Businesses move into blogosphere

Award-winning blogger James Guthrie says popular blogs avoid corporate-speak. Picture / Fotopress

Big business is being cautiously welcomed into the online opinion-sharing world known as the blogosphere, but independent bloggers will be keeping an eye on corporate actions.

Web-log diaries, known as blogs, have exploded in popularity over the past few years, with more than five million now on the internet. Bloggers post a range of news and opinion, from mundane details of their daily lives to comments on global politics, on their websites.

That popularity has not escaped the corporate world. A growing number of businesses are setting up their own blogs, hoping to capitalise on the trend.

Stephan Spencer, managing director of US and New Zealand-based web consultancy company Netconcepts, helps businesses set up blogs. He says independent bloggers do not mind corporations getting involved "as long as they are transparent and real - if it's just some highly sanitised PR message coming through in a blog format, nobody wants to see that".

The benefits for a company are numerous, he says. US car maker General Motors set up a website for employees to blog about the company, its products and the industry - a move that was image-oriented, Spencer says.

"It makes General Motors feel like a bunch of human beings instead of some faceless corporate giant."

He says the best blogs can also develop a loyal readership, which means a company can provide potential customers with information about its products. Also, getting mentioned in a popular blog, such as gadget-oriented Gizmodo, can cause a company's sales to "skyrocket".

Business bloggers, however, need guidance on how often to blog and what information is safe to disclose.

"They might think something is interesting or funny, but in actuality it's violating a trade secret," he said.

Spencer points to Microsoft's Robert Scoble as an example of one of the internet's most-credible corporate bloggers. Scoble has been given a loose leash by Microsoft in what he reports about the company, a position he has used to become something of a legend among bloggers. But, Spencer says, it also puts him in a tricky position.

"He recognises that he's playing with dynamite. He could say something that sets people or the media off," Spencer says. "So he's got to be careful with his blogging. But on the other hand he really can't hold back too much because then he's no longer being real."

New Zealand Marketing Association chief executive Keith Norris says blogging can be a valuable marketing tool.

"The danger, or the downside, is you have to make sure your blogging is in line with your brand strategy," he said. "You've got to have opinion, you've got to have time at your disposal to be able to argue these opinions effectively, and they've got to be meaningful to other people."

Database developer Michael Green runs a blog discussing music, film and photography. He says the blogosphere is open for anyone to join, but he is cautious about the arrival of business blogs.

"I welcome any kind of communication, but I'm very dubious about the intentions of what they're trying to achieve with it."

He says censored corporate blogs used to manipulate agendas could result in anti-company blog sites being set up.

"That's where the blogosphere is very quick at reacting to those sort of things. They'll [bloggers] always try to bring balance to things."

James Guthrie, who won New Zealand's 2004 NetGuide Web Awards best blog prize for his website www.bizgirl.blogspot.com, says the arrival of big business was inevitable.

"The day was always going to come when big business arrived and tried to make something of it."

Guthrie says businesses can give the blogosphere greater legitimacy without harming smaller blogs. But blogs too closely controlled by corporate marketing will eventually fail the popularity test.

"It can't just be corporate-speak. People have connections with the blogs they read at a personal level."

The rise of blogging has also brought an increase in the number of people being "dooced" - sacked for blogging about their company.

Guthrie's award was for a fictional blog about librarian Natalie, creator of an award-winning web diary, who is dooced for revealing personal details about colleagues.

Big-business blogs

* Businesses are following the blog trend by setting up their own corporate diaries.
* The benefits can apply to a company's image or customer relationship, observers say.
* Some independent bloggers are "dubious of the intentions" of corporate blogs.