Power of Blogs
Ok, so there's a lot of hype about blogs, but it's not just talk. Sometimes the impact of a blog or type of blog is substantial.
News
Traditional providers of print and broadcast news have begun to consider ways of incorporating blogs. For example the The Daily Nightly, authored by Brian Williams and other network correspondents is partly about the content of news, and partly about making a program to deliver the news. But blogging isn't limited to the national and world news. The Seattle Times includes several blogs relating to areas of Northwest business, technology, rock music, politics, and sports.
Military Blogging or “Milblogging”
Milblogging has become increasingly common as more military personnel stationed overseas and/or on the frontlines now have access to the internet. Some authors write as a means of staying in touch with family and friends, as a means of journaling, or to air their personal views. In March 2006, the author of Midnight in Iraq was contacted by the New York Times as part of a series on military bloggers stationed in Iraq. The details of his experiences while in Iraq include journalistic style descriptions like this one of encounters with insurgents including photos of the area. As always, readers must use a critical eye to discern the reliability and authority of the information source, but with additional resources offering different perspectives on world events, readers are not limited to mainstream media outlets anymore.
Corporate
The Stone Creek Coffee blog covers everything from how staff members like to drink their coffee, to photos and stories of local events in which the company participated, as well as national news stories relating to coffee. The blog also links to the online shopping outlet. This gives a "face" to a corporate entity while still allowing customers to make purchases.
McDonald’s has a corporate responsibility blog in which the authors including Bob Langert (Vice President of McDonald’s) addresses issues or concerns that deal with the business, values, and mission of McDonald’s. Posts address topics in areas such as community, the environment, balanced/active lifestyles, etc. At a time when corporate responsibility seems to be questioned loudly and publicly in the news, a blog like this is one avenue for a corporation to do some proactive marketing and to allow the corporation to offer a rationale for some decisions and actions.
Blogging for Dollars is the idea that a very small teams of people, or even an individual can generate enough income, via advertisements on their blogs, to be the sole means of income and business. The blog itself becomes the business. While challenging to do, it’s not impossible and some blogs like Boing Boing are anticipating grossing $1 million in annual revenues in 2006.
Personal or political? Blurring the lines….
A British secretary who was fired claims that her personal weblog was the cause for termination; this is just one example of a situation in which an employer perceived that the company was misrepresented or defamed as the result of an employee's blog. In response to some of the legal issues raised by personal blogs about the workplace, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has developed a Legal Guide for Bloggers and the guide How to Blog Safely (About Work Or Anything Else). Additionally, some employers are creating policies to address corporate blogging by employees.
In November 2004, with a post entitled “EA: The Human Story” the “EA Spouse” talked about the treatment of her significant other, a software engineer for Electronic Arts (EA), by EA. What started out as an essay with some complaints and questions regarding EA’s business practices and motivation set off a “powder keg of response” prompting responses and widespread dialogue from others in the game industry and software developers in other fields as well.
News
Traditional providers of print and broadcast news have begun to consider ways of incorporating blogs. For example the The Daily Nightly, authored by Brian Williams and other network correspondents is partly about the content of news, and partly about making a program to deliver the news. But blogging isn't limited to the national and world news. The Seattle Times includes several blogs relating to areas of Northwest business, technology, rock music, politics, and sports.
Military Blogging or “Milblogging”
Milblogging has become increasingly common as more military personnel stationed overseas and/or on the frontlines now have access to the internet. Some authors write as a means of staying in touch with family and friends, as a means of journaling, or to air their personal views. In March 2006, the author of Midnight in Iraq was contacted by the New York Times as part of a series on military bloggers stationed in Iraq. The details of his experiences while in Iraq include journalistic style descriptions like this one of encounters with insurgents including photos of the area. As always, readers must use a critical eye to discern the reliability and authority of the information source, but with additional resources offering different perspectives on world events, readers are not limited to mainstream media outlets anymore.
Corporate
The Stone Creek Coffee blog covers everything from how staff members like to drink their coffee, to photos and stories of local events in which the company participated, as well as national news stories relating to coffee. The blog also links to the online shopping outlet. This gives a "face" to a corporate entity while still allowing customers to make purchases.
McDonald’s has a corporate responsibility blog in which the authors including Bob Langert (Vice President of McDonald’s) addresses issues or concerns that deal with the business, values, and mission of McDonald’s. Posts address topics in areas such as community, the environment, balanced/active lifestyles, etc. At a time when corporate responsibility seems to be questioned loudly and publicly in the news, a blog like this is one avenue for a corporation to do some proactive marketing and to allow the corporation to offer a rationale for some decisions and actions.
Blogging for Dollars is the idea that a very small teams of people, or even an individual can generate enough income, via advertisements on their blogs, to be the sole means of income and business. The blog itself becomes the business. While challenging to do, it’s not impossible and some blogs like Boing Boing are anticipating grossing $1 million in annual revenues in 2006.
Personal or political? Blurring the lines….
A British secretary who was fired claims that her personal weblog was the cause for termination; this is just one example of a situation in which an employer perceived that the company was misrepresented or defamed as the result of an employee's blog. In response to some of the legal issues raised by personal blogs about the workplace, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has developed a Legal Guide for Bloggers and the guide How to Blog Safely (About Work Or Anything Else). Additionally, some employers are creating policies to address corporate blogging by employees.
In November 2004, with a post entitled “EA: The Human Story” the “EA Spouse” talked about the treatment of her significant other, a software engineer for Electronic Arts (EA), by EA. What started out as an essay with some complaints and questions regarding EA’s business practices and motivation set off a “powder keg of response” prompting responses and widespread dialogue from others in the game industry and software developers in other fields as well.
posted by Jill at 4:20 PM
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