Blogging for Business

Relatively unknown until the recent advent of easy-to-use, free publishing tools and a rising tide of publicity, blogs can be thought of as regularly updated Internet journals allowing Web users to publish to, connect with and hold an interactive dialogue with a worldwide audience. By the fourth quarter of 2003 there were an estimated two million bloggers worldwide - and the numbers are steadily rising.

Blogging solutions automate the work of publishing content onto the Web, including HTML editing, template development and layout. Blogs are based on a sequential publishing metaphor: the core structural element is a time-stamped entry. Most blogs are postings of thoughts, opinions and links to related news articles, other blogs and Web sites, but the list of B2B blogs and business-oriented Weblogs designed to support business is growing exponentially. Enterprise use of blog technology can target a range of activities, from project management and BI applications to customer support.

"'Enterprise blogging' is a fuzzy concept," Arnold says. "Definitions vary according to whether you are a true believer - as in, blogging will cure all corporate/social ills - or have encountered one of the blogging gurus," Arnold says.

He characterizes two types of enterprise blogs. One, potentially the most important, is blogging within organizations. In-house blogs may attempt to capture an organization's tacit and explicit knowledge by harnessing "organization memory" (OM) or knowledge blogs (k-logs, klogs or wikis). They can also facilitate project management (p-logs), serve as a mechanism for collection, assessment and dissemination of competitor intelligence (CI), or otherwise enhance communication across the organization

Then there is blogging directed at readers outside the organization: an attempt to build a bridge between the enterprise and customers/stakeholders by reporting on developments or engaging their interest in a specific brand or product.

"We differentiate enterprise blogging from other blogging on the basis that it takes place under corporate auspices," Arnold says. "It is thus different from personal blogging, even though many personal blogs are written on company time using company facilities and may centre on life in the office - what one enthusiast called 'online water-cooler conversations'. CIO management of non-official or quasi-official blogging is a challenge similar to management of Web surfing or private e-mail using the organization's network."

Some businesses are already using blogs as a way to connect with customers and provide updated product information, points out Jeffrey H Matsuura, director of the program in law and technology at the University of Dayton in Ohio. Consultants use blogs as a means of networking to demonstrate their expertise and market their services more effectively. Businesses can make use of blogs during a crisis to provide timely and accurate information to customers, which can help reduce the adverse impact and enhance public image. "It is likely that businesses will rely even more on blogs and other forms of rapid communication as more customers become familiar with them," Matsuura says.]

Early business adopters are finding they can have significant impact. Ostrow, a postgraduate student, did a class study last semester comparing different enterprise Web sites. One enterprise, IT consulting firm Gartner, maintains a series of blogs written by its analysts, some freely available, some for clients only. Ostrow's class recognized this as an affective approach. Gartner, the class agreed, was using a more active Web content model than Forrester. By providing fresher information and more of a daily newspaper feel, it was also giving visitors more reason to visit the site more frequently, creating a much "stickier Web site".

That's the idea, says Jim Carolan, Gartner senior director. The first Gartner blogs were published in November of 2002, Carolan says. The research organization started with three blogs directed exclusively to CIO executive members. Today it publishes six active blogs.

"We determined that blogs were a great way to deliver the knowledge of the analyst teams in a rapid, informal and relevant manner," Carolan says. "Gartner has a formal peer review and editorial process for all published research. Blogs enabled us to respond quickly to issues that affected our client base. For example, within hours of the power failure that shut down most of the north-eastern United States in August of 2003 we published a blog with insight and advice from the Gartner Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery analyst team. This in turn helped to increase the readership of analyst research reports."

Lloyd P Trufelman, president of Trylon Communications, a New York-based PR firm specializing in media and technology, says businesses and PR pros should keep Weblogs on their radar screens because a growing audience of Web-savvy newshounds has quickly taken to getting their news and views from them. That blogging trend has caught the notice of established media, which have not only joined in the game, but have come to recognize blogs as authoritative news sources.