Blogging and its potential for companies

Tom Foremski, a Silicon Valley blog-watcher, wrote an article in the FT about how blogging technology opens doors for companies.  He suggests the automatic tracking feature, as a continuous network creating facility, as one of the interesting opportunities.  Of course not only for companies as such, but rather for the creation of networks of information. These softwares, according to him, behave as platforms, enabling on-line communities. Social software or community-ware are two labels he suggests. 

Referring to my earlier post on the future of blogs for educational purposes, that social dimension is certainly an interesting one to explore further. Though I agree on the principle, the network does not automatically create proximity.

Comments

[Mathias]

I agree that "presence" is not equal to "proximity". Couples that are talking with one another on the phone whilst being separated can feel that this holds true. Blogs nevertheless open up a dimension for free speech, creative inputs and thus support information flows that wouldn´t exist without such a platform. On the other hand, we might be able to track what´s going on inside an organisation thus makin invisible communication visible.
For everybody that´s interested to find out what a blog can do for you, go to http://www.tripod.lycos.com/. there you can easily build your own blog for free,and even update it with your mobile phone...

[Joel]

very interresting post !

[Etienne Laveau]

I think there are two sides of blogs: the personal side and the professional side. The problem today is that most blogs are personal and eventhough it is suppose to be a communication tool it often becomes a "Watch me i'm so cool" kind of blog, or sometimes the different blogs are so self centered that you can't read anything it's just pictures... looking at it on the professional side we might not want to forget that some older tools already allows you or a compagny to really communicate but the existence of chatrooms or forums or professional websites (especially the last one) tend to diminish the interest of the professional world in blogs. Where I think blogs becomes interesting is in educational matters, it might become a new way of communication between teachers and students as long as everyone participates of course. But forums might often be of better use.

[Cedric Chambault]

In a professional environment, blogs can implement new links for employees in a company. However, it might need to be more ordered without forgetting the "free" principle.
For example, every monday morning, every employee could spend 15 minutes in writing what they did past week and what they intend doing the week to come. Every employee could select on the blog page the articles related to their interest.
I could select to see on one page the articles written by the employees from the marketing department or by all the managers or linked to one word I am interested in. This process could allow to generate communication for people who did not know each other. For example, this could avoid someone to work on a subject without knowing that someone else has already worked on it.
Blogs could become more dynamic.