“Asking why you should use blogs is like asking why you should answer the phone. It might be a customer, a developer who wants to use your services, or a reporter who wants to write about the company. Your competitors answer the phone, so you should too.” — Dave Winer’s
It’s a little too early to say that our company is blogging (corporately). But there’s a teensy, weensy spark that could become a flame. Clyde Lear –our CEO/President/Founder and All Around Good Guy– has dipped his toe in the blog pond. Several us always thought he’d be a natural and today’s post would seem to confirm that. For reasons known only to him, he asked a few employees at random what they were reading and posted the results. Why do I think this is worth a mention?
No news release. Nothing about our company’s growth. Just a little nugget about the people that make up our company. He didn’t ask the senior management staff what they were reading. He walked down the hall and asked the folks in the cubes. Clyde was once a journalist and has always been a good writer. I hope he becomes a regular blogger. He’ll have interesting and important things to say.
Dave Winer’s simple explanation of blogging and OPML:
First, create a new weblog on one of the free services, like Blogger or MSN Spaces. It takes about five minutes, and is about as hard as creating an email address on Yahoo or Hotmail, and represents less of a commitment. Then make your first post, something like Hello There, or Testing 1-2-3. Once you’ve verified that it works, you can stop there.
Then someday, when you’re in the shower or lying in bed in the morning and get an idea that you wish you could tell everyone, remember that you have a blog, and go to the computer, and write it up and publish it. That actually feels pretty good, even if you think no one will read it, because you got it off your chest.
Then in a few days Google will probably visit your site and index the post, and then when someone searches for that subject, your page will come up, and maybe you’ll pass that idea on to someone who can use it, or meet someone who agrees, or someone who disagrees. And that’s blogging, and that’s all it is.
As for OPML:
Did you ever have an idea you wanted to post on your blog that didn’t seem big enough to be an essay? An idea that could be expressed in a sentence, or less, but still deserved to get out there? In writing school they teach that less is better. If you can say something in three words instead of twenty, say it in three. It communicates better. Well, none of the existing blogging tools can do little sentence or phrase-size blog posts.
A bunch of ag reporters (including one of ours) are at a media event in Johnston, Iowa (near Des Moines), hosted by Pioneer (big ag company). Not sure how many of the reporters were blogging the event but a couple for sure. As I watched the blogs I started wondering, what is the “best” medium for covering an event like this.
While highly unlikely that a broadcast station (radio or TV) or network would cover a day-long event live…would that, in fact, be better coverage? Probably the closest thing to being there yourself but unless they put the video/audio online for later, on-demand acess (and did so almost immediately)…you’d have to catch it live or miss it completely. And live broadast coverage (TV or radio) would offer little opportunity for some context and perspective by the reporter covering the event.
Is it even remotely possible that a really well-done blog (with still images, video, audio, RSS feed, etc etc etc) could have advantages over traditonal live coverage of the event? My heart wants to say “no way,” but my head is saying, “maybe.”
I’ve been doing radio for almost 35 years and blogging for just four and this just blows my mind. And I could be missing something here. For example, the print reporter might argue that his/her 1,000 word story in tomorrow’s (or the day after) newspaper/magazine offers greater depth and insight and detail than a few short blog posts. Good point.
A TV guy might point out that his/her well-edited, high quality video package on the evening news is far superior to a few minutes of poorly-lighted video from a camcorder. True enough.
I’m not sure what the technical or content advantages radio has in this scenerio. I’ll get back to you.
This sounds heretical –more blog hype– until you actually watch a first-rate blogger cover an event and compare that to the more traditional media. And in the end, it will be the public that decides where to get the latest/best info.
Henry forwarded a link to a Slate piece that suggests blogs –as businesses– have peaked. If you’re a regular, you aleady know my thoughts on blogging. Companies with a clue, confidence and a good blogger… can/will make valuable use of blogs. As to the Slate article, I refer you to Dave Winer who sees blogging as “part of life”:
Blogs are where new businesses will spring from. Think of blogs as being like dorm rooms, and remember that’s where Dell Computer came from. Blogging communities are incubators. Some communities incubate negative stuff, plenty of those, but occasionally a blogging community serves as the launching pad for something good. There will be a steady stream of those, and they will be on the cover of magazines, and will belong there.
This is such a good idea. First time I’ve seen it but I predict it will be routine in the not-to-distant future. AgWired’s Chuck Zimmerman will be blogging the 2006 Commodity Classic:
All the pictures I take and video and audio I record will be pre-loaded onto a video iPod. One of those things will be country music star Michael Peterson’s performance that’s being sponsored by New Holland. Once we know who the winner is Michael will record a personal message which we’ll also load onto the iPod. And, there’s more. We’ll also load Michael’s newest CD, “Down on the Farm,” which you can currently only purchase from your local New Holland dealer. It won’t be out in stores until later this spring.
Or you could hand out some key-chains.
Chuck Z. (AgWired) already has more business than he can take care of and he’s looking for bloggers and podcasters:
Passionate about agriculture. Willing to write one or more articles per day at least 5 days per week. Can be brief and yet offer significant information and ideas. Computer literate (knows how to make a hyperlink, Google’s to find out stuff, etc.). Already blogs would be nice. Can take a decent digital photo and edit it. Owns a digital camera and notebook computer.
I don’t care if you have a “day” job. I don’t care if you’re currently unemployed even. What I will care about is quality, self-initiative and dependability.
My first thought was anyone with this skill set has or can land a full-time gig. They don’t have to take digital piece work. But maybe you like your day job (with 401k and health benefits) but would like to indulge your “passion for agriculture” in your spare time…be part of a communications revolution…and pick up a few bucks to boot. Maybe you’re an FFA student working your way through college. Maybe you’re a radio news guy making $22k.
I have no doubt Chuck will find his bloggers and podcasters. And he won’t care if they work in their pajamas.
Four years ago today I started jotting this stuff down. My first post was a quote from Carl Hiaasen’s novel, Basket Case, describing two types of journalists. I’m hardly a prolific blogger (just 1,800 posts in four years), but I’ve been reasonably consistent. I spent a few minutes browsing, trying to get a sense of what I thought was interesting or important enough to write about. My tags tell the story: Advertising, blogging, books, dogs, friends, family and home, journalism, radio, Kennett, movies, music, podcasting, Sheryl Crow, television and work. And death.
My father died in 2002 and my brother couldn’t get home from Indonesia in time for the funeral. I recorded the service and put it online so he could hear it. I said goodbye to Larry Joe and Mr. Rudy. I shared John D. Macdonald’s view of death and my own thoughts on reincarnation.
I posted a lot of quotes from books and lines from movies. Which was one of the reasons I started this journal. I discovered a fascination with tattoos I didn’t know I had. I wrote about shoes more than is probably healthy. And I felt it important to tell you about every dental check-up.
I stumbled across the term “podcasting” in October, 2004. In August of last year I moved from Blogger to Typepad. I met Steve Mays West.
I confessed that I thought I looked my best in theater restrooms. I sold the family home and got my best clue, if not my first. I shared some great blues; helped some friends start blogging and watched this little girl dance for hours on end.
I spent a lot of time feeding and caring for this beast. But it’s been good for me. Time well spent. I don’t want to spend too much time looking back but it’s nice to know I can.
Robert Scoble and Shel Israel co-authored this excellent book on “how blogs are changing the way businesses talk with customers.” Just a couple of chapters in but finding a nugget on almost every page:
If you’re not sure if your sales proposal or corporate brochure or news release is corpseak, stand in the middle of a room with some of your co-workers and read the copy aloud. If they laugh, it’s corpspeak.
I’ll update this post as I move through the book.
“Vernon Lee Evans Jr. — amateur advice columnist and convicted murderer — is scheduled to die next month by lethal injection. He is one of the very few death row inmates to have a blog and, activists say, perhaps the only condemned man worldwide to use a blog to take questions from readers.”
— washingtonpost.com: