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Nokia Blog Or Not?
BusinessWeek's Blogspotting claims that this blog is a marketing blog that Nokia uses to promote a new phone. I don't get it. I find no official connection to Nokia at all. But it is an interesting example of a product blog, so go over there and take a look. And if Nokia is involved in any way, I congratulate them for their guts to have all these voices freely(?) talk about their product.
UPDATE: My suspicion was right, and Blogspotting's post is now updated with the information that they were wrong. Also see the comments to this post for more background (thanks Jacob and Dominic). Two things:
1. The blog is, as I said, an interesting example of a product blog. A lot of manufacturers will probably have to get used to seeing these about their products. Good for them, I believe, and certainly good for us consumers.
2. It surprises me that two experienced BW journalists did this mistake. Sure, everyone is allowed to make a mistake but this is the key journalistic skill -- to research enough to be right. Especially when it's this obvious that their initial conclusion at least could be questioned. I ask myself if this is the way journalists in general see blogs: a place where standards are lower?
No Thanks To RSS Ads
I haven't seen it in the feeds I subscribe to yet, but Google ads in feeds are now a reality (although still as a test). Publishers has always been able to do it themselves but with a Google Adsense service for this, it might just become too much.
I don't like the idea at all -- but I guess it had to happen. As the Economist tells us, online advertising is becoming a serious rival to the traditional sort. From that perspective RSS is a threat to Google. To keep the momentum ads got to be where the readers are.
Dave Taylor thinks this corrupts the idea of information syndication and I agree. He suggests a solution if you must have ads: offer an excerpt-only advertising-free feed. That's a reasonable compromise.
Here's another idea. It can't be that hard for a creative programmer to find a way to filter out Google Adsense...
We should also remember that (as long as you own your feed) it's your choice to not publish ads.
Technical Question: Safe To Move Ones Feed?
I need help and would appreciate if someone could enlighten me on a technical question. I found the following in a comment to Neville's blog: "Now, when most RSS aggregators encounter a permanent redirect, they change the stored feed URL to point to the new location (as they should). This is important, since it enables feed producers to move their feeds around without affecting those reading their feeds."
Is this really true? Is it true for both client side and server side aggregators (for example Bloglines)? How do I as a publisher do the "permanent redirect"?
I'm asking because I want to change publishing platform. I had hoped for some development of Blogger (trackback, categories etc.) but nothing happens. At the same time, I don't want to lose you -- the readers of this blog. And the fact is that I generally find myself ignoring bloggers' pleas to update feed subscriptions, thinking "I'll do it later".
Viral Marketing - Is It Infectious?
In a thesis from Copenhagen Business School Viral Marketing is said to be relevant for "nearly every type of organisation". It's "...particularly efficient for
branding, pre-launches, and establishments of relations to new target groups."
The paper (pdf via Kommunikationsforum) is in Danish, but there is an executive summary in English. Some excerpts from it:
The advantages of viral marketing are low costs, great reach, high credibility, high efficiency and the possibility of continuous campaign adjustments. The downfalls are the extent of the reach of failed campaigns, the lack of control, risks that the viral message is perceived as spam and the limited possibility for segmentation.
Memetic explains why some ideas, memes, spread like wildfire while others merely reach a small group of people. Four main categories of success criteria are identified: Objective, subjective, intersubjective and meme-centred. The better a viral campaign fulfils these criteria, the greater the chance of success it has through the survival stages. Successful viral campaigns have a tendency to
include an element of humour, violence or sex in order to spread. Consequently, organisations need to reflect on these issues in respect to the company image and target group before integrating viral marketing in their marketing mix.
PR, Advertising Proves Information Technology's Historical Shortcomings
One of the advantages of beeing at a conference is the sudden meeting, a short discussion with someone, and - voila - you got yourself a new perspective. At Les Blogs, I met a Norwegian guy who argued that advertising and PR are makeshift solutions -- proof of the fact that information technology during industrialization couldn't keep pace with production technology. Proof of nothing but a shortcoming, that is. Here's (roughly) what he said:
"For ages, all businesses has had two major missions. To produce the goods (or services) and to take care of its customers. 150 years ago a well-trained shoemaker could complete a pair of shoes in one day. Say he did six pair of shoes in a week -- that meant he met six customers per week.True? Perhaps not. But it is a challenging perspective to a PR pro.
Then production technology developed rapidly. The shoemaker built a factory and manufactured 1,000 pair of shoes per week.
Now it became impossible for him to meet the customers, because information technology (his means to meet the customers) couldn't match the development pace of production technology. Instead he started to advertise, market and do PR. And that's what his sons and daughters have been doing for 150 years to "take care" of their customers. But that has only been intermediary solutions.
If the shoemaker had the option, back in 1855, to start a blog he would have done so. And we would never have invented mass marketing."
To you who I talked to: Sorry, but I didn't get your name. Please continue this discussion here or in your own blog and let me know. Thanks.
Ups And Downs At Les Blogs
Back home again after Les Blogs, I find it hard to summarize the conference. Was it good or bad? Both, I would say. I'm actually somewhat disappointed at the strategic level, or depth, of the speakers and panels. I didn't learn something entirely new and I hoped I would. But there were bits and pieces worth to remember. I published some quick, out of context, quotes from for example Joichi Ito and Euan Semple and they were both engaging speakers.
On the other hand it was great to meet people there. Neville who I sat next to, Guillaume and many more.
One idea I'll steal for my next conference is the backchannel -- a chat room where everyone in the audience could participate (if they had a laptop, and most did), and the chat was shown at the big screen in the meeting room. People used it to ask questions, comment on what the speakers said, plea for a Nokia charger or whatever. A great way to interact as an otherwise passive listener. And it made even the more uninteresting parts of the conference fun.
Was this a "defining event" for (corporate) blogs in Europe. Don't think so. But I'm glad I was there.
Les Blogs: Quote, Euan Semple (BBC)
"The BBC bulletin board is the second most visited internal site."
"People are people, having a tolerance for sozialising is significant."
"People who had previously no presence in the organization are becoming key people.".
Les Blogs: Quote, Lee Bryant
About enterprise systems: "Top-down is totally off-sync with how companies operate today.S
Les Blogs: Quote, Paolo Valdemarin
About group blogs: "People tend to listen to other people so we usually prefer one single voice."
Les Blogs: Quote, Darren Barefoot
About who's to blog in a company: "Never let the PR folks blog. Everyone else can."
I don't agree, but that's another story.
Les Blogs: Quote, Charlie Schick
About conversational content: "It's not about the photo, video, text as such - it's about you beeing able to say did you see that photo, video, text..."
Les Blogs: Quote, Joichi Ito
Joi Ito about marketing: "We're telling you what we're thinking. You can stop advertising and start listening."
Les Blogs: Conference about to start
Sitting here waiting for it to start, obviously a lot of people still waiting to get in. If this posting via e-mail works, I'll try to give you the most interesting quotes of the day.
Blogs Fit The French Culture
When a Swede, or Scandinavian in general, feel unfairly treated by authorities, companies, life -- many of us say: "This they wouldn't have accepted in France. They would have striked or unloaded garbage in front of the government buildings or..."
Could this cultural preference be an explanation to the success of blogs in France? An inherited drive for making your voice heard? In Vive les Blogs! Wired News argues that could be the case.
In exactly four hours I'm on a flight for Paris -- maybe I can do some research myself. But this blog will take a pause for a few days. When I get back I'll give you my view on Les Blogs, unless of course everything already has been said by the live bloggers at the event.
BusinessWeek: Catch Up On Blogs. Now.
Quite a bit of excitement this morning in the business blogosphere about BusinessWeek's cover story "Blogs Will Change Your Business". Their key message is what many of us been saying for a while, and the ones we want to talk to are (I guess) reading BusinessWeek:
"Look past the yakkers, hobbyists, and political mobs. Your customers and rivals are figuring blogs out. Our advice: Catch up..."Now, don't come running in six months saying you didn't understand the potential of blogs :-)
Lawyers Take Control Of Macromedia Blogs
The news that Adobe is to aquire Macromedia is affecting, profoundly, Macromedia bloggers. Mike Chambers writes in his blog:
"Note, because this post contains some forward looking statements about the combination of our companies, and because we are now in a regulatory period, I have to include the legalese included below (it is longer than the actual post!)."He continues:
"Also, because this weblog post is one of the documents that have to be turned over to regulators, I have to disable comments (as those technically become part of the document / post)."And Mike is not the only one to be limited by all this. John Dowdell:
"Sorry I didn't post today -- I've been waiting on getting approval for a post -- rare, and in this case, apparently low in the priority stack. I hope that this single post here is okay for apologizing for not posting at all today."Mike and John provide us with a healthy reminder that corporate blogs are part of the official corporate communication, and therefore subject to the rules that apply in situations like this.
I don't think this is strange. I can't help wonder, though, if it could be done differently? Is there a way to keep the conversation alive anyway? Couldn't Macromedia's approval process be faster so that blogs aren't in legal blackout?
Thank you Kal!
Character Blog Discussion -- A Taste Of What's To Come
Where Steve Rubel completely trashes the idea of character blogs, Rok Hrastnik embraces them:
It's about entertainment in its purest form and finding improved ways of relating to the brand and the characters that embody it.Personally, I lean towards Steve's opinion even if Rob's got some interesting reflections. But I don't spend my days worrying about character blogs at all. The way I see it, they'll probably be tested some more. If they work -- fine. If not, well, that's fine too.
Does a ten year old care about the person or the company behind Mickey Mouse? Does he want to read about how the character was developed, what's going on behind the scenes and so on?
In most cases, no. He just wants to hear more from that character, even make him part of his daily routine, "watching" how he lives out his life.
But Steve's and Rob's discussion to me illustrates a more profound discussion. Rob says it himself: Blogs "...are now main-stream and most of their readers don't really know or care about the fact that they're reading a blog."
Now that's a discussion -- and development -- we will see more of. What happens when the blog geeks becomes dinosaurs instead of gurus? When a blog is just another form of web content that we use if we need to?
I'm certain we will see many of the blog features integrated into corporate web sites. The reverse chronologial order of content, the personal touch, the tone, the comments etc. But we will be indifferent to the term "blog" as such, and as a result of that all the things a blog "should be". So maybe I do lean towards Rob after all?
All About Social Bookmarking, Tagging And The Tools
If you want to know more -- in depth -- about social bookmarking and tagging, D-Lib Magazine's general overview is the place for you. Not only does it provide lots of links and a review of the available tools. It explains what it's all about too:
"To anyone familiar with top-down classification schemes, this approach could look like a fearful muddle. But this doesn't mean that it is without value - after all, the Web itself appears from the outside as a somewhat messy affair (almost its defining characteristic). Rather, this is an altogether different - and, we would argue, complementary - form of classification. Compared to the traditional top-down approach, folksonomy data is much noisier but also more flexible, more abundant and far cheaper."Take a look at the editorial as well: "...the power of computer networks has put a powerful organizational capability in the hands of ordinary information consumers. Will it work?"
Thanks bloggrik
Reboot In Copenhagen
I'm getting ready to head for Paris and Les Blogs, but I'm already curious about the next big conference: reboot 7.0 in Copenhagen, June 10-11. An exciting program is taking form.
Well, I'm just a bridge away from Copenhagen so why not?
Big Blog Breakthrough
Blogs The Latest Tool In Corporate Arsenals: "...it's estimated that around 45% of the largest 1,000 publicly held companies in North America have blogs or plan to start them sometime this year." That's amazing.
Do You Need A Group Blog Or An Ezine?
Take a look over at Tim Yang's Geek Blog where he elaborates on the differences between a group blog and an ezine. He discusses it in relation to these nine points:
1. Editorial control
2. Delivery
3. Regularity
4. Focus
5. Commercialisation
6. Article quality and length
7. Reader feedback
8. Time sensitivity
9. Linear vs complex structure
Online Ad Agency Carat Makes Blog Entry
Carat Interactive will launch a new practice for clients interested in employing blogs as a marketing tool, according to MediaPost.
Among the Carat clients that will be given a three-part blogging "starter kit" we find TiVo and Pfizer. While TiVo seems logical and not very surprising, Pfizer could become a groundbreaker of GM dimensions.
Now, they will of course only be given the kit. They may not use it all, and they may stop using it before the actual "blogging yourself"-part. It's still interesting -- and I also find it noteworthy that Carat initiates this. They're not the first agency to offer a blog practice, but to my knowledge they're the first major agency involved in media planning and buying to do it.
Anyone ready to call blogs a mainstream marketing tool yet...? I'm not. But we're getting there. Fast.
Get Used To The Commercial Blogosphere
It is surprising -- or maybe not -- but the discussion about blogs and commercialisation is alive and well. This time in Finland, it seems.
The Company Where All 110 Employees Have A Blog
At Macaw all employees have their own internal blog. They get it when they get their network, intranet and e-mail account.
Not only do they have blogs -- they use them. 90 percent of the 110 employees are internal bloggers.
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Macaw is a Dutch company specialized in building internet solutions based on Microsoft technology. The company was founded in 1994. When Lisette Hoogstrate, marketer at Macaw, told me that they all have blogs - and that almost everyone use them - I didn't believe her. But it's true.
- Of the 110 employees 90 percent blogs, although some are a lot more active than others. The core group of active bloggers consists of about 25 Macaw employees, Lisette writes in an e-mail.
The blogs are mainly used to share knowledge about technical issues or solutions. But also fun stuff, politics, current events or pictures appear as blog entries. The internal blog system started because of one employee who believed in the idea and wanted to give it a try.
Developers blog, the CEO blogs, the financial manager blogs and, as the screenshot tells us, Lisette herself blogs. Apparently all these posts start conversations too. To 1,509 posts there are 4,155 comments.
As you know, I believe in blogging. But even I couldn't help asking if it really is effective for Macaw. All this writing, reading, commenting -- isn't it too time consuming?
- I can't say it is effective in the sense that we have statistics to prove it. I do know that everyone appreciates the blogs and the possibility to share thoughts and ideas with your colleagues. One of Macaw's core values is openness, which is of course greatly promoted this way. It might take up time that could otherwise be spent on a client projects. On the other hand, you might save someone time by providing a solution to a problem he or she is experiencing. I'd say the time spent and the time gained balance out pretty evenly, Lisette writes.
Check out their external blogs too!
Time To Discuss Blogs With Ad Agencies (And Others)
Robert Scoble argues over at The Red Couch that you never should let your ad agency write your blog. I agreee - their expertise has nothing to do with blogs. In fact, advertising is in many ways something opposite to blogs.
No problem, then? They to ads, we do blogs?
Not really - and I think we here have a point that needs much more attention. The thing is, you could have a brilliant blog but if you're painting a picture of your company that doesn't match the other messages your customers get, you're in trouble.
It's the basics of integrated communications. What someone learns about you through one channel should be confirmed through other channels. If not, you simply are not credible.
This means that even if ad agencies shouldn't write corporate blogs, their work has an impact on what people think of a corporate blog(ger). And what you write in a blog affects the way ads and other forms of marketing are understood in the minds of our - often - common target groups.
I think we need a more qualified discussion about this. It's not productive to shout "hands off" to the ad agencies. We should say "welcome" instead and figure out how to mix blogs and other channels effectively - without losing the authenticity, honesty and personality of the blog.
It can be done. But it's a major challenge and it will require strategic communicative skills. Do bloggers and other key players have these skills? Does your Communications Director understand conversational tools enough to see their role in relation to other tools?
Get Ready For Global PR Blog Week 2.0
I couldn't participate in any way last year, but I won't miss this one.