Corporate Blogging: A Tiny Revolution for Managers

Wind surfing on Tel Aviv beach, another revolution that not many take seriously / © 2009

Blogging is not fully a corporate practice yet. It is not clear why precisely. Some think it's simply a matter of use, the shift to writing by corporate workers has not taken place yet. In the technology world (programming, project management) there are a few spots of strong blog use. Like other communication tools, blogs have a certain look but it takes time and some experimentation to get an idea on how to use them. In a recent visit to a financial services company I was told:

"we are too conservative for blogging, the management is not going to approve running articles in the open. Even newsletters to customers have to be approved by the managing director and a legal committee."
A sales director in a diamond wholesaler said: "you have to show me a really slick - high quality blog, we are selling diamonds here. What can I do with a blog I sell really well on the phone. I have a really great package, how do I show it off... oh, can you tell me how to make the web site a little better..."

These questions or "excuses" may sound disturbing some people, how can companies and managers ignore the whole WEB2.0 revolution? Well, they are not ignoring anything from their perspective. If you are in a mode of doing paper brochures and going to trade shows (diamond industry practice) you may feel that keeping that form of communication going is crucial. It may seems like a blog will not serve the traditional customer. Traditional business opinions feels a little like "we are having a revolution and nobody came" (an old saying from the 1960s). There is more to it. Once you dig deeper it turns out to be a matter of priority, strategy, tactics and a bit of ignorance. Not much ignorance I would add. But blogging is truly a revolution to some who just can't see how it works.

From seeing people who don't "get it" over and over again, ask yourself: "am I missing the revolution?" If you are, find out if you want to join or stay behind for now. In some cases where the markets are soft and you think that starting a new way of communication may harm your business, try to see examples in your own business sector. The stock brokers in the 1990s didn't think that Schawb and eTrade were going to change their work that much. Today we see how that world has changed completely. Discount broker or full service brokers on the phone simply lost most of their market (95% and more). This is just one example (book retailing and Amazon, recruiting and Monster.) If you do not use new communication tools like blogging you may be missing the most effective and sexy way to communicate today. The same goes for social networks (My Space, Twitter, Face Book, Linked In).

NEXT: how to find your audience? What is involved in EXPERIMENTATION

Messages using linked social networking apps

ubuntu 9.10 looks good, small design changes and a few things under the hood / networking D same need simpler DSL VPN setting ubuntu linux [from hootsuite > ping.fm]

Messages using linked and ping.fm to blogger

Using Hoot Suite www.hootsuite.com as an agent. Online, columns for types of msgs, delayed posting, stats, nice layout, try it out >> amiv2

http://ping.fm/Bde85 a simple way to feed short messages to networks + applications inside + mobile > these mgmt apps = mushrooms after rain :) :)

Israeli Venture Capital Start-Up Process Broken

Tel Aviv stock exchange dipped 50% during 2008-2009 (1,200 to 600 to 1,000.) Start-up activity still down and slower to recover

It is not a secret that the Israeli technology sector is taking a nap. A big component of Israel's success in the technology sector was start-ups. Israel's entrepreneurs and engineers got into the business of starting up companies and selling them to American companies. This business has been going for over 10 years until about 2005. American venture funds bring investment capital from Wall Street and American retirement funds. Israelis start companies and usually sell them to American companies. The return in this sector is usually higher than the stock market. Everyone is happy. Until something changed!

In 2006, 2007 and 2008 there have been very few "exits". 2009 is not much better. These are sales of companies or initial public offerings in the stock market. Exit(s) is a buzz word in the Israeli start-up sector. It is what Israeli entrepreneurs seek more than anything else: cash for a 5 to 10 year hard work. Selling a company brings good returns to the investors and does not involve the process of taking a company public. But the shift in technology from software and networking to Internet and software services has slowed down the investment-development-exit train. Established venture capital funds were dealt a blow, many small ones are completely gone. Entrepreneurs in many tech sub-sectors needed to reformulate their ideas and start working on new prototypes. What Israel can teach the world is how quickly change happens. In US and other large markets change does not have to happen as quickly. The market's momentum can hold up companies and financial pipelines. But then they eventually crash. In Israel small scale reveals quickly what changed and where the new developments are going.

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Blogging: Timing and Style for Starting Out

Lorelle one of the first popular blogger wrote a tips book, order on her site or Amazon [Amazon Link ~ http://www.amazon.com/Blogging-Tips-Lorelle-VanFossen/dp/1424343615]

This post follows the one on blog services cost. Timing and style are extremely useful factors in starting and maintaining a blog. Timing article posts, promotion, social network ties, promotion and background work is crucial. Style is also crucial in your image, reader bounce rates and the overall blog's caliber.

Timing for better blogging results and motivation

Timing is one of your driving factors when starting out a blog. The speed in the blogosphere is driven by the blog's audience. There is no delay between your article's posting and the reaction from the outside world. Your writing and editing speed is essentially the most crucial factor to take into account. The other factors, building a blog, content writing and editing, promotion, advertising, tagging... all the "stuff" it takes to put up the posts and drive people to them are secondary (and completely up to you.) If you put time and resources or hire someone to produce the blog you can get going in days. If you have resources or money to promote and advertise you can get people to notice your blog in hours. The same goes to your ability to promote your blog in other blogs, social tagging and networking sites. Timing also means how your blog relates to your readers and the rest of the industry (competitors, traditional media.) Some bloggers have made a name for themselves by quickly posting breaking news. Some bloggers write opinion and analysis articles, specially in politics, finance and international affairs. Opinion and debate blogs are also knows to keep a fast pace. In business and retail there are also blogs centered around breaking news. In consumer electronics and gadgets such as portable devices and communication services also break news quickly. In down times like weekends it is time to maintain, try new designs and perform background research and writing. With Web20's injection of vitality into our Internet use there is plenty of things to do: twitter announcements, FaceBook excerpts of posts, Linked-In group announcements. Tagging on Stumble-Upon, Digg and Technorati can also be done on off times. There is plenty of things to do in communicating your message to the world.

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Seth Godin's Books: WEB2.0 by Trial & Error

If you are not familiar with Seth Godin you are in for a treat. Godin is a Fast Company contributing editor turned blogger and book author. In this talk he tells the story of how he got blogs and books noticed by trial and error. His blog is a stream of ideas about the none technical aspects of WEB2.0. Actually, I do not think WEB2.0 is the best term here, maybe more the interaction of Internet use with everyday life. This is a refreshing change to many people that are not interested or do not understand the technology itself. To make a technology useful and relevant there are many aspects which need to be clear and simple. Social networking as an idea and in services like Linked-In, MySpace, Twitter and FaceBook are simple and useful. Godin is a writer in this vain. In this video clip he highlights both the good and the bad of the changes due to the Internet, it's use and the way people benefit in the end. Eventually business models are used to explain the financial part. Since Godin is not a technologist he brings a practical viewpoint: how do people communicate and how technology is useful for them. This discussion can go on and on. Here are just two points on what Godin has to say:

Seth Godin for Technologists:

Technologists usually are not good in simplifying ideas. Seth Godin's writing and blogging is useful in their simplicity. They are also useful in cutting through the detail explanations and getting to the core benefits. Godin is not shy about describing the shift from paper based publishing to the electronic format. He does not put down the old business model. But he also clearly points out how "unfair" the shift is for the older businesses. It is interesting that someone in the publishing world is more clear about the situation than the technologists themselves.

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