For someone like me, who isn’t too familiar with the blogosphere, it’s difficult to distinguish what constitutes a good blog and what doesn’t. One could say Arianna Huffington’s HuffingtonPost has been a huge success. It is gaining readership and subsequently, influence. Gawker, a popular New York gossip blog is another one. But it seems good influential blogs are still few and far in between. Blogs that do make a social or political impact abroad especially fascinate me.  I am specifically talking about the blog that’s trying to bring down Starbucks in the Forbidden City. The blog has gotten so much attention and support in China that the story has landed on the front page of the Marketplace section of today’s Journal. Thousands of fellow bloggers rallied behind a 29-year-old television journalist who is strongly opposing the coffee giant from selling lattes in the middle of a site that carries so much historic significance for the Chinese people and the rest of the world. Personally, I am curious to see how Starbucks will respond. So far, the company is staying mum about its plans. From a public relations perspective, a company of this magnitude and clout has an obligation to be particularly careful and attentive to cultural nuances of this kind. Today, Starbucks has a 10,000-store presence around the world and is spreading quickly. The company makes no secret about wanting to make China its second largest market after the U.S. A good PR move would be to remove the coffee kiosk from the site and to do it as quickly as possible. Simply put, this would be to be socially responsible and sensitive thing to do. Starbucks carries an enormous responsibility to remain sensitive to the particulars of the Chinese culture. Contrary to my personal beliefs,  one analyst mentioned in the article pointed out in the article that a good publicity mission of the company is to monitor blogs of this sort and keep them under control, instead of allowing an outcry like this to happen.  Monitoring the blogs is indeed important for any successful PR initiative, but it is that much more important to make strategic business decisions that would not alienate your future customers by installing your brand in the middle of a historic site.  It is imperative to remain sensible and reasonable in order to earn good graces of the Chinese public. If Starbucks is to gain a huge presence in China, it has to start on a good note. Removing this shop would be a great start. I strongly hope Starbucks does the right thing.