While we find the overwhelming enthusiasm of professional blogs and its dramatic
value as a strategic public relations tool interesting, it is not a pool we have
chosen to jump into yet. And it is one we counsel clients to lurk around before
determining if that it is something they want to enter for the long term rather
than simply try and abandon.

Perhaps it is because we know the strengths and weaknesses of the Internet, the
pros and cons of participation as well as the obstacles and opportunities.

Blogs began to emerge a few years ago as an on-line personal diary (open - allowing
comments or closed - locking out inputs). The blogosphere then evolved to one
of social or like interest destinations. Recently it has become the up-to-the-minute
"straight scoop" news location and business/political influence destination.

It has been cited as the place that can help make or break a company, product
or political candidate.

Yet the overwhelming, ultra-positive blog noise for the movie Snakes in the Plane
didn't produce blockbuster earnings on its opening weekend (and after). Some
view this as proof that the personal aspect of the blogosphere is just that.personal.

Political blogs that seemed to be effective in the 2004 elections have been taken
over by political action groups and parties using them as a front for their agendas.
As a result, depending upon your leaning, the blogs are cited as authorities,
bogus, deceitful or simply ignored.

Blogs are simply a cog in the total revolution of the Internet.

Our first encounter with the Net in the '80s was innocent enough.

A group of young people in San Diego running around SDU and the research center
in a beat-up Bug setting folks up on something called ARPANET.

It was a kick working with them to set up third leg of the geekie Net. Soon
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) cropped up across the country, around the globe.

In the '90's folks with the ink still drying on their MBAs promised a new global
opportunity.the Web. Money flowed to stores in the cloud.

Promises of riches were made.

Deaths came slowly.painfully.expensively.

The third remake is the scariest of all because broadband is becoming the coin
of the realm.

People want to be connected.

People want to be organized.

People want to be entertained.

People want to be empowered.

And we're delivering.

New Generation
Web 2.0 which a new generation of public relations folks has grown up with seems
to present a tremendous opportunity for professionals. New avenues have opened
up to us like YouTube, MySpace, audio/video podcasting and most of all the wonder
that many believe PR should "own" - blogging.

Blog - a great way for a company and its management to communicate directly 1:1
with consumers.

The shortcoming is that many professionals don't understand that unlike the Web
1.0 era, Web.20 is not one to many publishing. Instead it is participatory publishing
and is more than the sum of the whole. The area is far from static. It is addictive
and constantly evolving toward its own individualized end.

Leading this evolutionary revolution is DIY entertainment. Digital content is
developing a whole new generation of digital do-it-yourselfers who are taking
advantage of a new series of content creation tools that add functionality in
an easy to use incremental fashion much as Yahoo and Google add simple functions
to the web.

Big product roll-outs are giving way to interactive customer relationships.
There are no longer high priests, enthusiasts, hobbyists and people with lots
of time on their hands. The new evolution is inclusive giving regular people
the tools they need to exchange content and ideas.

What is becoming apparent is that we are entering Renaissance 2.0 that is not
a bandwagon rolling hell-bent for somewhere. It is a new phase of community
wide new creativity that management and public relations people have to learn
how to deal with, work within.

Before you start your blog or encourage management to begin their blog perhaps
you should look closely at the Internet your/their postings will run on (Figure
1).

That's right it isn't a direct conduit from one business person to one consumer.
It is one blog posted that is open literally to the world! More precisely it
is open to every individual who has access to the Internet. As of January, 2006
that was 1.081 million people around the globe.

While the U.S. has the largest total number about 18.5% or roughly 198 million,
the country is far from alone regarding its internet access. In fact the country
is only number 12 in its high speed broadband connectivity per 100 inhabitants
well behind Iceland and Korea (Figure 2).

Why is broadband so important?

Platform First
According to most research, broadband connectivity is "almost" a requirement
for individuals who initiate and maintain a blog.

For that reason we focus on high speed broadband connectivity which despite popular
belief among most of the digitally connected is not everywhere.

To look at the numbers one could easily believe that "everyone" is blogging but
you and if you don't get on-board you will be left behind. After all, Technorati
tracks more than 50 million blogs worldwide and there are reports that the blogosphere
is doubling every six months. On the average, one new blog is born every second.

This is almost as impressive as the growth of email addresses over the past 10
years and the appearance of new web sites over the past five years.

Do these new bloggers immediately begin drilling down into, expanding and enhancing
their blogs? No. It is only one online activity they add to their growing arsenal
of Internet activities. Most of their time is spent researching, buying stuff,
entering contests, playing online games, listening to Internet radio and other
activities (Figure 3).

Even when people are online an extremely small percentage of their time is devoted
to developing, enhancing or updating their blogs (Figure 4). Most of their time
is spent on other content activities.

Contrary to what a few digiteria would like you to believe, InsightExpress found
in a study that heavy Internet users would most miss:
- TV - 28%
- Web sites - 24%
- Email - 23%
- Radio - 7%
- Newspapers - 6%
- Online chat rooms/message boards - 6%

Only 1% would miss blogs if they disappeared tomorrow. Roughly translated it
means while blogs are nice, they do not represent a major source of information,
news or personal/professional growth for people.

It likewise does not represent a major public relations opportunity for organizations
and products especially when the same InsightExpress study found that 38% of
the respondents disliked firms seeding a blog with product/service messages.

However, there is less of a reluctance of such messages in online chat rooms,
message boards and specialized use lists when the information is germane to the
subject.

Sound Outreach
All of this is not to say that there is no place for blogs in the corporate communications
mix.

But executives have to understand and be prepared for the fact that it is true
two-way communications and both 1:1 and 1:many communications.

It is 1:1 because you or the executive is talking directly to and interacting
with one person. It is 1:many because every Internet user in the world has the
potential for listening in and entering into the conversation.

Already we have seen negative results:
- A 14-year-old girl using MySpace shut down her blog because of the growing
number of harassing, sexual and personal threat messages she was receiving
- The Washington Post's ombudsperson's site was shut down after similar threats
and questionable statements were posted
- The LA Times had a similar experience
- Dell's PR group encountered hostilities when they launched the firm's "customer
friendly" blog only to be hit by aggressive and often demeaning comments from
people regarding the firm's notebook battery fire problems

The blogosphere did not begin for marketing, management or public relations purposes.
It appeared and evolved as a part of the new and evolving personal expression
and social media environment.

Personal Community
Technorati and Pew Internet (www.pewinternet.org <http://www.pewinternet.org>)
studied blogging and bloggers and arrived at surprisingly similar results - blogs
are personal, self and "community"-driven (Figure 5).

Sanctioned or not company's have blogs already. Microsoft, IBM, HP, General
Motors, Ford, Boeing and other firms large and small have members of their staffs
officially and unofficially carrying out their personal business-centric blogs.


Should senior management launch their blogs?

Possibly.

Should PR people on behalf of the company?

Probably.NOT!

It's not a place to repurpose news releases. It's not a place to promote "party
line."

Before management jumps in they should lurk on the edges of the blogosphere.
They should study, follow blogs in their business, even those by individuals
from his/her own firm just to get an understanding of the flow, tenor, exchange.


As they become more comfortable in the new open environment they have to decide
for themselves when response, additions or silence is used. It may be a 1:1
"conversation but you have to keep in mind that hundreds, if not thousands, of
people could be sitting on the sideline just watching/waiting for the responses.


Before the individual takes his/her blog live, they have to have a clear understanding
that even though the blog may only need inputs once or twice a week, it is not
something that can be started and then simply abandon. The executive needs to
have a long-term view of what the blog will accomplish for him/herself and for
the company.

They have to approach their blogging effort with the idea that their efforts
will help personalize the company with people in the blogosphere. It isn't simply
about brand building it is about reputation building.

That means at times the company, the product, the individual has to take lumps
and admit shortcomings and hopefully highlight strengths and customer concern.that's
what real people do!!!