The blog phenomenon is a two-way street.
Though people may post negative things about employers on the Internet message boards called blogs businesses are starting to leverage the same format for the benefit of their companies.
Many people are still getting a handle on terminology: “blog” is short for Web log, people who post on message boards are “bloggers,” and the collection of message boards on the Internet is the “blogosphere.” Meanwhile, Boeing, General Motors and Microsoft have all started blogs and update them regularly.
Local high-tech entrepreneur Michael Robertson has been blogging for years, effectively using his “Michael’s Minute” feature as a public relations tool for his businesses. Robertson runs software-maker Linspire.com and used to run MP3.com, an online music venture.
Many companies see blogs as part of a corporate public-relations strategy. Others see the world of blogs as a way to monitor talk about themselves and competitors.
“If you have a product, you ought to be monitoring the blogosphere,” said Bob Wyman, co-founder and chief technical officer of PubSub, a New York company that makes technology that monitors blogs for certain key words.
It’s necessary to monitor both the news and the mood out there, said Wyman.
Evelyn Rodriguez, author of the “Crossroads Dispatches” blog, compares blogs to the chatter in the marketplace of an ancient or colonial city. Wyman and Rodriguez spoke at a recent conference in San Francisco on the confluence of blogs and business.
The conference produced few tales of companies generating revenue off blogs. More common were stories of individuals making varied amounts of money from writing and posting.
Among the more successful was Dave Taylor of Boulder, Colo., a technical author, conference speaker, and a person who maintains four blogs. “My blogs pay my mortgage,” said Taylor, who spoke of selling advertising on the blogs he runs.
Asked about blogging as a revenue generator, Taylor said the adult entertainment industry probably produces paid blogs by now.
“Any Web site can be a profit center,” Taylor told his audience, though he promised his listeners a long, challenging road instead of overnight success. Blogs succeed with work and patience, he said.
Picking The Lock
