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Day Of National Mourning
January 1 has been declared a day of national mourning here in Sweden. Today our Prime Minister said that as many as 1.000 Swedes may have died in the tsunami disaster, most of them tourists in Thailand. That's awfully many - and still a very small number when we think about Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India.
Even though we formally don't have "national mourning" in Sweden, tomorrow flags will be flown at half staff all over the country and many are expected to honor the victims in their own ways. Already last night people lit candles in their windows, at sports arenas minutes of silence was observed and so on.
Life will go on for most of us, that's true. But to show my respect and sympathy I will let this blog be silent January 1.
Let us all hope for a better 2005.
Top 10 Of 2004
The last day of 2004 is here - a time for summarizing the year that's passed. There's probably a hundred better ways to do it, but I'll settle for my own little list of the most read posts at this blog. Here they are.
1. Six Types Of Business Blogs - A Classification
2. Free Corporate Blogging Primer
3. 14 Steps To Your Business Blog
4. Corporate Blog - A Short Definition
5. How Much Internal Discussion Can You Have In A Corporate Blog?
6. Corporate Blogging Policies
7. Employer Says No To Blogging - Blogger Quits Job
8. 6 Time Management Tips For Bloggers
9. 5 000 Corporate Bloggers In The World Today
10. Blogs In An Open Source Marketing Setting
Challenges To Blogging For Business
PSFK lists a number of difficulties anyone who wants to start a business blog might face. I have mentioned several of them myself here, but it's an interesting summary from a personal blogger that didn't think it would be that much harder to create a business blog. But it was, to some extent.
From Fortune To Gigablast
Here's a couple of the blog related stories that has caught my interest the last couple of days. Concerning the terrible situation I guess we all follow closely I only have one thing to say - donate. Sometimes words just can't express enough.
Why There's No Escaping the Blog
"But how to speak directly to this swarm? Wary of a Mazda-like fiasco, most companies that want to blog try to walk a fine line: telling employee bloggers to be honest but also encouraging evangelism. Corporate propaganda almost always drives readers away; real people with real opinions keep them coming back."
Bloggers Beware: Debunking Eight Copyright Myths of the Online World
"...the misinformation that's flying around about copyright is encouraging people to do things that are not merely illegal, but potentially extremely costly."
Blogging: NOT for Everyone
"You just got a whiff of what I don't dig about blogging - someone rants about something they just thought of. It's the opposite of helpful. I like my information from people who do some research."
The Long Tail explained
As Hans Henrik I have with surprise noticed more and more people talking about "the long tail". It's an interesting market theory which Wired explains pretty good.
Better site search than Google?
I'm not very pleased with the Google site search you find below. It doesn't index all pages and it indexes too slow, I think. Gigablast promises to index all pages "...at the rate of about one page every five seconds" and that pages "...will be reindexed every hour if the content changes that often." Sounds good for bloggers. I will try it soon.
Nope, No Predictions - Just A "Happy Holidays"
Everyone's predicting what 2005 will bring us. So here's my two cents: I have no idea. Sure - we can all guess one or two things and the less important they are, the greater is the chance we are right. But really big changes always comes sneaking up on us.
I once listened to a brilliant speaker talking about paradigm shifts. His conclusion was that paradigm shifts are only visible in retrospect. It's just not possible to grasp what's happening until it has happened. Anyone who tries will look rather silly when we all live in the time of the new paradigm. The only thing we can do is to not - under no circumstances - write or speak in public about the future. That way, we can't be held responsible for what we once thought :-)
As bloggers, it's probably too late for us to listen to that piece of advice...
Anyway, I wish you all Happy Holidays. I'll start writing again here next week or so.
FT And Blogging
There's a lot of references to an article in Financial Times about blogging. But I have to pay to read it, and I don't want to do that. Neville provides the most extensive summary - read that if you like me have better things to spend your money on...
Why Advertising, Marketing And PR Pros Should Blog
A Fine Kettle of Fish publishes the 10 top reasons for advertising, marketing and PR pros to blog.
Part 1
1. Blogs are Interactive
2. Blogs are Humanizing
3. Blogs are Inexpensive
Part 2
4. Blogs are Immediate
5. Blogs are Infectious
6. Blogs are Empowering
Part 3
7. Blogs are Enjoyable
8. Blogs are Authoritative
9. Blogs are Valuable
10. Blogs are Popular
Link via Radiant Marketing Group
Podcasting - A Tentative Critique
Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz will start a podcast in a few weeks time. They will have weekly conversations on communication, technology and other relevant topics via Skype, and then publish the result at For Immediate Release.
I haven't read Shel very much, but Neville often have things to say. In that sense it is a promising initiative. But to tell you the truth I'm not that hooked on podcasting (can I say that today without being regarded a dinosaur?).
I may get back to the discussion in more detail, but basically my objection is about time. The beauty of blogging for me is the possibility to read literally hundreds of views/voices in maybe half an hour. I've got them all served in Bloglines. With podcasting, I need to spend the same time to listen to just a couple of views/voices. Considering that time is a valuable and scarce resource for many of us, podcasting makes little sense to me.
To put it more directly (no offense Neville, Shel): There are very few voices out there I regularly would invest 30 minutes in. It just won't happen.
With this said, I do see one major market for podcasting - internal communications. Many would invest 10 minutes per week to listen to the CEO they never get to meet in person, I think. And under those circumstances the CEO's voice (the actual audio) could add a different value than newsletters or blogs do.
The Perfect Blog Name
Statistically speaking, the perfect blog name would apparently be My blog with daily world news and thoughts from life...
Contributing Writer At WebProNews
I'm one of the writers making the web smarter... ;-)
Rich, the CEO of iEntry that publishes WebProNews, yesterday asked for permission to republish some of my posts at their site. I said yes. So far two posts has been republished there.
I think this is a good idea. It's an idea related to blogging, syndication, free access to information and so on. But I won't bother you with more details. If you're interested you should read what Steve Rubel wrote when he accepted to be one of their contributing writers.
Jamba Creates A PR Mess In The German Blogosphere
Jamba sells ringtones in a number of European countries. Their German company got some criticism in a weblog and the message started to spread. In some kind of naive PR attempt anonymous Jamba employees began attacking the author in blog comments. It's unclear if this was a coordinated damage control attempt, but you can figure out the rest. They got caught and traditional media got interested.
The developments of this story has been flooding the German blogs I read for the last couple of days. Martin Roell has a good summary of the story [In German] [In Google's English translation].
The Jamba Director of Corporate Communications & Public Affairs is interviewed by Klaus Eck [In German] [In Google's English translation].
It seems they haven't learned much. He draws the conclusion that their employees shouldn't have commented at all. And he asks himself if a press spokesman should react to blogs. At all. The obvious alternative - to openly dive into the discussion with serious intents and serious curiosity - doesn't seem to be an option.
This Is My House - Let's Build A City
Have you ever thought about your blog as your house? And your contacts with other bloggers resembling "life between buildings"? Well, I hadn't until I read this paper about blog communities.
The authors use the city metaphor to find a way of describing - understanding - a very interesting question, even a paradox: How can the existence of highly personal spaces guarded by individuals result in the emergence of social structures?
The way I see it, this question is fundamental to business blogging as well as personal blogging. You can have many different reasons to start a corporate blog, but building strong relationships with people must be among the most common ones.
"As in cities, blogger communal spaces are not evenly distributed: some neighbourhoods are full of social activities and conversations, while others look like a random collocation of houses where inhabitants have nothing in common. Blogger communal spaces may have visible boundaries [...], but more often indicators of a community are subtle and is difficult for a non-member to distinguish."A successful corporate blog, with a relation strengthening purpose, must find it's way in to those (busy) communal spaces.
The paper is not practical. Not "10 tips to build a great blog". But the authors' pilot study offers some guidance.
"...we were able to identify a network structure with, a large periphery membership and a strong core with fuzzy or fluid boundaries, which allow for the periphery members to become a core member by both entrance through topic and through reciprocal linking."This isn't a totally new concept. Remember the discussion about Alpha Bloggers for example. But I think there's a lot of corporate people out there who want more theory than the average blog evangelist delivers. For them this could be one small contribution to understanding what for example "conversation" is and why it is such a central part of blogging.
Anyone feel like a barbecue out on the street...? Maybe Hans Henrik who pointed me to the paper?
How Much Internal Discussion Can You Have In A Corporate Blog?
After one more open letter to Bill Gates, this time about creating a Microsoft music player, Robert Scoble is accused of insulting his coworkers. If I understand it correctly the accuser, Ed Kaim, is a former MS employee that still have strong bonds to MS. He's for example on MS' own list of Microsoft bloggers.
I didn't find Scoble's post insulting to his coworkers, but Kaim obviously did. And it's reasonable to think that he's more or less writing on behalf of at least some of those people.
I don't pretend to have the answers, but there's many questions to be asked in this:
Understanding And Reading A Blog
John C. Dvorak tells you all about the basic elements of blogs. Here's what you can find out about:
...and of course examples.
Link via Micro Persuasion and public(MIND).
Newsgroups And Blogs: The Difference
Dana outlines an answer to one of the most common questions I get when I talk about blogs: What's the difference between newsgroups and blogs?
Educating Your Subscribers...
Seven out of eight people believe they'll get more spam if they subscribe to an email newsletter. The question is: Should publishers look for a fix for this problem, or should they draw the conclusion that newsletters are a rapidly decreasing publishing form?
I vote for the last alternative. RSS is the obvious solution - and if more and more publisher starts using it, more and more subscribers will discover the benefits. There's a fine and in worst case expensive line between running ahead of the market or educating the market, that's true, but education is possible.
Watch Out
This is a real risk.
Blogging community predictions: "And more agencies will tell clients they know all about blogs, when they don't. Forget about corporations seeing the weblog light, uninformed agencies will see the weblog dollar and their clients will pay twice - first, for the 'advice' that they will receive and then for the damage it will do to their brand."
Things Are Moving In Sweden
Just a short note - if you're interested and can read Swedish, see more in my corporate blog: Two advisers at ALMI har started an entrepreneurs' blog and a business blog about corporate storytelling is about to start. We're seemingly catching up here in the far North...
The Value Of Business Blog Communities
Business blog communities (like blogs.sun.com) add value to the publishing organization. Not only as the sum of the individual blogs - the community is a value in itself. Niall Cook discusses this in more detail and it's an interesting thought.
I think the author is right. Practically speaking, though, 99,999.....% of all companies in the world still hasn't started their first blog, so the discussion may seem premature. But if we want to understand business blogging the distinction between individual business blogs and business blog communities is important.
Would You Like To Review Blog Books?
There could be $20 in this for you, but please read the rest. The thing is that the ongoing projects aiming at corporate blogging books got me interested in the books already out there. This or this, this or some book I've never heard of.
So, here's my proposal to you.
- Choose a book you have/have read that you want to review. You won't get the book from me.
- The book should be about business blogging (or blogging behind the firewall). I'm also interested in books that for example discusses new kinds of marketing with relevance to business blogging.
- Contact me. Give me information about the book(s) you want to review, an idea of what you think about it, your e-mail address and your blog URL. Then wait! I won't reply until I have chosen reviewers (see next step).
- I will choose 4-6 book review(er)s. Probably before Dec 20.
- You write the review. I want 500-600 words starting with a summary and conclusion (good/bad, pros/cons...). Deadline Jan 7.
- When you send me the text I send you a $20 Amazon Gift Certificate (give me a couple of days, though, to do it).
I know that $20 isn't much, but this blog gives me no revenue at all so that's what I find reasonable. Maybe you've planned to do a review anyway?
NYT: Blogs Makes Perfect Sense For Marketing
The New York Times: "From a marketing perspective, blogs make perfect sense. They are cheap to produce, immersive and interactive. It's easy to measure their readership and response rates. For small companies, blogs are a quick and dirty promotional tool that cuts out the middleman; for big companies, blogs are a tool of humanization -- an informal, chatty, down-to-earth voice amid the din of bland corporate-speak.
'It's a dream come true,' says Bob Cargill, senior creative director for Yellowfin Direct Marketing. 'You can embed yourself smack-dab in the middle of your customers, form an ongoing relationship with them and hear exactly what they think of your brand.'"
Hosted Blog Platform Test
Stephanie Booth has done a test of 13 hosted blog platforms. And the winners are... Blogsome and Mon-Blog.
Nobel Turns Blogging Mainstream
It's late Friday night here in Sweden, and I'm watching the Nobel banquet on TV. Please, no comments on how sad a life I live... ;-)
As you know this is one of probably the world's most tradition-bound events. And still, the commentators on TV on and on tells us that Betsy Devine, wife of laureate Frank Wilczek, is blogging. She's a good writer too, and her posts about the crazy days of a Nobel prize winner (and his family) are interesting.
But - that's not my point. I have many times on this blog written that in Sweden and Europe we're way behind you guys in the US. Now, with the words of Bob Dylan, the times they are a-changin'. If blogging can be connected to, or at least mentioned in relation to, this prize - well, we are talking mainstream.
10 Steps To Make Money Covering Conferences, Trade Shows
WritersWeekly doesn't focus on blogging from conferences or trade shows, but their 10 tips are relevant for both bloggers and other writers.
Relevant Advertising Through RSS
17% of all Google searches end up with a click on a paid link. Considering the content targeted nature of AdWords, RSS advertising is a logical parallel discussion - this time in Wired News.
Blogs In An Open Source Marketing Setting
Blogs are not just a new marketing tool. They represent a more profound shift in communications and marketing. Maybe it's a bit early to talk about a new marketing paradigm, but we are getting there. Fast.
To put blogging in a broader perspective I've interviewed Fredrik Hallberg about Open Source Marketing, OSM. Fredrik is an experienced internet strategy adviser, and a doctoral candidate at Stockholm University.
- OSM is built on free access to information and discussions so there is a need to have some communication tools present. Weblogs are one of the necessary tools. More generally speaking, OSM is a perspective on marketing where marketers do no longer perceive their consumers as passive targets for corporate messages but as active partners in their value creation processes. This way OSM not only puts the right perspective on blogging but also how to unleash the true power of the Internet, Fredrik Hallberg says.Fredrik defines OSM as a marketing concept based on the fact that Internet is built on distributed communication and not centralized distribution.
- Today's marketing communications theories stems from the model first conceptualized by Shannon and Weaver 1949, where a sender transmits a message to a receiver. Their model is essentially one way while the internet is built on two way communications. Also Shannon and Weavers theory is based on one-to-many communications while the internet is more of a many-to-many communications medium. These facts coupled with how we as humans use the internet create a need to find a new marketing concept theory. Open source marketing fills this gap and as the name indicates it is very much built upon the open source movement and its culture.Looking for examples of OSM we can of course find several software projects. But I find it more interesting to relate to other businesses. Fredrik mentions the, in his view, three most successful examples outside the technology sphere.
Ok, let's get critical. I understand that "listening" and "conversations" are important keywords for OSM. But isn't this what companies have been trying to do for decades (customer interviews, focus groups etc). How does OSM differ from this?
- Yes, correct. But there are some major differences between Marketing Research the classical way and OSM. In marketing research the marketer makes the questions and then the answers are filled in by the consumers. This clearly limits both the breadth and the depth of the information gathered. In OSM, the consumers make both the questions and the answers as it is essentially a discussion. This way the company discovers new ways to perceive their products and services. Moreover, in a focus group you must both limit the number of the people present in the meeting and the time for the focus group meeting, making it a one shot opportunity to gather a very limited spectrum of the consumers' opinions, Fredrik Hallberg says.OSM is based on openness, transparency, participation, free access to information, listening and discussions. The old marketing concept is built on protection, control, and conviction. "In essence the two marketing theories are each others opposites just as Copyleft is the opposite of Copyright", according to Hallberg.
- In order for new knowledge to develop all information should be free. Free access to information also increases the chances for a community to form, and in turn these communities will develop new knowledge. This is the way the universities have been able to develop new knowledge for centuries so it is nothing new really.
Publisher Feels Threatened By Blogging?
David Murray vomits at blogging in the Ragan Report: "If blogging is such a powerful medium, then it probably doesn't need a gaggle of bloggers blogging about how big a deal it is."
That's actually true. The huge interest for blogging we see these days is not a result of gaggling bloggers. None of us - and in that I include even the famous Scoble - could have created this surge just by talking and writing about the blog's business advantages. The format is selling itself. I don't think it was David's intention, but he underscores the inherent potential of blogs.
But why do you, David, strike so merciless against one blogger - Neville? I don't get that. Maybe you've heard that it's the way to get attention in the blogosphere (which it obviously, and sadly, seems to be). Maybe you feel threatened by a tool you should know, but can't figure out. I don't know.
I know, on the other hand, that everyone should read Neville's thoughts on the matter and the other commentators he links to. I also know that we must see the fact that David speaks for a business (Ragan) that publishes "...corporate communications, public relations, and leadership development newsletters." And guess where the new competition for them are coming from...?
What Corporate America Can't Build: A Sentence
There are things you want to link to just because the headline is brilliant. New York Times: What Corporate America Can't Build: A Sentence.
I could add that it's not only a great headline, it's a real problem. And it's not just an American one.
(Via Nick Usborne)
Employer Says No To Blogging - Blogger Quits Job
Here in Sweden there's a lot of discussion today about Johnny Munkhammars blog (most links in this post in Swedish).
It's a personal blog, but his employer The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise thinks it's a bad idea anyway. They believe his personal views could be mistaken for the organization's.
According to media reports they have told him to stop blogging - but he refused and now the free-market think-tank Timbro announces that they have recruited Munkhammar.
He will be one of Timbro's "idea producers". A suitable job title for a blogger, don't you think?
Newsletters By RSS
One of my favourite e-mail newsletters is finally syndicated. Gerry McGovern's New Thinking Newsletter is available as RSS (feed).
Gerry uses a service called NewslettersByRSS which "...is a bridge product. It allows newsletter publishers to continue to deliver their newsletters by email while trying out a new delivery vehicle - RSS technology."
I haven't tested the service myself, but it sounds simple enough. Sign up, add an e-mail address to the newsletter subscription list and the feed is updated every time you publish.
Should this hold what it promises there's no excuse anymore for newsletter publishers. You don't have to choose, you can let your subscribers choose.
Hey, I even want to make a wish list. It's soon Christmas, after all. Melcrum should immediately start using this. Any more?
Corporate Blogging Books - The Old Way Or The Exciting Way?
UPDATE, see the end of the post...
So, Robert Scoble has announced his and Shel Israel's plans to write a book about corporate blogging.
It seems they will try to involve the book's future readers already in the writing process, and that's interesting. But we should remember that the basis of their project is typically old school. Sure, they will sell the publishing rights on eBay and that's kind of refreshing. But they will sell the rights.
You could compare this to Hans Henriks idea of a corporate blogging book. He proposes an open sourced book, which in my mind would really be an attempt to test the limits of a community's abilities. As I've written to Hans Henrik I'm not sure it'll work. But when I now a few days later see the difference between the two planned books, the open source one excites me more.
The world is big enough for both of the books. It would be great if we (=everyone interested) could help Hans Henrik start the open source book project.
UPDATE: Scoble says I've misunderstood his project.
Don't think so.
There is a difference between the two book plans. Scoble and Israel will write a book together. They will listen to hundreds, maybe thousands, of people and that will undoubtedly make their book even better. It will be a huge success and worth reading.
But - it is not the same as Hans Henrik is proposing.
Scoble seems to argue that their project is "open source" too since all work will be done "100% in the public" and the book will be "distributable for free". But could someone, maybe quite a few people, actually write a chapter instead of Scoble and Israel? If the answer to that question is yes, I've misunderstood it all. Otherwise, I guess the difference lies in the small "in". In the public vs. by the public.
Will a (true) open source book ever be finished? Will it be structured and coherent enough to be worth reading? I have my doubts. Strong doubts. But I still think the idea is more exciting.
See also Hans Henriks comment on this rather pointless discussion. He concludes, as I did, that there's probably interest enough for both these books (and more, I suspect).
Blogs Part Of Swedish PR Days
The Swedish PR-dagarna ("PR Days") in March 2005 will include a talk, by me, on "Blogs as a professional communications tool". I consider this to be a kind of breakthrough from a Swedish perspective, where (to my knowledge) blogs never has been discussed on this type of broad communications conferences. Should be both fun and interesting.
BusinessWeek On The Blog Business
BusinessWeek: "Clearly, the business of blogs is in its infancy, with lots to be worked out. But that's not stopping marketers, entrepreneurs, and writers alike from diving into this newest form of New Media."
Dealing With Bad Information
Gary Petersen gives us an educating story about marketing, blogging and how to handle comments on your corporate blog (in his case, a comment that said he'd screwed up). Gary's conclusion: "...the truth is what it is. Deal with it. And use it to your advantage. It's the right thing to do."
Thanks Bill - again.
No, Not All Of Us Will Blog
I had decided to not write about Forrester's vision. I figured everyone would see that it is ridiculuos. But it's being quoted, and I feel a need to have a say.
Charlene Li writes this: "Forrester envisions a day when new employees on their first day will be handed a sheet of paper with their phone number, email address - and a URL for their blog. The company would give all of its employees a personal internal blog where they could provide project updates, trip reports, and market intelligence - anything that they think others should know about the work that they are doing".
Big sigh.
Take it from someone who's been trying to get people to write for years. I have supported, trained, tried to persuade all kinds of professionals - managers, product developers, daycare staff, professors, nurses, doctors, consultants, politicians, marketers etc etc. And basically we can talk about three groups.
1. Those who just wont write. It doesn't come natural to them. They never feel a need to have a say - and if they do they much rather speak than write. They could have the blog URL tattoed on their forehead, and they still wouldn't write.
2. Those who wants to write, but don't have the knowledge or time. This is the group where support and training (maybe even a blog URL) could make a difference.
3. Those who would write even if we crashed their computers and stole their pencils. (Read: Many of today's bloggers...)
Ok, maybe Forrester is talking about certain businesses. Maybe Forrester realize that a lot of dead internal blogs would be the result of their vision. But Charlene doesn't say that. And to people passing by the business blogosphere, wondering what's going on here, those kind of visions is exactly what makes us look like psychedelic blog evangelists with a serious lack of reality check.
Total Transparency? Internal Blog For Everyone To Read
UPDATE Dec 3: The blog can't be reached right now. Maybe it was a real internal blog and they found out it was open because of my link. In that case, an interesting example of how important it is to know the tools you're using and what more or less obscure services you can be found in.
I don't know if this is for real, or if I stumbled upon a test, a joke or something.
But it seems as if The Insider Online is the internal blog of Aon Warranty Group. The blog's content - although it's not much - is a mix of social/cultural posts like questionnaires or movie reviews, and traditional news/business intelligence.
"And here's the fun part - you get to participate! Blogs are the perfect place to enter your thoughts and opinions on articles posted here or to start your own" the description of the blogs says.
For real or not, I like the idea. Total transparency, but with a clearly stated target group to make sure that customers and others understand that it's not really for them.
When I worked as the Web Editor of Malmö University we decided to shut down the intranet. This was 1998 or 1999 and they still don't have an intranet. All internal information is published openly on the web. But that's an academic environment. Aon Warranty Group is the largest service contract provider in the U.S. and one of the world's largest independent providers and administrators of consumer warranties.
Hmm... I wonder.
Communicating, Sharing And Socializing
Communicating, sharing and socializing - that's why Steve Ballmer thinks blogging is huge.
Yes, Me Too... MSN Spaces
What is it with the blogosphere? You're disconnected for 15 hours, trying to earn money, and then you discover major news discussed in every blog you read? ;-)
Talk about good PR for MSN Spaces. I haven't tested it - Blog Herald has - but I've noticed that it seems to come in many language versions. At least the service is available in Swedish which usually means that a whole lot of other languages are available too. And that could theoretically solve the problem of posting via e-mail (which can give strange results if you're not writing in English in for example Blogger).
But I don't think this is such a big deal from a business blogging perspective. It's much more interesting to look at complete content management systems with blog functionality.
Post Danmark An Early Blog Adopter?
I met Hans Henrik (publicMIND) a couple of days ago in Copenhagen, and he told me that Post Danmark is about to start using internal weblogs. You can read more about it today. I think this is interesting - not only in a Nordic perspective. This is one of the old, large, publicly owned companies we see all over Europe - a very long way from Google or Sun.
Models For Academic Blogging
When we're talking about blogging organizations, we often focus solely on corporations. But many types of organizations could use the advantages of blogs - and academic blogging is certainly one of the most obvious uses.
I'm glad to see Marginal Revolution discussing "The scholarly content of blogging" and a few models of how blogging and academic scholarship fit together.
- A blog post can have a new idea. It is like a very short journal article, with other bloggers/linkers as providing a citation index of sorts. Plus you receive quick and useful feedback.
- The blogosphere as a whole is the relevant unit of analysis. Don't think that a single post amounts to much of importance. But the blogsophere as a spontaneous order (sometimes) spits out the truth.
- Blogging is a way to publicize academic work and give it new readers. I call this "blogging as loss leader."
- Blogging is more like editing a journal or magazine than writing an article.
- A blog post is like a (very short) public lecture.
- Blogging is a fundamentally new medium, akin to an epic in serial form, but combining the functions of editor and author. Who doesn't dream of writing an epic?
Learn From Nonprofits' Use Of Blogs
Portals and KM is a blog I find myself reading more and more. Take a look if you haven't seen it. Start, for example, with Should Your Nonprofit Launch a Blog?
The post refers to Nancy Schwartz's discussion about nonprofits and blogs, and it is a discussion relevant to many more than those organizations.
The Role Of The PR Counselor In Client Blogs
Could you have your PR consultant write your blog? Yes, Steve Rubel says: "We should praise both the client and their agency for having the courage to be completely transparent."