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To blog or not to blog

In the early days of the Internet there was a vision of instant communication and sharing with everyone on the planet (some “visionaries” extended beyond the planet – but that is for another blogger to discuss). This vision started with Usenet, then came static webpage’s (first text and then pictures), email, chat rooms, newsgroups, instant messaging, and video conferencing. All the way corporations were determined to leverage and harness these technologies. Egged on by the media which pushed each and everyone of these new technologies as the greatest idea since Alexander Graham Bell first spoke those famous words; “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you”. Monies transferred hands left and right, some firms went bankrupt due to over investing while others got rich selling promises. Blogging is the next logical evolution of this communication thread and again promises the death of email, chat, and yes – the land line phone.

Estimates say some 10,000 to 30,000 new blogs are created daily. However, the vast majority of these are not new at all. They are just upgrades from unorganized static websites and newsgroups with fancy new catch phrases. The media claims that businesses should jump on the wagon for fear of being left behind the times. A similar argument was made a few years back about e-commerce and we all know where that bubble took us.

Is the hype to be ignored? Yes and no. Just like all technologies before it, we can learn some important lessons. Based on the Fortune article, there are two lessons I picked up from this technical “cabbage patch kid”. First, ensure that you do not release a Kryptonite lock that could be picked with a Bic pen (of course, selling the Bic pen may be a good idea). And second, if a product does get attention (blogged) because of a defect; release a statement acknowledging the issue, credit the blogosphere, and fix or recall the product. This is not new school business, but the same old tried and true elements that have made businesses successful for centuries; great quality control, good PR skills and quick reaction to news (good or bad). The major difference these days is the speed at which corporations react. The communication super highway is close to reaching its maximum speed and corporations need to match this speed and accuracy in their communications. Artificial intelligence may speed things up, but at the expense of accuracy of information – with human involvement (the bloggers) the communication will not move much faster then it currently does. By the way, as far as I can tell, Fortune Magazine does not have a blog, nor do the authors of the article. However, there is a blog about the article – go figure.

To blog or not to blog. Blogging is a social activity – almost religious. People of like ideas get together to convince each other that they are right. Does this belong in a corporation? It depends, but probably not. Most corporations are looking into blog’s to deliver “honest and genuine” advice and support to their customers. Isn’t this something all corporations should be doing anyway? This message should be a common thread through all communication avenues the corporation has chosen to reach the customer (i.e. their sales, customer service, and technical service departments). Perhaps the best use of a blog in a corporation is for internal only use to build communities of sharing across the organization. Think of it as the “water cooler” of this millennium. A central corporate blog organized in categories and searchable could be used to flush out new ideas and continually improve the corporation. For the vast majority of non-technical corporations, this is where I see the most blog-value coming from.

posted by CTRL+ALT+DEL @ 12:02 AM