Blogging from the board room

One of the most notable uses of blogging software comes from the most unlikely of sources. Corporate CEO’s are talking to their customer’s through their blogs. The technology has given the general consumer access to the head of the board. The most well known blog from an executive is vice-chairman of General Motors Bob Utz's FastLane blog. Anoter notable blog comes from the head of Edelman, the largest privately held P.R. firm in the world. Richard Edelman regularly updates his blog on company related topics and his personal business activities.

Public Relations and Blogging

Blogging has several implications for the Public Relations industry. The technology has created another communication channel for consumers to find out information about products, companies, trends and scandals. The different affordances of the technology along with the type of users make blogging a dangerous area for maintaining a company'’s reputation. The ability to post instantaneously, and without restriction enables any person to slander or complain about a bad experience. One recent blog controversy saw google employee Mark Jen fired for posting information about his work experiences on his blog. To learn more about this story check out this cnet link or read Mark'’s blog.

After his unfortunate experience he has issued this disclaimer on his blog:

Disclaimer

Hi, my name is Mark Jen. I work for Plaxo. I used to work for Google and before that, I worked for Microsoft. The opinions expressed here are my personal opinions. Content published here is not read or approved by Plaxo before it is posted and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Plaxo. No warranties or other guarantees will be offered as to the quality of the opinions or anything else offered here. Enjoy

The Diva Marketing Blog

The Diva Marketing Blog

This website is an excellent resource of information on companies using blogs as a part of their marketing strategy

Blog Options

Blogging can have many uses for businesses of all sizes. To implement the technology into a company's knowledge management system or onto the company's website it is important to understand the range of software options that are available. This link compares eight different options.

Blog software comparison chart

Duct Tape Marketing

After studying Arthur Andersen last week the class concluded that the CEO Joe Beradino should have had a press conference to spearhead the controversy. This blog has a post offering advice for those very difficult interviews.

Check out the post: 7 Steps to the Perfect Media Interview

Blogs Will Change Your Business

Blogs Will Change Your Business: "Blogs Will Change Your Business
Look past the yakkers, hobbyists, and political mobs. Your customers and rivals are figuring blogs out. Our advice: Catch up...or catch you later "

My Own Research

I recently submitted my own study on Sports Blogging entitled "An Examination of Baseball Weblogs," to the Rochester Institute of Technology's Undergraduate Communication Conference.

Here's a link to the site


This is my paper's abstract:

"An Examination of Baseball Weblogs"” is an empirical study of the various functions of sports weblogs, focusing on the spread of baseball information. The paper finds that sports blogs help filter online information, extend the discussion of less-significant sports stories, offer niche information, and assist in the creation of an online sports community. Sports blogs are limited in their affect on the sports information industry and the credibility of the content is often undermined by writing style rather than actual content. Sports blogs, however, have the potential to thrive in the future because the technology is conducive to the specialized information the websites typically provide.

Wikipedia

To understand a basic overview of the technology, the many ways that users are using the software, and a long list of the terminology, Wikipedia (a multi-user dynamic blog in itself) is a great resource.

Click here for the link

Blog Technology's Impact on the Internet

Rebecca Blood is one of the foremost authorities on weblog technology. Her website offers an excellent article on the emergence of the technology. Check out the the link

Hammer, Nail: How Blogging Software Reshaped the Online Community