Blogs will change the world

Why is blogging so big? Do a search for "blog", "blogging", "blog definition" or "blog sites", and you`ll be blown away by the widespread interest from big, important entities like Wired, AOL, Yahoo and Google. (But don`t be too surprised - more and bigger companies can benefit from blogging as well.)

The religious seriousness with which ordinary people approach blogging will astound you even more. Just getting to a good definition for this Next Big Thing (type "blog definition") is a problem. Lots of people have serious opinions about what a blog really is.

So we won`t go there. Let`s just accept that it`s a phenomenon and that we should probably pay attention.

Let me then tell you in my own words, since I can`t be bothered to search through cranky blog postings, what I think a blog is and why it will change the world, or at least why it is an immensely powerful tool for any business.

A blog is less of an online diary than a personal publishing tool, less about photos and poems, and more about issues, less "anything goes" and more "special interest group". Get it? Think of the applications. Joe Bloggs may start Joe`s Blog, and it might be about his brother`s liver condition or his own theatrical bent. Either way, if he`s any good, other like-minded bloggers will link to him and invite him onto their haemochromatosis mailing list, to which he will then post a subscribe option on his site.

Or, more interestingly, Joe Bloggs could be Mary Slater, a loyal 20Twenty supporter who started tracking press clippings and casual conversations with customers of other banks, in her online journal. If she`s of sound mind and intelligent enough, and, best of all, connected in the publishing world, Mary`s blog can be an immensely powerful tool in 20Twenty`s fight against consumer inertia and big bank money.

The sheer honesty of her opinions, her media-savvy and connections as well as the groundswell of loyalty she will encounter among the rest of the faithful, will (hypothetically) help 20Twenty weather just about any of the storms that threaten good start-ups.

Everyone seems to have woken up to blogs suddenly. Google has just revamped Blogger, the blogging tool it bought over a year ago. And because everybody`s Google crazy, and everything it touches turns to gold, the world paid attention.

The new service is easy as pie (I created my own blog there last night in five minutes), and allows users to create profiles of themselves, which link to other bloggers with similar profiles. This will make this tool even more powerful as a referencing mechanism and viral marketing tool. Blogger has already signed up 2 million wannabe publishers. Because blogging is a rich source of links, key to search, this will make Google even more powerful.

But let`s return to the example of Mary Slater. Blogs are not just about one company`s wish to take over the Web. In more general terms of marketing success, companies, like 20Twenty or Sun, that have growing or even widespread influence but limited resources (like everyone else), and need to, timeously and accurately, source information in a PR crisis (such as all companies have from time to time), can use the blogger phenomenon.

Perhaps without specifically asking people to take up the cause, such companies can inspire bloggers into doing exactly that (as happened with 20Twenty). If Sun were to set about re-inspiring developers, say by open-sourcing Java, the same is likely to happen on a greater scale than it currently does.

Let`s just accept that it`s a phenomenon and that we should probably pay attention.

Carel Alberts, Technology editor, ITWeb

But perhaps the best avenue open to a company like Sun, a public target that cannot match all the aggressive columnists and detractors out there blow for blow, is to befriend such a blogger. Assuming it wants to honestly defend itself and it has an honest answer to every criticism, nothing stops it from bypassing all PR channels and offering total openness of communication to a media-savvy independent blogger, who asks the questions people want answers to and critically reviews the answers he gets.

To an extent companies like Sun and Microsoft already do this, or encourage this to happen, but "their" bloggers do not get special treatment. I know, it`s a novel concept. Why not just use a PR? Because credibility dictates that independent publishers publish and review company information. PR happy-speak (as one 20Twenty-er called it) doesn`t wash anymore.

But the problem here of course is that journalists do not have all the information, hence the need for openness between company and blogger. A blog can be the "unofficial-official" take of a company. The blogger should be both industry- and media-savvy, as I said. He can write, and offers insightful, authoritative views based on direct access to spokespeople.

How will this resolve a crisis? Microsoft is open game today. It cannot answer every query and criticism, or match it for timeousness and credibility. A specialist blog can match any query/criticism out there, on time and with all the necessary info. And it can bypass the difficulty of corporate legal liability, because of the independent blog form. One person`s personality-driven blog doesn`t espouse the official view.

How does this overcome Microsoft`s normal PR escalation procedure? Because it is not official communication, stakeholder protests can be overcome, because the benefits outweigh the risks. Unrestricted access on specific information types is advised. Because the person is trusted and skilled, the information is probably correct. Because information types are pre-qualified and the communication is unofficial, liability is further restricted.

How does a company avoid negative sentiment in this blog? What if the company doesn`t have an answer for the blogger, and shuts down on him? One reasonable criticism a blog may level is restriction to access without a reason that satisfies him/her. A little criticism never killed anyone.

Withholding information for too long, however, often does.

And how does a company protect its secrets? Lawyers.

Every company must have trusted "loose cannons" out there preaching its gospel, deflecting criticism and admitting its mistakes. They don`t even have to stand by it.