Business 2.0’s Thomas Mucha has a good article on blogs and their marketing implications.
“But in time, and as this latest Web phenomenon becomes more established, blogs will likely become just another standard marketing channel for most companies. “People are only just beginning to figure this out,” Ordahl says. “In many ways corporate blogging issues are just old questions in a new context. I suspect blogs will become less distinguishable from traditional websites and it will all just be — again — about publishing on the Web.”
I think that paragraph sums it up. In time, blogs will become a standard piece of kit for every organization. This will be accelerated as companies understand the need to establish dialogue with their audiences. Some blog initiatives will be successful, some will fail, but they will be commonplace and increasingly important for PR.
You’ll notice that the previous paragraph uses the future tense. Right now blogs are very useful in most technology markets and are an effective tool for communicating with tech-savvy consumers, but I don’t believe they’re mainstream. It seems to me that although blogs are spreading, the biggest concentration remains in the technology sector (as you would expect).
Here’s my prediction: Blogs will become a mainstream component of the majority of web sites and will become a standard communications tactic. However, until that occurs we can expect loads of people promoting the view that they are “mainstream” – and they are not (yet).
Footnote:
Drew takes a view on Blogs in Europe.
Murphy's Law 