Day: October 2, 2003

Phil Gomes evaluates an article from the UK Guardian on the reality of “business blogging” or blogs hosted and written by organizations.

Whilst Business Blogs, and in particular the blogs of those companies who are publicly listed, will be limited in what information they disclose due to legal and other considerations. That doesn’t mean they won’t be useful.

Business Blogs, when well managed, provide a useful and unique view inside an organization.  They promote a level of interactive discussion between a firm and its audience well beyond that of other Internet-tools.

I think everyone wins, when corporations adopt blogging.

From the corporate perspective, you have an opportunity to outline interesting views and opinions that might otherwise have gone unheard.  Further more blogs can provide a cost-efficient means to communicating and sharing information with a wide range of people.

From the consumers’ perspective you get a more human perspective on a company. Business Blogs can also provide a useful well of information on products and services and of course it provides a real platform for sharing your views with the company.

It’s true that Business Blogs are restricted in their nature but that doesn’t diminish the opportunity they present for companies and consumers alike.

There has been a long running discussion on the roles of weblogs and its impact on traditional journalism.  Views have varied from those who think weblogs are the end of journalism as we know it, and those at the other end of the spectrum who believe that blogs have nothing to do with journalism.

As usual, the truth is somewhere in between.

Most of the 1,000,000+ blogs around the Internet have less to do with journalism and more to do with careers, hobbies and the daily trials of peoples’ pets, however there are a number of notable exceptions.

And blogs can certainly add a new dimension to journalism, but the two are not mutally exclusive. No matter what the purists tell you.

Harvard’s Nieman Foundation for Journalism provides a fascinating look at the intersection of blogging and journalism.  They have produced a fantastic in-depth report that provides excellent succinct analysis of how these two universes collide from a whole host of angles.

Given the importance of journalists to the daily lives of most PR professionals this is a highly recommended read.

The entire report (2.9MB) is here in PDF format. The Weblog section starts on page 59.  The full report includes an interesting section on “Journalism and Black America: Then and Now”.

Thanks to Sheila Lennon for the link.

You’ve probably already heard about Alaska Airline’s new spoof site, Sky High Airlines.

It’s a brave move, putting together a website that lampoons the very worst in modern air travel.  Anyone who uses commercial airlines will recognize the irony.

I think Alaska Airlines should be praised for it. Humor, when used carefully, is a powerful tool and I’d be interested to see their web traffic, I’m sure it’s measurably higher.