More on the Role of Blogs in Business Communication

Here is another follow-on inspired by Andrew McAfee. This time I am adding more to my post, Can You Trust Your Blogger? What is the Role of Blogs in Business Communication? I briefly mentioned Andrew's post, Evidence of the Value of a Blog, at the end of the first post. It deserves more attention.

He provides major credit to his blog for his reputation in the IT field that led to his selection as number 38 on the top 100 Most Influential People in IT by Ziff Davis. He stated that an article is a one time event. Then added, “I’ve found my blog to be a fantastic tool for continuing the conversation. This blog has allowed me to air ideas on E2.0 and other topics as frequently as I want, and at the length I feel is appropriate. In other words, the person determining the editorial calendar for these ideas is me, not an editor.” Exactly.

Andrew then goes on to relate a conversation with Paul Levy, the CEO of Boston’s Beth Israel hospital and his Facebook friend. Paul and Andrew are also my Facebook friends, although I have not yet met them in person, and I trust them anyway (a reference to my last post on trusting bloggers). Andrew words again tell the story quite well.

“He (Paul) brought up the same point - that he can blog on issues he cares about as much as he wants. If the topic is of broad interest and his posts are good, they’ll continue to be read and can help shape thinking on the issue. It occurred to me that without a blog, his ability to do this is greatly reduced. Because of his position he might get to write a single opinion piece in the Boston Globe, and I guess his staff could continue to send out PR releases, but that’s about it. His blog greatly amplifies his voice.” Exactly.

I learned about Paul’s blog through my friend Jessica Lipnack who has the blog, Netage Endless Knots. Jessica has organized a panel on what blogging brings to business for the Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Boston. Our session will be June 10 at 2:15. Hope to see you there and we can continue this conversation in person.

Here is a nice postscript from the blogger, Kevin O'Keefe, who writes the blog, Real Lawyers Have Blogs. Kevin says, in response to the posts around this issue, "Thousands of people read my blog. They must trust something I say. I'm not that entertaining. People put their butts on the line at least once a month asking me to speak in front of large groups. Just received invites to speak at the Texas Bar Annual Conference and to keynote at a Wisconsin Bar Association Conference. I don't know any of the people who invite me. They're reading my blog. If they didn't trust what I was writing, would I get an invite?" Kudos to Kevin. There have been a lot of legal blogs for the start. It is a category that makes a lot of sense. I ma glad to see Kevin getting good take up.

Comments

[jessica lipnack]

Nice, Bill. Thanks so much for this post. I'm really looking forward to our panel at Enterprise 2.0, bound to be the very best one there.

[Bill Ives]

Jessica - I am also looking forward to it. Bill

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