October 29, 2004
What would you tell your CEO about Blogs?
Jeremy Zawodny asks this question.
And when I describe to coworkers and friends that I read people's blogs, and that I have one of my own, I get strange looks and questions like "Don't you have to be awfully self-involved to have a blog?"
In Malcolm Gladwell's book, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, he speaks to the spread of ideas and of people as Mavens (the trusted experts), Salesmen (the cheerleaders and persuaders), and Connectors (the propagators).
In todays society, we are inundanted with marketing & advertising via all of our media: television, radio, email, the web. You cannot avoid it.
I love to express my opinions, but I hate imposing them on people who aren't interested. In fact, if you want to share/propagate ideas, its much more effective with an audience that is seeking than one which is sought.
Blogging provides a conduit (a medium) for the Gladwell's mavens, salesmen and connectors to operate over the geographically indifferent Internet. This conduit is not intrusive, but rather thrives on the notion of referral, reference and relationships. It is a very efficient and self correcting "machine" for the spread of ideas of any sort.
Tapping into these efficient social networks is every Marketers dream, but the network is very tuned to sellouts and disingenuity. Amazon's Customer testimonials, Epinions, and the like are Marketing attempts to tap into the same principles. But the blogosphere is not about marketing, its about ideas.
These ideas are not of just what to by, who to vote for, or the issue of the day, but also about raising children, roasting coffee, or even merely appreciation of the everyday.
Blogs are a peephole into our collective minds, values and thoughts. They are yet another medium that people are using to connect themselves to each other.
Why might my CEO care about blogs?
- Internal Blogs: enabling the connection of the employees' to each other and their mutual best interests (presumably the interests of the company)
- External Blogs: to the extent that the company is concerned with being transparently connected to customers, partners, prospective employees, shareholders or the communities the company is part of.
Posted by KnipSter at 09:44 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack