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The Commissioner Blog Now A "Real" Blog
The blog of European Commissioner Margot Wallström is now a fully enabled blog. We find a feed, (moderated) comments and trackback. There's a calendar, categories and a blog search. Exactly as she promised when it started.
It's nice to see that when the first commissioner decides to try blogging out, she goes the whole way. That in itself, I believe, is a statement of seriousness and authenticity.
I also note that the blog has moved. When it started it was found at http://europa.eu.int/comm/commission_barroso/wallstrom/weblog/index.htm. Now we find it at http://weblog.jrc.cec.eu.int/page/wallstrom. Could be an insignificant technical detail. Could also be a sign telling us that the Commission has prepared its infrastructure for more blogs.
The Risk Of Loosing Business Focus When Blogging
A warning for blog evangelists (like myself). We should "...proceed more cautiously when promoting to businesses in such blanket terms that they must have a blog because not every business needs a hammer" according to Things that ... make you go hmm.
I can only agree. Of course, I'd expect everyone to agree. But it's still valuable to remind oneself from time to time.
Actually I think there's been so much discussion about when to blog, that it would be interesting to discuss when a company absolutely shouldn't blog. "Things that..." throws in two suggestions. First of all when the company doesn't need the work a blog might generate. That's the easy and perhaps too obvious one. The other one is more interesting -- "...if it takes the business focus away from what is making it money just to do something that may make them more money in the long run, that might not be a risk worth taking."
Now that's a question I struggle with every week. I know all the reasons why a company could use a blog. I have seen them all work. Blogs deliver results. But they also consume time. And they have this tendency to become addictive (that's why we believe in them so much, I guess).
Welcome Lithuania
...to the world of corporate blogging. I enjoy to follow the spread of this tool, and it's always nice to be able to add a new country to my list of European Corporate Blogs. Today it's Lithuania, with CM Group's blog.
A couple of days ago I added Finland too (the F-secure blog). The action is moving eastward in Europe it seems.
Crisis Communications Blogs - Use Them Cautiously
Blogs have a role to play in crisis communications. In some ways those communication features we need in a crisis are inherent in blogs. But I think we should be careful and not hope too much from blogs as crisis communication tools - they don't beat TV to show emotions and are probably best for audiences you have relations to already.
In theory crisis communications is quite easy. Know who's doing what, be accessible to media, don't forget employees, show empathy and be open about the facts as soon as you get them. Don't get involved in speculations.
The quick updates are one of those features that some think blogs could be used for. I don't think that's necessary. If we're talking about large companies or organizations they all have reasonably good content management systems. Since communications in a crisis should be centralized - or at least focused - the ordinary corporate site will be just as quick as a blog (the Web Editors will publish all messages externally anyway).
The other part is the personal or informal tone of a blog. Again, I think blogs won't be necessary in a big crisis. The company will have all the possibilities it could wish for to participate in media - and let's face it, if we today and probably for years to come want to reach as many people as possible as quickly as possible blogs aren't our primary choice. 10 times out of 10 I would choose the emotional TV medium before the informal blog medium to show sympathy/empathy.
So what could blogs be used for?
I think we will see them as a good tool to reach those audiences who are involved too some extent. Employees is the best example. They will all watch TV too, but an intranet crisis blog could help overcome the common crisis communications problem of not doing enough internally. Investors, suppliers, partners are other examples.
As Steve points out - even if I don't agree to all his five steps - you should also listen to blogs regardless of how much or little you write yourself: "Figure out which bloggers have the greatest potential to become your vigilantes and group them into hubs. Analyze their tendencies and those of their readers."
Business Results From Analysts' Blogs
Alan Meckler, CEO of Jupitermedia: "Our JupiterResearch team has been writing blogs for close to two years (JupiterResearch was the first Research company to offer blogs). Readership has grown dynamically (Close to 70,000 page views per day). And we now have several cases of gaining sales leads as a result of a reader becoming interested in our research because of being impressed by analysts' comments."
Link
500 Years Of Blogging History...
You think you're an early adopter because you're using blogs to be heard? Forget it. Martin Luther, Thomas Paine, George Orwell were all way ahead of you. Sort of.
Germany: Blogs On Their Way To Media
Things are happening in and around the German blogosphere according to BlogInitiativeGermany.
It's the Jamba case that got it all going. Jan Schmidt writes a good summary of what happened, and draws conclusions valid not only in a German perspective.
Weblogs will increasingly find their place in the communication strategies of organizations. Some of them might use Weblogs as an additional channel for their internal and/or external communication, while others will monitor Blogs for mentions of their products or practices.
Due to processes of intra-media agenda setting, Weblogs and other mass media will get increasingly connected...
Exactly because blogging is not journalism, not private online-exhibitionism and not dysfunctional flaming of other peoples comments, understanding the dynamics of the blogosphere becomes a central task for communication practitioners and researchers alike.Thanks Klaus for the tip!
Enhancing Internal Communications With Blogs, Wikis And More
I won't get started with links to all of the things being blogged right now about the two blogging conferences. But this is really worth to take a look at. Enhancing Internal Communications with Blogs, Wikis, and More -- a presentation by Nick Finck, Mary Hodder and Biz Stone.
Do You Know The Bloggers You Read? Do You Care?
Hans Henrik raises an interesting question: How much do you need to know about a blogger to actually feel you know him or her? He uses me as an example, which certainly made me think about it... "Who are you as a person - wanna share?" he asks.
My short answer is "No".
My long(er) answer is this:
As Hans Henrik says, I try to keep this site focused on blogging and related communication discussions. I'm not doing it primarily to be read, even if that's fun and stimulating. I'm doing it to learn. I work that way. If I read stuff I forget it. If I read stuff and write about it, I'm able to transform it from information to knowledge. And with a journalistic background no other writing than that in public really counts.
Writing more about my background, my family, views and opinions on other matters -- that wouldn't fill any purpose from that perspective. In my corporate blog (Swedish only) it's somewhat different, because there I have other purposes.
That's one part of the answer, the individual part of it. In more general terms I think - as a blog reader - that it's not very interesting to get too much personal stuff. If I read a blog to, say, find news and discussions about web design I couldn't care less who the blogger had dinner with the night before. I don't want to know that.
We can have voices or personalities without being personal/almost private in what we write.
On a very general level I think we can see cultural differences here. I haven't studied it comprehensively, but aren't Americans more personal in their business blogs than for example Europeans or Australians?
Enterprise Blogging In Practice
Coté's Weblog gives us interesting insights about internal blogging in the case study Enterprise Blogging in Practice. If you in any way consider trying blogging behind the firewall you should read it.
One experience is that you shouldn't get your hopes up too much -- but also that there are people willing to see what a blog can do.
"At the department level, I wouldn't say the blogs have been a wide-reaching, ragging success, primarily because people don't post to them as much as you'd hope. However, for the people who do post to and read the blogs, they've been very successful."Michael Coté's notes tells us, among many other things, what people post about at his company.
- News stories.
- Status of various tests.
- Brain-storming.
- Sharing customer visit/phone call notes.
- The "I exist" posts.
- Soliciting ideas/help.
- Off-topic posts.
"Without Google-quality search on your intranet (near real-time and full indexing, quick search results, page-rank, etc.), it's extremely hard to find anything on the intranet let alone blog posts on relevant topics."(Link via Enterprise RSS)
Early Bloggers Show The Way To The Corporate Tipping Point - Nothing Else
Gapingvoid talks about the corporate tipping point, "...the point where blogging stops being the supposed realm of freaks, weirdos [...] and starts being [...] an essential pillar of any corporate strategy and execution..."
Just the fact that people start talking about that point is promising. We are getting closer, I'm sure.
Hugh wants the tipping point to arrive to get validation for the work he and others has been doing, and because he thinks it'll generate business for "people who can blog properly". He thinks that this will happen when managers see that blogs work and are safe.
Let me add one more thing to the last part -- It'll happen when we stop seeing blogging as something completely new and different. It is just another tool. We can use it for many reasons, but it is always the reasons we should discuss. Especially with our bosses. I look forward to the day when we don't talk about blogs at all, but of our option to have web communications with a more personal touch.
As a logical conclusion I disagree with why Hugh wants this to happen. IMHO, blogging should become mainstream because it will generate good results for companies, organizations and the public sector. The bloggers are from this perspective not relevant.
Early adopters are road signs. They help people find the way. But they have very little to do with what happens at the destination.
The Risk Of Becoming Too Peripheral
Academic bloggers, Therese at Emerging Communications writes,
"...often choose not to blog about issues that are 'right on' when it comes to their areas of research. Rather, people seem to blog about things that may be relevant for their research on a more peripheral level or about minor details, and it appears that the core argumentation is often saved for articles and presentations."Among the possible reasons for this, if true, she lists the worry that someone else will steal the idea. It made me think about business blogging and what I often find to be some kind of "background noise" in it.
There are few business blogs that actually engage me as a reader in central, important questions. One example - take a look at what Bob Lutz (GM) has written so far. Nothing about the major challenges for the car industry. Nothing about emissions, nothing about safety.
There are exceptions. But in many cases, Therese's point is valid for business blogging too.
The thing is, we also need that other stuff. The noise. I think that's what gives us a voice. It gives the readers an insight into the personality of the blogger. But unless the blogger's only aim is to build a personal brand this is a fine line to balance on.
You want a voice, not just a blah-blahing mouth. You want credibility, but not readers bored to death.
Corporate Podcasting
There have been reports about it before, but mostly from a marketing perspective. Now Perfect Path tells us about an official corporate podcast for the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.
In a comment at Perfect Path, the podcaster Gerald Buckley says he "...believes there are several applications waiting out there for enterprising folk to prove out and profit from".
As I have said before, I'm not convinced. Yet. But Gerald's format (3 minutes) is a smart move. I have done quite a lot of internal communication with audio. Podcasting wasn't an alternative, so we "published" the program via phone. The employees called a number and listened.
We quickly learned that time is crucial. 3-4 minutes was ok for news broadcasts. 10 minutes could work in very special situations. But never more than that.
Lead The Way, France
Following up on my post about the growth of professional blogging in Europe, I note that 300 people showed up for a corporate blogging event in Paris. That's great.
Creative Communication Not For Everyone
Producing interesting or compelling content is creative work. So who is able to do that? Who is creative? Let's bust a few myths - among them the most stupid one: That only some people are creative.
Fast Company's The 6 Myths Of Creativity is well worth a read, even though it's about a month old. There are implications for all kinds of creative activities - among them blogging.
I'll let you draw your own conclusions, but take a look at #5 and think about internal corporate blogging. Think about #2 and the open source culture of the blogosphere. #4 and the need for blogging policies. #3 and CEO blogging...
1. Creativity Comes From Creative Types
Wrong. "...anyone with normal intelligence is capable of doing some degree of creative work.""
2. Money Is a Creativity Motivator
Wrong. "...the handful of people who were spending a lot of time wondering about their bonuses were doing very little creative thinking."
3. Time Pressure Fuels Creativity
Wrong. "...we found a kind of time-pressure hangover -- when people were working under great pressure, their creativity went down not only on that day but the next two days as well."
4. Fear Forces Breakthroughs
Wrong. "...creativity is positively associated with joy and love and negatively associated with anger, fear, and anxiety."
5. Competition Beats Collaboration
Wrong. "The most creative teams are those that have the confidence to share and debate ideas."
6. A Streamlined Organization Is a Creative Organization
Wrong. "Creativity suffers greatly during a downsizing."
We Need New Business Blog Stars
ClickZ explains how a brand blog can be measured (via marcomblog). I wanna be enthusiastic about this. After all, I'm certain of and I have personally experienced the effectiveness of business blogs.
But - we have a major problem if we over and over again are stuck with, as ClickZ, Scoble as the main example of more or less measured blog success. I also think he's doing a great job, no arguments there. But people are too smart to buy that picture. If one person and one person only so totally dominates the discussion about blog effectiveness, that's nothing but proof of an equally total lack of general validity.
Robert, I'm not critical to you, let me say that. I'm critical to all of them - all of us - who writes about blogs and still end up with the same example. Again and again. If we throw in Steve there too, we've covered close to 100 % of all "blog success" articles...
We need new business blog stars. There's got to be people out there to replace the first wave of business bloggers. Please step forward. Blogging as a professional communications tool needs you.
A Widening Spectrum Of European Professional Blogs
I've been following the expansion of corporate and organizational blogging in Europe for a while now. It's an impressive development - a widening spectrum of blogs and subjects starts appearing. And I think it's encouraging that many examples are from other businesses than the expected early adopters in technology and marketing/pr.
All blog examples can be found at the European Corporate Blogs page. It is just examples. I update it weekly but I have neither the possibility nor the wish to make it a complete list. Even so, it is a list that could inspire you. Let me take you for a short European blog ride.
Starting in Romania we find Doza de responsabilitate. It's published by the Open Society Foundation Romania, an organization that "...upholds the values of freedom, democracy and rule of law [...] in pursuit of its mission to support the development of an open society in Romania." Now that's an important task for a blog to be part of.
Taking the step over to Netherlands, New Values tells us about the the trade in emission rights and Guarantees of Origin at their community blog. While in Holland, we could also get some judicial advice from JuroFoon. Not that we need it, since we're interested in harmless things. A quick flight takes us to Sweden where a bike manufacturer speaks passionately about their products.
With a European perspective it might be interesting to pay a visit to the CEO of a haulage company that transports goods all over Western Europe. I know him, and even though he doesn't update as frequently as many would recommend, he tells me that his blog delivers exactly what he hoped for - media attention.
Well, there are others bloggers who writes more. Just hope they don't get burned out. But if they do, there's a blog helping them (and others) in Germany.
The Power Of The Human Voice
The developments here in Sweden in relation to the tsunami disaster tells us a lot about the importance of a human voice. One woman used hers. She should have been an Information Director in the periphery of the situation, but instead she became the one every Swede listened to for a few days. This is now an important ingredient in a political crisis in Sweden.
This is not about blogs, as such. But blogs are to a great extent about forming a voice, and I think it's interesting to discuss what we can accomplish if we use it. To summarize the background the Swedish political system was taken by complete surprise when the tsunami hit the beaches where 20,000 Swedes were on vacation. They just weren't prepared for something like that.
It took close to 40 hours before the Prime minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs even spoke with each other. And that in a country where power is very centralised to the PM.
This has led to a heated political debate, and the governments actions (or non-actions) will be examined by both the Parliament's Committee on the Constitution and a citizens commission.
The two days when the government didn't understand the magnitude of the disaster someone else stepped forward: Lottie Knutsson, Information Director of Fritidsresor, a tour operator with thousands of customers in Thailand. She participated in close to every news broadcast. She told us what they knew. She told us what they feared. She said they were sorry they couldn't do more. She demanded the government's help.
She reached out.
Now, a couple of weeks later Fritidsresor of course avoids becoming involved in the political aftermath. The company concludes they had basic disaster plans and used them. That's important. Every crisis communicator knows that.
I don't think Knutsson is a heroine. She did her job, what the communicators' primer tells us. But the difference between her and the government is so huge. The government's popularity ratings are decreasing - and at the same time people are writing to the newspapers saying Knutsson should be Foreign Minister.
There are two factors here. First of all what everyone actually did or didn't. But in a situation where very little could be done, one thing differentiated the major Swedish actors. What they said and how they said it. The power of the human voice.
Be "VOCAL" For Business Blogging Success
A new blog on business blogging (how many can we read?) publishes a somewhat lengthy - but interesting - article called Five Critical Keys to a Successful Business Blogging Strategy.
The keys are V.O.C.A.L.
"V stands for VISIONIf you've read a lot about business blogging you'll recognize most of it. Even so, I think it's a good idea from a pedagogical perspective to try to find easy ways to explain what it's all about. And this is a good attempt.
O stands for ORGANIZED
C stands for CONSISTENCY
A stands for ACTIONABLE CONTENT
L stands for LISTEN-TO and LINK-WITH"
Communications Commissioner Turns To Blogging
Swedish EU Commissioner Margot Wallström has started a blog. She writes:
I have decided to write a diary during my five year term to give people an idea of what it is like to be a Commissioner and how the EU looks from the inside. (Yes, the blog phenomenon has not escaped my attention!).This is a good answer to my question from October 4: How Will The European Union Talk With Us - Not At Us?.
I actually sent Wallström an e-mail suggesting she start a blog. If that in any way influenced her to start this blog I'm glad (I only got a standard answer from an assistant, though).
The first post looks promising. There's a language, and a content, we might not expect from a commissioner. We get serious reflections on the tsunami disaster but we also learn that she has put on weight during the Holidays. And I like her summary of 2004: It "sucked"!
According to the EUobserver, link via Steve, she is writing herself. Interactive functions are said to be under construction. I hope they come soon - and that an RSS feed is one of the things they're working on.
I'll Soon Be Superfluous
Chris Locke asks a question I've asked myself a couple of times: "...this is just a thought, but I'm going to say it here anyway, even though I'm a little afraid I might get yelled at: is it possible to have too many bloggers blogging about blogging? I dunno. Just something to think about."
On a philosophical level we can't have to many bloggers, regardless of what they're blogging about. There can never be too many thinkers on a subject. The market laws will make sure that only the best are read anyway.
But in more practical terms, Locke's question is relevant. At what point does the discussion about blogging turn into nothing but background noise?
Many of us has been through this once before. Remember when the web was new? An amazing amount of pages back then were link lists, manuals, DIY-tips etc. It hasn't disappeared of course, but in relation to all other things on the web that kind of content is marginalized today. The same will for sure happen to metablogging.
To judge by just this blog we aren't there yet. I see more and more traffic and I get more questions. There's a substantial and increasing flow of new business bloggers looking for information and help. But the day will come - my guess is that this blog will be superfluous end of 2005 or beginning of 2006. As will a lot of other blogs about blogging.
Corporate Blogging At The Security Awareness Company
Greg Hoffman: "The company has been around for 15 years but blogging has helped brand our company as the premier Security Awareness team in the industry; all while saving us time and money."
You know you can find testimonials from corporate bloggers at this site? Lot's of different examples to learn from, and here's another one. Greg Hoffman at The Security Awareness Company, with the blog Security Awareness for Ma, Pa and the Corporate Clueless, tells us about their experience - or success, rather.
What do you expect/hope that the blog will deliver in terms of marketing and branding? Something different compared to other ways of communication?
I work for a Computer Security Icon named Winn Schwartau. He's a very colorful character and a legendary author/writer in the Information Security Industry. During the planning of a marketing strategy for his security awareness company's new products last spring, I began studying the world of blogs. We had a limited advertising budget so I needed to find a way to connect with the world while using the same style and voice Winn had crafted over the years.
Since then, we quickly created an online community of "security aware" readers. Winn contributes regularly by sharing stories, anecdotes and what I call "relevant rants" about computer, people or physical security threats. We also post trade magazine articles and expert columns to help give our readers the knowledge they need to combat these threats.
This content is the foundation of our monthly newsletter and our bi-weekly blog update, which are emailed to a double opt-in audience. The company has been around for 15 years but blogging has helped brand our company as the premier Security Awareness team in the industry; all while saving us time and money.
Has clients or prospects reacted in any way? What do they think?
Winn received substantial feedback from meeting people at the tradeshows we visited during the fall. I usually get frustrated that we can't walk ten feet down the aisle of a show without someone stopping to chat with him, but this time, they were talking about the present, mostly, not the past. They were excited about the messages delivered and the general "tone" of the blog.
Winn's phrase, "Security Awareness for Ma, Pa and the Corporate Clueless" was almost scrubbed internally. Not many of the staff liked it for external use. But I knew that Corporate America would understand and forgive us. The title gave us the edge to be heard amongst the increasing crowd of blogs.
Have you seen any concrete results from your blog?
By measuring the daily, weekly and monthly site statistics of the blog and comparing them to our main site statistics, I can see the increase in traffic to and from both. They feed off of each other. Our active sales leads obviously increase on high traffic days but they also range higher on a daily basis compared to this time last year. The "Open" and "Click" rates of our newsletters are also above average as the audience is passionate about the topic and they are always happy to read and download free materials. Finally, because of the power of blog ranking in search engines, we have seen a surge in requests from subcontractors and Corporate Partners asking to join us in our quest to train the masses about computer security.
I don't see any change in our Corporate Blog strategy in the near future. The demand is extremely high for the content we provide and computer security threats will only get worse as technology evolves.
Blogs in Higher Ed: Personal Voice as Part of Learning
From eLearning Dialogue:
"The use of Internet technology to facilitate interaction, communication, and collaboration is well documented but its use in establishing and developing 'personal voice' as part of learning is also now being addressed through the use of blogs. Finding personal voice as a pedagogical method is important to establish learner identity and focus, and journaling has long been recognized as an effective way to provide space for this to occur. The blog, however, provides a context in which personal voice can be 'published' by the student, which means that attention is given to content, relevancy, and connection with learning outcomes to a higher degree than a traditional journal submission."
Blog Potential Beyond Current Uses
Michael Schrage, MIT, thinks blogging software has potential beyond their currently uses, Shel Holtz writes. FAQs could for example be replaced with better documentation with the help of blogs and wikis.
In another quote, a Ferris Research analyst says "someone significant" has to get into the blog software business before blogs can reach this potential. I fully agree - and I think it has to be Microsoft.
Want Your Marketing Blog Sponsored?
MarketingSherpa.com are looking for marketing blogs to sponsor. They don't say much about how it's supposed to work, so you have to contact them to learn more.
Why Corporate Boards Should Blog
The IR Web Report provides a long list of reasons for boards to start blogging and 10 thoughts, debates, myths and issues boards might discuss in the hope they won't need to blog.
It's two unusually well researched articles. The short summary:
Blogs "...enables board to get their message out and at the same time provide a forum for shareholders to provide informal input to their elected board representatives".
The authors quote a National Association of Corporate Directors and Council of Institutional Investors task force report (pdf) to underscore their point of view:
"Many shareowners have been frustrated over the years by what they see as a wall between them and their elected representatives, the board of directors. They feel that they have no input into selecting director nominees, no meaningful choice in their election, and, generally, no hope of ever hearing from or exchanging views with them."
I second that - and the potential of blogs in this context.
The articles dig deep into the question of board blogging. They discuss everything from Trackback, comments and Regulation FD to possible subjects of a board blog.
"Ultimately, the benefit of board blogs are the same as any good shareholder communication program", IR Web Report concludes.
Chinese Corporate Blogging
Is Frontier Investment Management the first Chinese corporate blog?
Well, I don't know but as others have showed real estate is a business where blogs really could add value for companies.
Internal Blogging More In Focus - Blog Consultants Beware
Internal blogging is discussed more and more. It doesn't surprise me. If we compare to web communication in general an intranet is for many companies more effective in terms of ROI than an external site. Blogs will, I believe, be another example of this - and that should worry blog consultants.
It could be a coincidence, but also a sign of the times when Intranet Journal writes To Blog or Not to Blog: "...the biggest reason to blog internally is to capitalize on the opportunity to encourage communications and knowledge flow upwards in the organization. Existing communication channels within companies tend to come from on high, be nicely polished, highly wordsmithed by many including the lawyers, and distributed to the masses. With a blog, the power of communication is given to individuals at much lower ranks within the organization."
If we really do witness a growing interest in internal blogging - and a growing use - I interpret it as a maturing blog market. I hope the consultants trying to find blog work can face the challenge.
It's one thing to for example build a personal brand with blogging for an individual. It's an entirely different thing to try to change corporate culture, working methods and so on with blogging as one of many tools. Where a good writer and decent businessman can build a blog consultancy to do the first, it takes strategic organizational and communicative competence to do the other.
Among the many hopeful blog consultants of today I'm sure there are those who's got what it takes. But in general I don't think that blog expertise is enough for internal blogs consulting. And that points in the direction of large agencies as the blog consulting market's winners.
For the record: I don't work at a large agency...
Corporate Blogging A Failure For Tower
According to this blogger his company's test of internal corporate blogging has been a failure so far. Too few posts, too few comments, people aren't reading, there's not enough content, too few employees use aggregators.
When I first saw this I thought we could have a good example to learn from, but they've only been on it for a week or so. It's way too early to know anything about the interest in and potential of their blogging.
I'm convinced that all of them will read if the content is good enough. If the posts helps them do their job, people will read. Publishing is - has always been - exactly that easy and exactly that hard.
But if I would give them one tip it would be to forget about the aggregator "problem". An internal blog doesn't have be read in a news reader. Most companies have some kind of intranet or electronical project space. Publish the blog there. Aggregators are only useful if you read a lot of blogs or other feeds. If these people don't, why make it more difficult than it has to be?
I also think the number of comments is a useless measure of success. A blog can be an extremely powerful resource without ever being commented on. It all depends on what the purpose of the blog is. If the only, or main, objective is to have discussions a blog is the wrong tool from the beginning. There are so many other ways to solve this in an internal corporate setting (message boards, IM etc).
Me And Bill Living In Different Worlds
What do you say about this? Bill Gates in a Gizmodo interview: "Almost everything that's being published on the web now has RSS notification on it, so what would have been a website I would have gone to my favorites list and looked at, now I get the notification".
If he's quoted correctly, and actually thinks this, I'm worried about how little he reads. Counting everything I want to read on the web less than 10% offers me a feed.
If he on the other hand means that those who publish feeds get my attention more regularly I agree.
Gates also says "I think blogging is super-important and we've got to do a lot more software". That I like. We can talk open-source all night long, and in theory it's great, but a massive breakthrough for corporate blogging needs Microsoft. A lot of people out there will not consider blogging easy until the necessary tools are totally integrated into Office. Sadly, many would say, but the goal is more important than the means to reach it.
Collective Blogging More Suited For Vortals Than Portals
Breaking News Blog could be a good idea. It is "a collective of bloggers who each focus on a niche news topic". You can read a bit more about it at ProBlogger and public(mind).
I like the idea of developing the group blog concept and "collective blogging" is an interesting thought. But what on earth does medical research have to do with Jessica Simpson? Or credit cards with MP3-players (unless you use the first to pay for the second...)? And why can't readers subscribe to the collection of blogs with one feed?
To me this is just the idea of portals all over again, now with blogs. Still, I think they're on to something interesting in line with for example WebProNews. I actually think collective blogging would be more suited for WebProNews-like vortals(?) than general portals. To make it collective in a more true sense the bloggers probably also should agree upon themes to blog about certain days or weeks, even if they still ran their own blogs. That would add value for me as a reader.
Had A Good Night's Sleep At The PR Dept...?
Say you buy a Motorala A1000. If you're like most people you tell your friends what you think. If you're an ordinary blogger you maybe mention it, or even write a review. But if you're Richard Gatarski you start a blog entirely devoted to describing every possible angle of using a A1000.
We all see the implications of this - depending on Richard's experience this can become either a PR success or a PR nightmare for Motorola. Nothing strange there, that's what we can expect from blogs. What I still don't get is how the manufacturers (in this case Motorola) dares not to blog.
I have a P910i, not a A1000. I would love to read a blog about P910i. If Sony Ericsson starts it I'll read. I will also read if someone else starts it. How is it possible for SE's communications department to wake up in the morning feeling calm about that fact?
Blogs As Project Management Tools
Cutting Through - A live case study: "Blogs aren't just for marketing - there are many areas of the business where they can help improve information flow, reduce clutter and avoid the dreaded 'but I didn't know about that' situation. Here's ten ways that we've used blogs for managing projects - both internally and with our clients."
- Communicating with project stakeholders
- Replacing paper
- Building issue blogs
- Capturing information snippets
- Publicising the project progress
- Reducing email overload
- Capturing requirements
- Circulating screenshots
- Keeping team members up-to-date
- Provide an automatic audit trail
Jeremy Fired For Blogging
Jeremy C. Wright was fired for blogging today. Apparently his employer claims he was "divulging company secrets in a public space". He promises more details soon.
I'm sorry to hear this Jeremy. For the rest of us this is an important reminder. Jeremy is neither the first nor the last to experience this. There is a potential conflict between the nature of blogging (openness, transparency, conversation) and organizations' interest of controlling their external communications.
We will see blogging policies in many places - and that's a good thing. But a policy can't cover all possible situations, so I guess this is something we all have to learn to live with.
It Took Some Time - But Here The Major Agencies Come
MWW Group Launches Blog 360 Marketing Practice
More Than Links To Blogs' Search Engine Success
To me blogs are a strategic business communication tool. I usually consider the fact that blogs rank high in search engines to be a positive side effect. But I also recognize that for some people search engine optimization, SEO, is a major reason for blogging - and I have found it to be a good reason for others to start thinking about blogging at all. Here's a list of explanations to why your blog probably will rank high in search engines. And it's more to it than just the links.
The links are important, though. Especially to Google. Yahoo and the MSN Beta seems to give content related factors more weight in my experience. But even with Google the key to your success doesn't lie in links alone. If you want traffic through search engines you must get the basics right too.
So, here's my take on why blogs rank high in search engines.
- Keywords, key phrases
- Straight to the point
- Each post's page structure
- Coding
- One subject per post
- The blog site's information structure
- Links then...?
If I wanted to pick one single reason I would actually choose this one: In a blog you talk.
You engage in conversations. You think out loud, in a way. The things you say are (hopefully) everything but the standard corporate bullxxxx.
This means you are filling the engines' databases with relevant keywords - relevant because most of us search for the words or phrases we use daily. The same words you use in the blog because you talk instead of sending messages to the target audience.
Straight to the point
How many blog posts have you seen with this kind of headline: "Our software system solution for world-wide data quality"? How many corporate sites have you seen...?
This point is related to the first one but it adds one extra dimension. Not only do we in blogs speak like real, living people in the words we use - we say it directly. Straight to the point.
There are certainly exceptions to this, I admit that. But generally speaking I have found it to be true in many business blogs. To say what you want to say as fast as possible is important, which leads me to my next reason.
Each post's page structure
It's more or less standard in blog design to use the post's title/headline as the page's title (together with the blog name). With my two previous reasons in mind you now see how the html title is filled with tasty keywords. And that's the most important place to have them. That's where search engines expect to find the best clue to what your page is about, and they rank the words there high in comparison to other positions in the code. Speaking about code...
Coding
If you use blog templates they will probably be an example of good coding. Most I've seen has been at least. It's often a table-less design, an extensive use of style sheets, correct coding where headlines not only are larger and bold but actual H1's, H2's and so on. It's a clean code - good for browser compability, good for visitors with disabilities. Good for search engine spiders.
Here you have a potential risk. If you just use the old CMS templates for your regular site, you may loose this advantage. The solution is of course to redesign all of it in line with this "modern" web design.
Finally, some reasons relating to information structure.
One subject per post
This is all about keyword density, which is the ratio of the word someone searches for against the total numbers of words on the web page. Most blog posts are rather short, and they're often about one subject. That means a good chance of a high keyword density - especially if you compare it to a standard corporate web site where you try to tell about all your products on one page, or very few pages.
The blog site's information structure
Blogs are "flat" sites. They have a first page (level 1), current posts (level 2), about page (level 2), archive pages (level 2) and archived posts (level 3). That's it.
It's not clear exactly how important this is. Some claim spiders don't regularly index very deep sites and that low-level pages are given lower ranking, others say this is not a factor to care about.
Links then? Well, they will do you good too. A high Google PageRank is obviously better than a low. But if you don't get the above things right, the PageRank won't mean as much to you as it otherwise would have.
Blog Awards: You Won't Get My Vote - I Don't Want Yours
There are things in life you notice with constant surprise, that you don't understand all the fuss about. To me all competitions and awards in the realm of marketing, advertising and PR are such things. Doesn't people see that the emperor has nothing on...?
It is Insideblogging's 2005 Business Blogging Awards that got me thinking about this. Again, I might add. I've never liked awards in communications - they're meaningless at best, counterproductive at worst.
I think Bruce Mau Design Inc's Incomplete Manifesto for Growth sums it up pretty well: "Don't enter awards competitions. Just don't. It's not good for you."
Award contests are meaningless for several reasons. One is that there often are too many, as with blogs right now. But for me it wouldn't help if there was only one. And that's because I've never seen an award that actually measures the thing that counts: Results.
If we're talking about business communications, as I am, all efforts are designed to fulfil a purpose. With a blog it can be to make a certain brand more known. It can also be to establish the CEO as a industry expert in the eyes of maybe 100 key clients. Or it can be to get some input in the product development process. These can't be compared - even if we theoretically could measure each one of them, it's impossible to compare the results. But in an award contest they all could fit a "Best Tech Blog" category.
So who will win then? Well, generally in competitions like this we see the power of
- the lowest common denominator (a contestant that irritates as few as possible, which makes them an easy choice)
- the establishment (long publishing history equals many readers equals many votes, even if size of readership doesn't necessarily relate to results at all).
This is where communication competitions becomes potentially counterproductive. If the awards are seen as important the winners will influence others. People will be inspired by - or even try to imitate - them. But what are they inspired by in that case? Not results, anyway.
Now, what I have said is only relevant if we take competitions/awards seriously. If we don't, there's no problem. And I can surely relate to why many people think it would be funny to be awarded. If you're one of them - good luck!
Blogs Are Not Social Enough?
Stuart Henshall is giving up traditional blogging. He says: "For the most part a blog is a static repository while the world is a living organism. I want to breath life into change. Thus I need to open source my approach to writing, sharing, and becoming part of a broader collective intelligence. You simply can't do that with blogs. Oh you can share editing privaledges and blogs are excellent at top down hierarchical communications. So blogs are blasted out into the blogosphere and if you are lucky you are swamped with links and trackbacks. Then posts age and they are forgotten."
I don't agree in all respects. For one thing, I think blogs are excellent as tools for top down communications - but also the other way around. But he does point to one important fact: Blogs aren't that social. It is difficult to track conversations, we are in fact publishing instead of collaborating and so on.
From a business perspective this is actually positive, in a way. Blogs aren't a tool that will change organizations totally. We must realize that they're just one more tool. They have some potentially powerful advantages and they will fit into the communications of most organizations. Neither more nor less.