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27,000 People Singing "We Are The Champions"
A little low on posting right now, but there is a reason...
Yesterday, a day I will always remember, Malmö FF won the gold. The football team (real football, not the American kind) of my home town won the Swedish Allsvenskan, the premier league.
It was all very dramatic, one goal could have changed everything. But they made it and a skye blue chaos broke loose, on the arena and all over the city. I haven't missed a match this season and I was certainly there with my Sony Ericsson P910i.
Completely off topic I publish the video I recorded (WMV) with the phone when fans invaded the court, and the loudspeakers started playing "We are the Champions". 27,000 people - me included - created an atmosphere we will never forget.
In a few days I'll start posting about blogs and stuff again... ;-) Gotta run now, the players will be celebrated downtown in an hour and a half.
6 Time Management Tips For Bloggers
I really don't like the About.com site - too many intrusive ads - but Sheila Ann Manuel Coggins' 6 Time Management Tips for Bloggers is good advice. Everyone asking themselves "what am I supposed to do in my blog" should read this: When you try to sound clever, intelligent or funny in your blog and it's not really your style, then blogging will feel like a chore. So, forget what you think blogging should be like and just do things your way.
It's all about authenticity.
Morgan Stanley: Next-Generation Content, Blogs Positively Affect Internet Leaders
Morgan Stanley's Update from the Digital World (pdf) of October 2004 discusses several interesting, possible trends. They "...begin with blogs, move into RSS, and a discussion of syndicated online content, and follow with thoughts on potential business models and a general outlook".
Some quotes:
We see the potential for next-generation content to positively affect Internet leaders including Yahoo!, Google and eBay as they leverage their distribution channels and/or content and services. In general, we believe ongoing improvements in the following areas will be important to watch: 1) search; 2) personalization; 3) user-generated content (including blogs, reviews, images and audio); 4)
music; 5) short- and long-form video; and 6) accessibility (including mobile devices and the PC desktop). Net, we are moving nicely down a path toward every Internet user, in effect, having a personal media server? and if Yahoo! has its way, My Yahoo! will be the front-end to the server.
...if there are hundreds or thousands of thought leaders and motivated, interested parties on the Internet with the ability to publish news or insights into any number of local or global issues, then it is safe to say that these blogs often become both the first source of news, a vital proving ground for authors and a source of potential community for other interested parties.
While Google's search engine and advertising tools set the pace for new ways of searching information, we believe that Yahoo! may be setting the pace for new ways of serving information.
I guess that many readers of this blog, as I, find the blog discussion a bit too basic - but it is on the other hand incorporated into a discussion about the Net in general, which makes it worth to read.
(Link via eWerx)
The Internet's Third Step: Humanisation
Richard Giles' presentation on corporate blogging argues that blogs are a part of the Net's third major development. First we had research, then commercialisation became focus and for the last couple of years the movement has been towards humanisation, with Napster as the first important example.
From this perspective he gives us some reasons for companies to blog - not unsimiliar to my suggestions, but differently formulated. I especially like this one. Simple, obvious but fundamental.
1. Because the internet is humanising, and blogs help humanise a company.
To humanise your company, and if you don't, someone else will, whether it's your competitor, or customers. If you don't show the human face of the company, people are less likely to trust you, especially when other humanised web presences are talking about your product, industry or company. Blogs show the personality and authenticity of a company. This makes companies and employees more approachable.
(From Corporate Engagement)
Web Feeds, Blogs & Search Engines
SearchEngineWatch: Why should search engine marketers care about blogs? "Because they have a different relationship between the user and the content," said Watlington. "If you think about pages sitting in an index, you are waiting for the search engine to come and query your data. On the other hand, because of the feed's relationship, the user is right there getting the data almost as fast as you create it."
In Search Of Blog Results
Hans Henrik of public(MIND) is writing a master thesis on blogging, and in trying to picture what blogging is all about he is asking what all of us is asking: What do the blogs deliver in relation to corporate strategies (especially R&D, HR etc)?
Let Hans Henrik know if you have any detailed results to share - and copy the e-mail to me while you are at it :-)
My personal experiences of corporate blogs are focused on marketing and PR results. But there they do deliver. I made something like 1,500 Euros in November 2000 as the first direct result of the blog I had back then, a course I sold with my writings as the only statement of my qualifications. But that's another story - now let us help Hans Henrik write a thesis we all will enjoy reading.
Two Blogger Conferences Coming Up
There are (at least) two gatherings for bloggers planned in Europe. In Sweden Bloggforum will be held November 15. It's a debate rather than a conference and the focus is only on politics, library and media - not businesses. Too bad, but natural I guess considering that the discussion on blogs in Sweden is lagging behind many other countries.
The NewComm Forum in Paris could be more promising. But not yet.
The purpose of the conference is to help the attendees start blogging immediately, and help them convince their organizations/clients that they should blog as well. Why, I ask? Why should everyone blog? Does every organization need a internal magazine? Does every organization need a newsletter?
The confirmed instructors are are mostly PR people (like me). They are also blogger evangelists (like me), too some extent. Maybe this is the problem.
Anyway, this is just my view. It does not change the fact that it is a promising inititative that could turn out well.
Turn The Blog Into A Part Of Your Web
Small Business Trends publishes weekly "PowerBlog Reviews" and they are mostly interesting to read. This week they highlight the Proposal Writing Blog. To be honest I think that the blog and site needs a re-design, but the review focus on the blog as an integral part of the blogger's overall web presence, but with a personality of its own. And that is important.
I have said it myself so many times, one example, that I want to point to someone else saying it. A corporate blog should be a part of the organization's web communication, not a complement. Individual employees or CXX's will find benefits in the traditional microsite blog, but for the organization as a whole that alternative is close to meaningless.
First Swedish CEO Blog
"This morning I heard the Swedish Radio's US correspondent refer to blogs", one of my clients said when we met a couple of weeks ago. "Can you tell me more about it?", he continued. Said and done. He did not need any convincing and I just confirmed what he believed to be the potential of blogging - and today he is the first Swedish CEO blogger.
Well, there may be one or two more, but in that case they are not blogging as CEO's.
If you understand Swedish, take a look at Jan Kilström's NH Blogg. "NH" stands for "Nils Hansson" which is the name of the haulage company he is leading. With some 300 employees they have trucks going all over Europe. Earlier this year they were awarded "Transportation Company of The Year" and I wouldn't be surprised if this generates some interest - maybe surprise - within the Swedish transportation business.
Time? Fear? How About Lack Of Knowledge?
The last couple of days we have seen two different explanations to why a vast majority of (people within) organizations don't blog. Scoble believes it is a question of corporate fear and Debbie Weil claim that time is the main problem.
As to the "time" alternative, if correct, the underlying problem is that blogs haven't proved to be worth the hours it takes. There is always time for something that makes money, more or less direct. Blogs just have to be more promising or potentially profitable than something else the organization is doing, and - voila - there will be time. Basic business administration...
Fear? Why not? All of us are afraid or hesitates when we are going to do something we don't fully understand or have seen done before.
I would suggest that the early adopters are running too fast. We don't have enough facts to support an idea of blogging as a "mass movement" in organizations. I believe time will show the benefits of blogging, and that those starting now will have a huge advantage. But that is a belief - not a statement of known facts.
One major problem is that the companies blogging today aren't especially representative. Think about it, Microsoft and Sun. Why should a CEO or Customer Service Manager in the automotive business, the logistics business, the food and beverage business or the financial business care? They look at these the corporate blogosphere's most profiled companies and say "well, they are talking to techies, our customers wont get it".
My conclusion is that we are talking about a genuine and natural lack of knowledge. When more representative companies like Ford, Butler Sheet Metal or Northfield Construction Company are blogging, time will be available and fear will disappear.
Corporate Blogging In Japanese
I know there is a Japanese readership on this blog, so for you I want to point to an article about corporate blogging at nikkeibp.jp, which I have been interviewed for.
Obviously I have no idea what the article claim I have said, but Ko of Adinnovator who interviewed me was both interested and knowledgeable himself, so it all should have gone well.
5 000 Corporate Bloggers In The World Today
The corporate blogosphere is made up of 5 000 people according to David Sifry of Technorati.
A very large part is blogging for Microsoft and Sun.
It is interesting to get a quantitive measure of the development to be able to follow it. I think though that the number is too low. I often come across corporate blogs that Technorati does not track - in fact, I find myself using Bloglines more and more to track conversations. Anyway, a good initiative from Sifry and I hope he will do follow-ups. And I fully agree with his conclusion:
"...we are still at the relative start of accepted use of blogging as a part of corporate policy - and that there is still a tremendous opportunity for forward-thinking companies and management to have a significant positive impact on their public perception by encouraging an enlightened blogging policy, encouraging openness both within and outside of the organization."
Blog Posting Blues
An example to learn from. Darrel's "Create a Web Following" reports briefly about a corporate blog gone sour, and promises more discussion on how to avoid the blog posting blues.
Press Releases Vs. Blogs
Dana VanDen Heuvel contrasts press releases with blogs and blogging. It is a thought provoking comparison, well worth to read even if it is a bit too stereotype for my taste. We have after all seen really good press releases and really lousy blogs, all of us.
Blogging Does Not Equal Conversation
This debate keeps popping up: Can it really be a blog if you can't comment? My answer is yes, without any doubt.
The thing is that blogs have many distinctive features, and conversation is one of them. But it is not the only one. And it seems a bit old-fashioned to try to tell bloggers what they must do (or allow). If I blog I can do whatever I want, that's kind of the point. Don't like it? Don't read it.
Of course, as in all business communication we must understand the audience and what they want. But who says that the typical customer of any randomly selected company wants to comment, wants to have an online conversation?
I think that the most attractive feature of blogging for most organizations is the prospect of becoming more human - not constructing anything that is not there, but finding a way to share thoughts and ideas in a way traditional corporate communications just don't have the tools for. And in that case we are talking about writing style and voice. Not conversation.
If you have read this far, you are probably wondering why there is a comment function here... Well, I like comments. I like the conversation. And here I think it's a good idea to use both comments and Trackback. For my own corporate blog, on the other hand, I choose not to use those features. These kind of choices I do based on what I want to achieve. So should you, without feeling restricted by some idea of what blogs "must" look like.
More discussion on:
Pre-Brand Brand Community Via Blogs
Dana's Blog: "People want to connect with people. Blogs, in many ways, and for a lot of reasons, have become just the next most logical way for many of us to connect with our customers, and for our customers to get to know us. It's really not much more complicated than that."
Blogs Effective Word Of Mouth Marketing
I mostly write about the up's and down's of having your own company blog, so I thought I point to an article on how to use other peoples' blogs in marketing. It's sound advice on making your message "bloggable".
Business Blogging Conference In Europe
The Radiant Marketing Group proposes a business blogging conference in the US. It is a good idea, and I think we should organize one in Europe as well. Berlin, maybe?
I think it is important to use European voices, which in itself will be a stronger statement than if a US conference just flew over to give one more session here.
Who "we" are? No idea. I could see myself doing some organizing, but it would certainly require both interest and commitment from (many) others. What do you say?
Syndication Only For Info-Nerds?
Syndication (a.k.a. feeds) and blogging does not have to go hand in hand. You can have a blog without a feed, even though I would not recommend it. This blog's two feeds has well over 100 Bloglines subscribers and less than 20 e-mail subscribers, to give you one picture.
But who subscribes to blogs?
I am pretty sure that no friends of mine are subscribing to any of my blogs. I know for sure that my wife and other relatives don't. In fact, not one single person that I know outside my professional life has as far as I know ever thought about syndicated content (I believe they would have asked me, in that case...). I have persuaded 10-20 clients to try it out. Info-nerds, you could say, like me. That's all.
Zephoria has noticed this too, and wonders if syndication ever will be used beyond us nerds. Zephoria's discussion focuses on youth culture but is relevent in general too, I think.
So what about corporate blogging if the use of syndicated content don't spread? Well, for intranet or extranet blogging it is not a very big deal. You will probably reach your audience regularly anyway. For external target groups it is different. If I can keep track of 200-300 information sources with my news aggregator, I only read 10-15 sources that I have to visit. It goes without saying that it is much, much harder to become a Favourite in IE than a subscription in Bloglines.
One conclusion is that you will have to be much better at blogging without widespread usage of feeds. You will have to offer something extraordinary.
Now, I don't think that Zephoria necessarily is right or that my experience will be the same in one or two years. More than anything it shows the importance of feed subscriptions being built in to applications we already use. I know many have problems with Microsoft, but I firmly believe that RSS functionality in IE or Outlook would make a huge difference.
Corporate Speak Changes With Corporate Blogging
I think we need to pay much more attention to the writing style in a blog. Commenting and linking is all fine, but the most important difference between blogging and traditional corporate communications is the voice = the way we write.
Trevor Cook discusses this in an opinion piece in AFR's Boss magazine (pdf, find link here): "Usually only one voice is heard inside a company. That voice belongs to a sort of anonymous corporate identity. Even when different people write stories for a newsletter they still come out sounding exactly the same."
MSN, Yahoo Better Than Google For New Bloggers
This could prove to be important. MSN once again let us test their search technology, and it is good.
I hear many people complaining about Google, saying it is practically useless if you want to find new sites - and the few tests I have done indicate that MSN (as well as Yahoo, by the way) is doing a much better job. This is extremely helpful for all organizations that wants to start a blog. Linking and directories are ok, but you need the search engines to find large numbers of new readers. Hang in there, times may be changing...
Popular Demand: More Strategy, Less Tech Stuff
Yesterday I held a Writing for the Web-course, and for the first time I included blogs. Not very deep, I just said that this is happening right now and it may be a development that will influence web communications for most organizations in the years to come. The participants were all web editors or communication directors, and I'm pretty sure none of them had thought about blogs for professional uses until I started talking about it (that's the way it is in Europe).
The short discussion showed me two things. First of all, the basic idea is really easy to understand. All of them managed immediately to see the distinctive features of blogs: The conversation, the difference between a (their) regular writing style and a more personal voice, the possibilities with a less formal communication channel.
Second, the technical stuff is really hard to sell. People just don't want to hear another three-letter word. They can't see any reason whatsoever to start using one more source (or client) to get information. It's bad enough already. I think I lost them for a minute when I mentioned Technorati...
Now, if this picture is generelly valid it's a great opportunity. People wants to talk about what really matters. But - those of us who is regularly writing about blogging have a tendency to become completely overwhelmed by whatever new tech angle we can find. Me included.
I will try to find more strategic discussions or subjects, I think. It would for example be exciting to find a news item that an organization has published both as a press release and as a blog post, to compare the messages and styles. Any tip?
Syndication For Intranets (And More About RSS)
Amy Gahran writes a good overview on the use of webfeeds at intranets in CMS Watch: "From the employee's perspective, webfeeds can provide more clarity, continuity, and chronological context than two common existing alternatives to getting the word out -- intranet index pages and e-mail newsletter/alerts."
And while we're speaking about it (feeds, that is, not necessarily blogging) take a look at Steve Rubel's basic explanation RSS Syndication Made Simple, Really. That will make its way into the related links of my Read Blogs?-section.
Online Personal Branding - Blogger Friends For Hire?
"The image of you on the web is a strange one", Alex Halavais - an Assistant Professor of Communication at the University at Buffalo - writes.
He continues: "Like any sort of gossip, certain traces take on a greater importance than they might in your 'real' world. A forgotten event or conference, or a snapshot taken at a party, might not be that important to your self-image, but to your online image, it becomes pivotal."
My spontaneous reaction is that he is making a good case for blogging, since that if nothing else gives you opportunities to present the image you want. But: "There is only so much I can personally do to make my presence known in cyberspace. I can publish things to the web at every chance, and comment on other sites all over the web. But ultimately, the most important items about me will not be written by me."
And what will happen then?
"What happens when people begin to want to see others writing about them, and presenting it in a certain way. [...] How long will it be before this benefit is explicitly financial, before we see 'people placement' in weblogs as an important part of shaping identity?"
I don't think this is happening already. I don't hope this is happening already. But I could certainly see it happening. It's actually quite obvious. We have all seen bloggers lifted from obscurity just by becoming friends with high profile bloggers.
I'm afraid that it would be close to impossible to spot as a reader. I believe though, that one major restraint could be that of all bad PR methods - the cost of getting caught is so high that it's not worth it no matter how small the risks are.
Blog Example: Veer's Got A Good Idea
If you like me think that the typical blog - the microsite using Blogger or Typepad templates - is both boring and from many business perspectives ineffective, you should look at Veer: Ideas.
This design company doesn't make a big fuss about the fact that they run a blog. It is in a seamless way made a part of their corporate site, and they use it as the major input into one of three top levels of their structure. Nice information architecture, nice way of using the blog to support, rather than complement, regular business communication.
How Will The European Union Talk With Us - Not At Us?
The new Commission of the EU will have its own communications director, a Commissioner with the portfolio "Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy". President Barroso has assigned the portfolio to Margot Wallström and last week the European Parliament held its hearing with her.
In her speech (pdf), she said that we need "...a common European narrative which explains the social and environmental benefits of our co-operation, as well as the economic benefits." She believes "that it is essential to speak with people, rather than talk at them. What matters is to engage in a dialogue."
Certainly a speech like this can't be very precise on specific methods. That's not her job, I guess. But there were hints on what Wallström thinks: "All services of the Commission need to build communication in to their proposals while they are still on the drawing board; not bolt-them on at the end." And it seems that the Commission representations in all member states will play a key role. "The representations need to be given clearly defined tasks in delivering our new communication strategy and building platforms for dialogue in the Member States", Wallström said.
To me this sounds promising. Of course it could all boil down to the old way of doing things - meetings in city halls, discussion groups, all the things that has been done for decades and only involves a tiny, tiny minority of people. But it doesn't have to be limited to those ways. At least there's nothing in the speech that rules new forms of participatory communication out.
Today, Europeans can interact with the EU. We can even do it on the web. But what do you say about this guideline: "...it would be helpful if you would write out abbreviations in full, and include the following information, if available: Policy area, Internet site references, Programme name, Project number and title, Directive/Decision number, etc."?
And this disclaimer: "...we are unable to comment on specific issues pertaining to EU policy, and any information provided may not be considered as legally binding"?
We sure need the human face, the conversation, the informal tone and maybe even the personality of participatory communication.
Weblogs As Online Community Management Tools
Aside from participation in discussions, a community manager often needs a consistent and accessible place to have an independent voice to relate community news and information. Common Craft discusses how a weblog may be used to fill this need.
Some of the conclusions:
Brazilian Blog Shut Down By Libel Suit
I don't speak Portuguese, so I can't dig any deeper into this story - but it is claimed that the first Brazilian blog has been knocked off the air by a libel suit, apparently because of a reader comment mocking a company.
HP Sends Letter To Muzzle Sun Blogger
From ITworld.com: "Sun Microsystems Inc.'s high-profile President and Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Schwartz has struck a raw nerve with his inflammatory Weblog entries which has led to Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) sending a letter of demand to Sun to put an end to the commentary. HP has confirmed a letter was sent earlier this week demanding Schwartz stop using his blog to comment on HP's strategic direction."
This has stirred up some discussion (although not as much as I would have guessed). Steve Rubel predicts that "by the end of next year at least one CEO will cease his/her blogging due to a legal spat", even if he doesn't think this is that case. Techdirt concludes that "HP is apparently learning that trying to muzzle bloggers, no matter who they are, tends to end badly... and very, very publicly".
Europeans Late Adopters
Drew B confirms my view that corporate blogging is lagging behind in Europe, and points to why that should change.
The Basic Posting Formats
Amy Gahran, editor of Contentious, has now finished her basic posting formats series. It's a great resource for anyone starting a blog - or for those who wants to develop their blog writing style.
You will find these seven formats described:
- Link-only
- Link blurb
- Brief remark
- List
- Short article
- Long article
- Series postings
For business purposes I think we mostly find posts in formats 3, 5 and 6. And that is logical. Most corporate bloggers, at least according to my experience, are looking for a conversation with customers, competitors or employees, they see the blog as a way of establishing themselves as strong voices in an industry. For that purpose a Link-only post or a Link blurb just isn't very effective. A random post in those formats, certainly, but not as the main content type of the blog.
I guess this post is a somewhere between Link blurb and Brief remark. Amy also emphasizes that "these types represent points along a spectrum. A specific posting might blend aspects of two or more formats." Make sure to read her series - you will be more aware what you are doing, and for a writer that's the first crucial step to better results.