I read an interesting post by Steve Rubel who was attending the Blog Business Summit over the past couple of days. He was reporting on a presentation about using blogs for emergency PR (his profession). Reading the post, I wondered what it really had to do with blogs. It seemed to me that he was really just talking about a web communications channel, of which blogging is one example. So, what's so special about blogging?
I think there are two things. The first is that blogging lowers the barrier to entry for people who want to publish on the web. It is truly pushbutton publishing on the web. The second is that people have come to expect that blogs offer a “more real, less spun” rendition of what is going on within the company. I think this second point is what has captivated Rubel and is one of the main things he thinks about and tries to counsel people on.
Now, I have to say that I am personally somewhat skeptical of the second point. People always try to spin, or put more kindly, consider their audience, and if they don't consider their audience, they learn a hard lesson from reader feedback and start to. So, one might say that blogging in its purest form is best described as “polite authentic”.
So, for me, pushbutton publishing is the key benefit. Does that buy you anything? It can get you interactivity in the bargain, and that's a big thing. I'll have more to say on that in the next post.
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