Employees at technical corporations, like Microsoft, were the first to adopt blogging practices. Many years later, web companies like Technorati have blogs and in recent times, news corporations like the NY Times have allow column like blogs to roam out there in the wild.
The problem with corporations and weblogs is that the term weblog is very vague and while corporations would do to follow the rules of conduct, (Being polite, responding to comments and being honest.) that does not mean that all corporations will use blogs to the same end.
In Robert Scoble's/Shel Israel's book, Naked Coversation, the authors postulate that blogs will be used in the future by corporations to enter conversations with their conversation as a way of extending PR. In the example of Microsoft's Channel 9 weblog was used as a genuine tool to communicate with experts in the field. (If you watch the videos and posts, it's pretty technical stuff.)
But let's look at the Comedy Central Insider Blog for the Sarah Silverman Program and we can soon see that the style of blogging is very different from that of a blogger like Scoble and his camera.
The blogs main purpose isn't to enter a conversation with customers but rather to promote future shows and provide bonus materials to the viewer. I also suspect that such sites are used to provoke/attract an audience. Users can make comments and link to blog content but the Sarah Silverman doesn't even appear in the comments. (Probably a smart P.R. move.)
The NY Times has a whole slew of column blogs like this one, the Screen and Arts blog by Virginia Heffernan. The blog doesn't represent the company but rather serves as a way to increase traffic and attract reader attention. More commenting means more user interaction and more hits. The blog doesn't in any way resemble Microsoft's Channel 9 nor Comedy Centrals Silverman (hilarious comic btw) blog.
- Microsoft (Control public image, put a human face on a hugely successful company.)
- Comedy Central (Promote content, provide fan extras, invite negative comments. Stir up the pot. Aka be provocative.)
- NY Times (Use comments in blogs to better engage reader, blog as a source of revenue, not used as a form of PR in any way.)
Not all corporate blog scenarios are like Microsoft and I doubt that all companies will react to constructive criticism in the same way. Nor do companies use blogs to the same objective.
3 comments:
I think you make great observations about how corporations are using blogs. It seems as though most are using them to achieve some end, even if it is not the same end, that will [hopefully] benefit the company. Comedy Central's goal is to increase its viewers so it promotes its shows (I agree Sarah Silverman is hilarious!). The NY Times uses its blogs to increase traffic to its site, and gain more readers. And Microsoft uses its blog to improve the company's image and serve as a forum for techies to communicate.
For me, this is a new way of seeing blogs. I never once thought that you could spin off your blogs to serve different purposes. After thinking about it for a while, I do believe it is possible and I am curious to see how many different ways you can use blogs. Is there a set number of styles or is the technology too innovative and impossible to standardize. Good insight mike, keep em coming.
Its interesting to think about blogs being used as a tool for the company or a way to further their profits.
While I realize that companies use them for different reasons and more so for marketing tactics, I never used the words blogging and profits together, which after reading a few of the posts and through the book, I have now come to see.
Post a Comment