Yahoo jumps on the blogwagon

Yahoo is launching its blogging offer: Yahoo 360 on March 29 by invitation only. The service is expected to integrate existing products such as instant messenger and groups. Users will have the option to restrict viewership of their blogs.

Blog, un’opportunità o una minaccia?

I just came back from a conference on blogging organised by our Italian colleagues of Digital PR in Milan. The event was well attended which shows that blogging is definitely top of mind for communication professional across Europe.

Program was as follow:

1. Alberto Mari, the author of “Blog e Wiki” spoke about blogs, how they work and how they differ from websites or newsgroups.
2. Vincenzo De Tommaso from Digital PR gave us an overview of blogging in the Italian market.
3. I presented on corporate blogs, starting from why blogs are so successful to how corporations could use them. I will upload a copy of the presentation soon so stay tuned…
4. Luca De Biase, a journalist and lecturer at the University of Padova talked about blogs impact in the media landscape.

Or at least, this is what I understood :-)

During the event, I also had the pleasure to meet with Paolo Valdemarin from evectors. They sell RSS feeds solutions, notably to the BBC.

There is a blog on the event but it is only available in Italian. See comments from one attendee (there is an automatic English translation available).

Apple 1, Bloggers 0.

Apple has won its legal fight to make three bloggers reveal who told them about unreleased products. Full story on EFF website.

How do people read search engine results?

A joint study conducted by search marketing firms Enquiro and eye tracking firm Eyetools examined the eye movements of web surfers viewing Google search result pages.

They found that the first 3 listings get 100% attention, sites ranked 6th gets 50% attention while sites ranked 8th get only 30% attention. Anything below that is almost ignored.

The sponsored links ranked 1st and 2nd get 50% and 40% attention respectively while anything after 4th is almost not seen by the user.

A screenshot of viewing patterns can be seen here.

RSS Ads

Morever and Kanoodle recently launched FeedDirect RSS Ads. The service insert contextual ads into RSS feeds (like Google AdSense) and feed owners get paid by clicks. More details about the service here.

Bloggers are not journalists (at least in the US)

The preliminary ruling of the Apple Vs. Bloggers states that bloggers should not have the same protection afforded to journalists under US law. See BBC article and CNet article.

Is Blogging Good For The Brain?

Drs. Fernette and Brock Eide, physicians with a national referral practice for children with learning difficulties look at how blogging promotes creative, analogical and analytical thinking.

I feel a lot better now.

Chicken or Egg?

Neville Hobson commented on my posting on content & network following Blogging Planet’s launch (and gave me a great tip on how to set-up trackbacks on blogger with haloscan on the way).

My argument is that while it is difficult to have popular content without a network, it is even more difficult to build and sustain a network without popular content. I refer to “content” as articles, services, links or ongoing conversations. This extensive definition as opposed to articles alone could be the reason why our opinions appear to differ.

Blogging Planet uses the term “ecosystem” when referring to bloggers network. It is absolutely spot-on. One of the reason bloggers form networks is because they can extract value from their interactions. Members of such ecosystem play different roles and feed on each others. Some produce content, some comment upon others, some aggregate and relay information. The ecosystem works because they all contribute and benefit from it (traffic, recognition, dissemination of ideas, etc…).

I, like many others list NevOn in my blogroll because I think Neville writes thought provoking articles and because his blog often reference materials I like to read, thus saving me the hassle to find them elsewhere. On top of this, the comments I make on his articles allow me to get noticed, thus growing my own network and benefiting from the traffic to his blog. If the quality or frequency of NevOn’s articles were to drop, or if he suddenly shifted his focus to 15th century Norwegian poetry, I, like other members of his network could have less incentive to link to his blog as the interaction value will diminish. By loosing content he would loose his network too.

I therefore think that a content strategy is central to help reach the influencers and relays you need to build a network designed to fulfil your communication objectives. Content is what fuel your network and allows it to live and grow.

It’s an interesting academic discussion anyway: what comes first? Content or Network?

Harvard Business Review on Blogs

The February edition of the Harvard Business Review endorses business blogs in its list of 2005 breakthrough with an article from technology marketing guru Mohanbir Sawhney.

7 Rules for Highly Effective PR Blogs

The Blog Herald has a useful and insightful article on how PROs should deal with bloggers. I would add that bloggers are very marketing aware (I dare to say cynics) so it's best to be very open about your motives and not to expect them to react the same way your journalists do. They do not have an editorial line to follow or advertisers to pamper. That’s why their opinions are so popular!

Blogging Planet: show me the content!

Elizabeth Albrycht, co-producer of the New Communications Forum, Christophe Ducamp – Founder of Elanceur, Guillaume du Gardier, founder of the CEO Bloggers Club and Neville Hobson, a communication practitioner who blogs daily at NevOn have launched Blogging Planet.

Blogging Planet offers consulting and training for corporations interested in using blogs, wiki or podcast to support their communication.

While I love their concept of "ecosystem", I was stuck by the following comment: “it is the medium -- the network you build -- that matters, not the message -- the content.”

While they may purposely downplay the value of network over content to emphasize their point, I would argue that good content is still key to create a good network.

Making corporations aware of the ecosystem surrounding them is an excellent thing and many executives will be fascinated to see how messages are relayed and amplified in the blogosphere. The question is what role these corporations want to play in this ecosystem? It obviously depends on their communication needs but most companies are looking to benefit from the thought leadership deriving from authoring or aggregating content.

Increased links to a company websites or blogs will certainly increase search engine ranking but why should someone link to a website at the first place if there is no interesting content there to be found?

I am on vacation...

... for 2 weeks to celebrate the Chinese new year so I won't be posting on this blog till the 18th of February. In the meantime, while not browse past articles?

Gong Xi Fa Cai.

Corporate blogs: the rise of the CEO blogger

It seems that there is some peer pressure to join the CEO bloggers club going on among our captain of industries. The senior executives of Jupiter Media, Sun or HP have all taken to blogging and the trend is moving to other industry sectors.

Last month, General Motors became the first large scale, non-technology company to get senior executives blogging, thanks to Vice Chairman Bob Lutz and other GM corporate management. See FastLane

Last week, Randy Baseler, VP of Marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, has started Randy's Blog. His latest post, commenting on the launch of the A380 ends up with an open question: how do you want to fly?

Unfortunately, this is a question that will be left unanswered, as there are no options to post any comments on his blog. There are no links to outside sources either.

Monologues (or monoblogs?) are a common trait amongst corporate blogs as PR departments face a real dilemma when senior execs decide to open their own communication line.

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t

First, there is so much limitation as to what the highest custodian of a public limited company’s interests can write on, both from a legal and competitive point of view that CEO blogs make for some rather dull reading. They tend to turn into another version of the monthly motivational email or echo corporate brochures.

If you don’t invite comments, people will think that you are afraid to hear what your stakeholders really think and many will accuse you of mistaking a blog with a letter to your shareholders. If you invite readers’ comments, you could fall into a minefield and spend too much time defending your positions to inquisitive bloggers. Some could accuse you of devoting too much time away from the business. If you get someone else to write your blog, sooner or later someone will find out, it will leak to the media and it will backfire.

Finally if you don’t blog, or at least announce that you plan to, you will be unfavourably compared to your more technology conversant and customer centric competitors.

To blog or not to blog?

Blogs offer up-to-the minute opinionated comments and information. Do it only if you have a genuine motivation, can commit the time and if you can fit within a blog format and tone. A CEO is a company’s ultimate salesman and there are plenty of interesting topics to comment on such as products innovations or where you see your industry heading to. In that respect, both GM and Boeing are doing a good job.
The press and industry analysts will be among the keenest readers, which mean that your blog will be one of the first points of contact in time of crisis. This is where you can use blogs’ personal feel and speed of publishing to your advantage.

As to inviting comments, one option is to warn your readers that for obvious reasons, you cannot reply to every enquiries and comments. Unless you have the resources, the stamina and it is done in close collaboration with your communication department, readers postings on a CEO blog are not essential. But I would recommend leaving a communication channel open and clearly state how these comments or queries are handled if not by you.

You are now one step closer to the CEO bloggers club.

The bootstrapper's bible

If like me you are frantically looking for a free copy of Seth Godin's latest book, "The bootstrapper's bible", you can still find it on Chris Busch's blog. Buy a hard-copy as well!

Google launches TV search

Google has launched a beta version of a new search application allowing users to search US TV shows via keywords. It displays the script and a still frame of the TV moment when the keyword was mentioned. Great application for media monitoring.

Gmail invitation

I have 2 spare Gmail invitations to give away. First come first served basis. Besides altruistic motives, I am keen to see how much traffic such a prized incentive will drive to this blog :-) If you are interested to check Gmail before everyone else does, such invitations are available as well on ebay or on newsgroups (search with today’s date as they are snapped quickly).

Charting the blogosphere

I am looking for some applications to monitor and analyze issues and trends discussed in blogs and provide a graphical representation (share of voice, trends over time, most popular topics etc…). So far I came across Blogpulse , which allow easy creation of trend graphs across 3.5 millions blogs and Waypath offering something similar although their application is down at the moment. Have you come across something similar?

On a totally unrelated subject and because I love travelling, World66 has a neat application allowing you to generate a map of all the countries you have visited.

Blinkx searches video content online

Search engine Blinkx, who shot to fame with its clustering technology recently unveiled Blinkx.tv, a video search engine allowing you to retrieve footages broadcasted on some major TV channels via keywords. Blinkx claims that it can pinpoint the results of the search to the exact video segment. I wonder if Netflix or Blockbuster would be considering selling movie segments in the future... Broadband penetration is gathering pace and if TV programs are “googled” and no longer watched, the traditional broadcasting-advertising model will need some serious rethinking.

Marketing to Online Communities

A common misconception in the PR industry is that marketing to online communities can be effectively summarised by: going into a group remotely related to your target audience, pretending to be a satisfied customer who cannot resist sharing his love for brand X with the world, posting a “too good to be missed” offer and disappearing, never to be seen again.

This “hit and run” tactic does achieve something: your brand wasn’t mentioned in a newsgroup, now it is. We should therefore assume a level of positive and targeted exposure and if we are lucky, some click-through.

Unfortunately, these “satisfied customers” often get found out as “genuine fakes” and because it is a deceptive technique, it often backfires. Remember that posting a promotional offer in a newsgroup outside the context of a discussion in which you are involved in is considered spam. Community users hate that since it parasite their conversation. They will scrutinise your promotion and tear it apart, then discourage others to join. Community managers hate that too as it deteriorates the quality of their discussion environment and may ban you from the group. Your brand will certainly be mentioned, along a host of criticisms, sneers and negative comments. You may achieve a small spike in traffic but you will suffer a bid drop in reputation.

It is often preferable to work with the community administrator or webmaster as your first point of contact for advice on how to make the best of your interaction with the group. If no webmaster or administrator is available, you should identify opinion leaders within the group. Opinion leaders are the most prolific and referred to community members. Engaging them is usually done by creating an “ambassador” program and incentivising them with exclusive previews, goodies or VIP passes in return for their opinions and help in promoting to the group. If they buy into your program, they will endorse and relay messages for you.

As you would expect, many will take the opportunity of your presence to vent their anger against your company and products. You must be prepared for negative feedback. Whatever you do, always ensure that all your actions embody the brand you represent.

As a rule of thumb, try to get productively involved with the group before, during and after you start your campaign. You will gather valuable insights as to what people say about your brand, uncover the discussion dynamics, identify the influencers and the followers and find a good way to contribute to the group while following your own agenda. Building a lasting network of supporters is more likely to bear fruits over the long term than pushing your brand name to an unwilling and unreceptive audience. The latter is akin to setting a haystack in fire. It creates a spectacular ball of fire and lots of smokes but doesn’t last very long… and if the wind suddenly blows in your direction, you’ll end up badly burnt.

Advertisers not sold to blogs

Blogs are making headlines again today. According to a survey by the venerable Pew Internet and American Life Project, blog readership jumped 58% in the last year.

The mediapost has an interesting article where advertising executives were asked to comment on this report. In a nutshell, they are left unimpressed and give a catalogue of reasons ranging from "clients are too cautious" to "who is interested in lifestyle blogs?". The most striking comment comes from Carat Insight: "It's yet to be seen whether blogs keep up the momentum now that the political season is beyond us"…

It reads like the final nail in the coffin for bloggers :-)

Remember, ad executives were the very people who dismissed the Internet in the mid nineties only to wake up when they realised that their clients weren't spending millions of dollars on online campaigns with them.

But they raise an interesting point: are blogs a good advertising medium?

My take on that is no. Not in the traditional way we see (and ad executives see) advertising. Blogs are probably better at influencing opinions than shifting boxes on the short term.

But they can help not to sell. Just look at the number of blogs complaining about product defects, poor customer services or shedding light on some shady business practices. 58% more people are reading them compared to last year. That must account for some “attitudinal shift”.

Blogs are part of a changing environment, where thanks to the Internet and increasingly marketing savvy consumers, a more intricate web of relations, advices, information, messages, opinions and influences is formed during the purchasing process.

They contribute to what Don Tapscott in his book “The Naked Corporation” calls the age of transparency, where customers, journalists and stakeholders are gaining unprecedented access to information and scrutinise corporations’ behaviours. Blogs allow them to share that information quickly and widely, bypassing traditional media. While I may be impressed by the might of an ad campaign, I, like most internet users will be exposed to enough counter information to balance my judgement.

Blogs don't help sell but they help buy.