest to me is
an answer to Guy Kawasaki's question provided by Reid Hoffman, a
Co-Founder of LinkedIn: "- Why the standard "control the brand on the
internet" advice is silly "

To me, that's an astonishing thing for the Co-Founder of such a
brand-sensitive company as Linkedin to want to have such a
well-established brand expert as Guy Kawasaki write about and perhaps
even serve as a keynote speaker on.

"- Why the standard "control the brand on the internet" advice is silly "

Though this answer was given as part of an in-depth bulleted list, I
still find this snippet to be ASTONISHING!!! - And I'd certainly like
to know more about the thinking behind it! :-)

Does this answer to Guy Kawasaki mean that Reid Hoffman, Chairman and
President of Products at LinkedIn would vote to re-approve my usage of
the original logo for My Linkedin Power Forum on Linkedin Groups as
originally approved by Linkedin on July 15, 2005 and quietly and
respectfully used by me and almost 6,000 Linkedin members for over 2
years, up to September 27, 2007???

Note: It doesn't hurt my personal branding to use the "Wright Hand"
logo and to call the group "Wright Hand Power Forum" on Linkedin
Groups. Indeed, it helps me, personally. (See:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/My...)
However, it would probably be more serviceable to the 5,900 members
on that group on Linkedin Groups if the original logo were displayed
on their Linkedin profiles just as it currently shows in the
networking groups directory on Linkedin. (For your reference, the
original logo for this group still shows in the networking groups on
Linkedin Groups at:
http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=gr... (I
have no control on the display of that image. Only Linkedin can
control that one...))

So, what about you? Do you think, "control the brand on the
internet" is silly advice?