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Hi Alex When I get a moment I have my own (ironically) blog post stored up to rant about this very topic. For the moment, though, 3 short points: 1. User-Generated Content I remember the "3Cs" of the dotcom boom - content, commerce and community. Isn't 'UGC' just 'community' re-hashed? Why should it work now? Have all consumers suddely woken up and decided 'you know what, I suddenly feel like generating masses of content'. Actually, there is an argument why "UGC" is now much more possible than it was in the dotcom days. I'll post more fully on this sometime but basically it's down to a mixture of 1. Broadband penetration 2. Changing Internet Usage 3. Better Tools/Services to enable UGC. 2. Blogs Let's please not get obsessed again (dotcom style) by the particular medium, or tool, or functionality, and forget the actual message or content. In dotcom days we all needed "B2B exchanges" (except we didn't). Now we all need blogs? It isn't "blogs" or "Forums" or "widgets" or whatever else that is important. It is whether a) you actually have anything interesting to say and b) whether your users / customers actually want to engage with you in this way and c) whether there is a sensible business case. Companies talk about doing blogs, but I wonder - who is going to do your blog? Where is that time coming from? And, most importantly, if you've really got something interesting to talk about, how come you weren't doing it already through press releases, white papers, seminars, a forum etc. etc.? With the arrival of blogs, have you suddenly woken up interesting? Blogs are great, and can work very well for any company in a range of ways, but it's disappointing when the medium/tool (i.e. blogs) is what 'we must do' rather than focusing on the message / content / business case / desired outcome and then asking if blogs are appropriate. 3. The Business Case The easiest (hard) business case for blogs (or forums)? Search engine optimisation. Cheap (text-rich, often-updated, thematically-focused) content created by willing customers / stakeholders = search engine fodder = traffic = sales / business value. Oh and I guess I should plug our own <a href="http://www.e-consultancy.com/knowledge/events/1173/blogging-for-business.html">Blogging for Business</a> training event... Regards Ashley Friedlein CEO E-consultancy.com

<FormattedContent xmlns="http://www.e-consultancy.com/schema/formattedContent/"> <Paragraph>Hi Alex</Paragraph> <Paragraph>When I get a moment I have my own (ironically) blog post stored up to rant about this very topic. For the moment, though, 3 short points:</Paragraph> <Paragraph> <Emphasis>1. User-Generated Content</Emphasis> <LineBreak />I remember the "3Cs" of the dotcom boom - content, commerce and community. Isn't 'UGC' just 'community' re-hashed? Why should it work now? Have all consumers suddely woken up and decided 'you know what, I suddenly feel like generating masses of content'. </Paragraph> <Paragraph>Actually, there is an argument why "UGC" is now much more possible than it was in the dotcom days. I'll post more fully on this sometime but basically it's down to a mixture of 1. Broadband penetration 2. Changing Internet Usage 3. Better Tools/Services to enable UGC.</Paragraph> <Paragraph> <Emphasis>2. Blogs<LineBreak /></Emphasis>Let's please not get obsessed again (dotcom style) by the particular medium, or tool, or functionality, and forget the actual message or content. In dotcom days we all needed "B2B exchanges" (except we didn't). Now we all need blogs?<LineBreak /><LineBreak />It isn't "blogs" or "Forums" or "widgets" or whatever else that is important. It is whether a) you actually have anything interesting to say and b) whether your users / customers actually want to engage with you in this way and c) whether there is a sensible business case.</Paragraph> <Paragraph>Companies talk about doing blogs, but I wonder - <Quote>who</Quote> is going to do your blog? Where is that time coming from? And, most importantly, if you've really got something interesting to talk about, how come you weren't doing it already through press releases, white papers, seminars, a forum etc. etc.? With the arrival of blogs, have you suddenly woken up interesting?</Paragraph> <Paragraph>Blogs are great, and can work very well for any company in a range of ways, but it's disappointing when the medium/tool (i.e. blogs) is what 'we must do' rather than focusing on the message / content / business case / desired outcome and then asking if blogs are appropriate.</Paragraph> <Paragraph> <Emphasis>3. The Business Case<LineBreak /></Emphasis>The easiest (hard) business case for blogs (or forums)? Search engine optimisation. Cheap (text-rich, often-updated, thematically-focused) content created by willing customers / stakeholders = search engine fodder = traffic = sales / business value.</Paragraph> <Paragraph>Oh and I guess I should plug our own <Link URL="http://www.e-consultancy.com/knowledge/events/1173/blogging-for-business.html" Window="New">Blogging for Business</Link> training event...</Paragraph> <Paragraph>Regards</Paragraph> <Paragraph>Ashley Friedlein<LineBreak />CEO<LineBreak />E-consultancy.com</Paragraph> </FormattedContent>

2006-09-06T11:33:27+01:00

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2006-09-06T11:33:27+01:00