Business Week ran a story recently on the impact of blogging on business. It’s a good overview of what blogs are, how blogging and blogging tools developed and how they are changing the way business interacts with the public. They argue that blogging is as significant as the invention of printing. Both broke barriers by making mass publishing possible and affordable. If you’ve got an Internet connection, just about any old computer and 10 minutes spare you can be a Blogger. It doesn’t mean it will be worth reading or anyone will read it but there is effectively no barrier to publishing worldwide instantly, one thing print did not allow.
Blogs offer low cost, barrier free, instant worldwide publishing – is that something that might change how you do business?
Blogs are available to every employee, every customer, every supplier, every organisation, every person you deal with – is that something that might change how you do business?
Blogs are permanent where posts, positive and negative, remain as long as the blog exists and are easy to find (thanks to search engines) – is that something that might change how you do business?
It doesn’t really matter what a business thinks about blogs. If they choose to create, support, fight or ignore them there will still be blogs that refer to them. It means they have to consider what that means for their business model. They have to decide how to approach blogging within and about the business and do it now: it’s probably happening already.
The impact of blogging on a corporation is something I, and other beta AutoCAD Bloggers, experienced indirectly with the AutoCAD 2006 Preview Blogging. Anyone involved in the AutoCAD Beta NDA with a blog was given the opportunity to post on the upcoming 2006 product release before the official release date. Blog content appeared rapidly; ahead of NDA dates applying to the traditional media, the usual new product announcement and marketing campaign. This raised comment from bloggers, media and even various divisions within Autodesk. Much of that debate was about how blogging fits into established marketing, public relations and media roles. That question is being debated in many industries and forums but its one example of how blogging can impact your business or, if you have a blog, your life.
Blogs Will Change Your Business ~ www.businessweek.com
Look past the yakkers, hobbyists, and political mobs. Your customers and rivals are figuring blogs out. Our advice: Catch up...or catch you laterNevOn: Comment and tips on blogging and business:
For Immediate Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report
All the H&H Reports are great but these sections of this episode are particularly relevant
- The Hobson and Holtz Report - Podcast #29: May 2, 2005
- 26:24 Doc Searls' presentation at Les Blogs - what blogs are and what they're not
- 40:01 Business Week on blogs - the evangelical cover story and who it's aimed at
