An MSNBC article talks about Blogging for Business. They seem surprised at how effective a blog for business can be, and discuss several ways of using blogs. Blogs can be used by employees on an intranet, providing an avenue for employees in a corporation, especially a large corporation, to better get to know one another. Blogs can also be used to publicize a business, sort of like this one! I use this blog to inform you of the latest happenings in technical writing, editing, elearning … but in the process, I’m generating leads to my main site, I’m linking to other sites, and people are linking to this blog. With every hit and every link, my search engine score improves. The higher I am in a search engine, the more likely customers will click on me and eventually, hire Write Technology. (You knew there was a business benefit to this blog, right?)
The article also quotes from a Microsoft blog, without giving the blogger credit. Heather’s blog can be visited here, and is an excellent example of a corporate blog, by an employee specializing in recruiting marketing talent. Recruiting is a fantastic use of a blog for business purposes and Heather helps give Microsoft a “friendly face” with a sincere, down-to-earth delivery. In essence, her blog helps humanize Microsoft. In addition, she has a communication line into the tech community, giving her an advantage when searching for new “talent.”
Heather’s ‘Marketing at Microsoft’ blog
MSNBC/Reuters: Business and Blogging moving mainstream
The Empire Blogs Back
I find web logs fascinating. What is a blog exactly? At its most basic, a web log – or blog – is an online journal. I have friends who use blogs simply to write about their day. Many blogs are political, or news-based. Still others focus on gadgets, gizmos, movies, television, film … the list goes on.
Blogs are everywhere in the news lately, as more and more people (mostly in the 20-40 yr old age bracket) are getting their news and information from blogs. I read 20+ blogs, and a lot of times I’ll have information hours, or in some cases a full day, before I hear it on the local or national news. With the advent of blogs, news has become a 24-hour cycle – a constantly changing thing. On the flip side, with the advent of blogs, news has become biased and opinionated. Bloggers are not actual journalists. Bloggers are people, with opinions, who are under no obligation to present all the facts or to not bend the facts. The readers are under no obligation to seek out an opposing or neutral viewpoint either. Imagine if we all get our news from blogs within 3 years – everyone’s take on the news will be biased.
In recent events, the DNC invited bloggers to their National Convention at the end of this month, providing them with journalist credentials. Ana Marie Cox, otherwise known as DC blogger Wonkette, has been invited by MTV to cover the convention. Bloggers, like Cory Doctorow and Xeni Jardin of Boing-Boing are becoming Internet celebrities, respected for their opinions and ideas.
A Time Magazine article, Meet Joe Blog, recently had this to say:
We may be in the golden age of blogging, a quirky Camelot moment in Internet history when some guy in his underwear with too much free time can take down a Washington politician. It will be interesting to see what role blogs play in the upcoming election. Blogs can be a great way of communicating, but they can keep people apart too. If I read only those of my choice, precisely tuned to my political biases and you read only yours, we could end up a nation of political solipsists, vacuum sealed in our private feedback loops, never exposed to new arguments, never having to listen to a single word we disagree with.
How can blogs affect technical writing and elearning? I would think in a number of ways.
Take secondary education, for example. In high school, every year a teacher asked me to keep a spiral notebook as a journal. And every few weeks we’d turn in said notebook for a grade. This was to help develop our writing skills. The thing was, we would all write every entry in our journal the night before it was due. We did a lot of back-dating. Imagine if that same teacher had assigned us all blogs, hosted on a school server. The teacher could check in on the blogs periodically. The blogs could be password-protected, for sharing, or they could be interactive. Other students could post to a blog with comments. A whole new world of interactivity is opened up for teacher and student. And that’s just one example.
What about technical writing? I don’t think blogging is as obviously a useful tool to technical writers. I think, as with any group, a blog is a fantastic place for like people to gather, obtain information, and chat. You can do that with emailing lists and discussion boards too. What about a blog? Let’s say that company A has released Cool Software Package, complete with documentation. Imagine if the developers blogged the progress along the development path, taking suggestions from readers. Once Cool Software Package is released, the tech writers can monitor the blog, informing the world of addendums, updates, and such. The Help Desk could chime in and direct folks to the correct places for support. Suddenly, the manual, support, and development process are all very interactive. The users are part of the process.
Just some thoughts. I think blogs are here to stay, and it’s time we all got familiar with them. Here’s some great articles for you to peruse:
Linked Out: Blogging, Equality, and the Future
Lead Blocks to Web Logs (Xeni Jardin)
Hail to the Blogs:a new movement in journalism
Blogs Welcome at Democratic Convention
Bloggers Suffer Burnout
Notes from Technorati Meeting on Blogs
Bloggers Landing Book Deals
