July 25, 2006

Blogging is as much an attitude as a physical activity. In fact, I think that's why the latest Pew Internet study  of bloggers pointed out that people blog as a creative outlet "to share their voices with the world" as much as for anything else.

Why is this?

People are becoming more isolated as they're becoming more connected. Technology gives us the option to stay home more - we can shop from home, work from home, converse in front of our laptops or with our blackberries or cell phones instead of in person.

But those same devices allow us to be "always on, always connected" to our friends, families and colleagues. With the proliferation of cheap hardware and free, easy to use software (blog tools), people are able to easily express themselves in this new - albeit public - medium.

With the latest, very public entries of Dell and others into the blogosphere, there are still too few businesses blogging.

Businesses are laggards because of fear.

There's no better way to say it. Traditional marketers (blogging in business would naturally fall under their domains) are far better (more trained?) at carefully crafted messages - often developed by committee and compromise - than creative writing. And what if someone says something negative about us? There's the fear.

Isn't that a shame?

The pressure of governmental / industry / disclosure regulations is partly to blame. The schism of a company's internal reality vs. external perception is also to blame.

But mostly, it is fear that holds them back. 

Blogging takes a willingness to share feelings, thoughts, creativity and humanity, even when difficult questions / concerns / accusations arise. Transparency, honesty, integrity and proper citations are not optional in the blogosphere.

One would like to think those attributes and intentions fuel businesses today. But do they?

I think we're seeing changes, but with every new entrant into this new social-media rich, publicly collaborative world, there's a huge opportunity to misfire. Because of the above-mentioned pressures or simply 'old thinking' - witness Wal-Mart's "hubsters" snafu. My mind could just imagine a bunch of 50-somethings scheming that one up and thinking it was cool.

On the other hand, good for Wal-Mart for hiring Edelman exec Leslie Dach - he's got a huge job ahead of him.

That's the kind of attitude we will need to see in order to really facilitate change. Learn from your mistakes, and be willing to change internally - and overcome your fear - to facilitate change in your company and (eventually) your market.

I also think plenty of businesses enter into the blogosphere because they perceive they can gain without pain. The dream of a Better Listing On Google drives plenty of businesses to blogging.

But to sustain the activity needed to drive interest and readership (and the links, comments and trackbacks needed to sustain excellent search engine ranking) takes a commitment to that same honesty, integrity and creativity that fuels a true blogger's behavior - when the drive to blog and to participate in the conversation overcomes entropic fear.

Teresa Valdez-Klein, who's much younger than I am (and that's important! Younger folks like Teresa and Tara 'get it') and blogs for the Blog Business Summit, blogged recently that the tide is turning for business blogging.  

I hope so. I just hope it's turning for the right reasons, and with the right intentions.

What are you afraid of?  Frankly, I'd be afraid of being left behind.

Posted by at July 25, 2006

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