Scoble and Israel’s book Naked Conversations discusses the impacts that a company that blogs can potentially experience. The authors support blogging tremendously, claiming that every company should have a blog, as it is the modern method of talking to and listening to one’s customers. The authors provide several examples of how blogging can resuscitate a company on the brink of failing, or a company that is poorly viewed by the public. For example, before its employees began to blog, the public regarded Microsoft with animosity. Customers did not have an insight into the minds of those working at Microsoft—as a result, the public grew more and more suspect of their actions. Joshua Allen began blogging as a way to connect with the company’s customers and the mood changed drastically as more and more employees did the same.
According to Scoble and Israel, “Google juice” is important for a blog to become prominent on the Internet. To build “Google juice,” a blogger should post often and hope that others link to their sites. When this happens, the likelihood that the blog will come up on the front page of a Google search grows. Company executives should know that blogging can boost their ratings—and there’s no excuse that any company should not become part of the blogosphere.
So how do companies get others to link to their blogs? How do they market themselves? The process is similar to what happened with a small-budget movie that became a huge hit in theatres. I heard from my uncle that I should go see My Big Fat Greek Wedding. He had heard from a coworker. That coworker heard from a friend. This word-of-mouth system also occurs on the Internet, except at a much faster rate. Bloggers are not limited to a small town, or city, or even a state. The whole world has access to what a blogger says online. The word-of-mouth method, therefore, can travel faster than ever. Creators of ICQ, the buddy chat software, recognized the potential to spread information so quickly on the Internet and acted upon it to create a huge number of users in no time. They told some friends, who told more, and so on. Part of creating a successful word-of-mouth trail is creating something worth discussing and sharing with others. Imagine how quickly word can spread about something with so many millions of bloggers making up the blogosphere. Scoble and Israel recognize the human nature to want to share information with others. We enjoy discussions, lengthy conversations on a given topic, and sharing “insider” information with others.
The authors touch upon an aspect of blogging that Gillmor’s We the Media also mentions. Bloggers can make speling errors and that’s considered acceptable. There’s a real person behind every blog and the fact that blogs are not written in perfect English nor are they free from typos creates an informal dialogue between the blogger and his or her audience. Blogs, for this reason, are not nearly as intimidating as official press releases or newsletters. They are essentially conversations between people.
Owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mike Cuban, blogs to rant about many different issues and has developed an audience curious about his opinions. In contrast, Dave Winer’s blog is more tech-savvy, discussing different topics, but with the same sense of informality as found at Cuban’s blog. These are big names and Scoble and Israel encourage executives to blog to develop a closeness with their audience. Small companies are catching on quickly, too. Businesses grow faster when the public is exposed to their presence through blogs. For example, Horsefeathers Restaurant co-founder Ben Williams started a blog to develop an intimate relationship with his existing customers, discussing anything that he may bring up with them in person if they came into the restaurant. Scoble and Israel claim that these types of relationships keep people coming back.
The authors provide five “success tips” when blogging, which encompass the essence of the first several chapters of the book. They encourage bloggers to just chat with their audience instead of trying to sell to them, to post often, to post about issues they care about, to recognize that while free blogging takes time, and to listen to their audience. The authors also explain the difference between the process of blogging and that of producing a press release. While press releases go through edits and checks before being released to the public, a blog post is created by one person, released to the public, and then edited (if necessary) by the readers of the blog.
It was particularly interesting to read about the existence and trends of blogs in foreign countries. Culture does influence the number and types of blogs around. In France they are prevalent because the culture is comfortable with sharing opinions and ideas on different topics. In contrast, Germany has significantly less blogs because the people are more reserved talking about themselves. The Chinese government regulates blogs and their content, not allowing for freedom of speech, while Japan surprises Scoble and Israel with the number of blogs in the country.
Scoble and Israel’s main point is that companies should let their employees blog. It’s an excellent way to stay connected with and listen to the public. Dan Gillmor advocates blogging in more of an individual sense. He believes that bloggers should let their voices be heard regarding issues that they are passionate about and they should help contribute to the information of the Internet. I believe the idea of “citizen journalism” does not exist for the authors of Naked Conversations as it does for Gillmor. Scoble and Israel advocate friendly, informal blogging as a way of developing a close relationship with customers, while Gillmor advocates individual blogging that allow people to take a stand, present new information, and make substantial contributions to society. Both have valid arguments and both understand the power of blogging.
So far, I agree with what Scoble and Israel say in the first several chapters of their book—I believe that blogs are a modern way of connecting with people and developing a friendly, approachable reputation.
On Rosen’s PressThink
Although Jay Rosen hasn’t posted to his blog, Pressthink, since January 20, the content of his most recent post—and the link that he provides to his main article—is ongoing. He discusses the role that the campaign media plays in the presidential primaries. More precisely, he labels the media “a herd of independent minds” that hasn’t reported as well as it could have in the races. How does it affect the public when they are getting “insider” information from the media and it turns out to be false? Naturally, people will grow skeptical of the information they receive from the media. Anyone who follows politics, however, has a good idea of how predicting the outcomes of the polls works. Unless we can ask the majority of voters who they will vote for, we won’t have a good idea of how the numbers will turn out. And in defense of the media, politics is just about the only subject that the media may not get right. Otherwise, the media play an important role in society.
