BusinessWeek has a great cover story out now about blogging for business. Much of the content can be seen online as well.
Takeaways:
Go ahead and bellyache about blogs. But you cannot afford to close your eyes to them, because they’re simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself. And they’re going to shake up just about every business — including yours. It doesn’t matter whether you’re shipping paper clips, pork bellies, or videos of Britney in a bikini, blogs are a phenomenon that you cannot ignore, postpone, or delegate. Given the changes barreling down upon us, blogs are not a business elective. They’re a prerequisite.
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There are some 9 million blogs out there, with 40,000 new ones popping up each day. Some discuss poetry, others constitutional law. And, yes, many are plain silly. "Mommy tells me it may rain today. Oh Yucky Dee Doo," reads one April Posting. Let’s assume that 99.9% are equally off point. So what? That leaves some 40 new ones every day that could be talking about your business, engaging your employees, or leaking those merger discussions you thought were hush-hush.
For human resources, blogs are both a blessing and a curse.
The bad news is trying to control what employees say about the company, because many times you won’t be able to. It’s not difficult to set-up an anonymous blog, for example. The firing of a Google blogger, allegedly over the fact that he stated Microsoft’s benefits were better, will only lead to more and more such stealthy practices. As an HR manager, that won’t be fun.
The good news, blogs allow HR departments and companies to promote themselves and communicate with the public like never before.
- Blogging is easy, so no more relying on your IT department to put up Web pages.
- Blogging is search engine friendly, so people hoping to find specific information about your company will find it.
- Blogging is cutting-edge, so your company will look like it cares about being fresh and "with it."
- Blogging is controllable, so you won’t have to hope that the news outlets "get it right."
- and much more.
In short, I believe the pros outweigh the cons greatly. But regardless of what I say, blogging seems to be an unstoppable force that will be an important player in the future of business for years to come. If you’re not doing it, chances are your competitors are … or are at least thinking about it. Are you ready?
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