In today’s StarTribune business section: A blog can work for a business.
I’ll take a closer look and comment more when I have time but I really disagree with this statement from the attorney interviewed:
“Blogs are about having your customers talking to one another.”
Update Aug. 10: Julie Finch, an attorney with Rider Bennett law firm in Mpls, was interviewed for the piece, evidently not long after her presentation about blogging at a recent technology conference.
The quote above may not be accurate — I’ll check with her and the reporter, Janet Moore. But if true, it’s a startling assertion for Finch to make, and I think it’s possible that it might discourage businesses from using blogs.
I see business and leadership blogs as primarily a one-way communication tool, with degrees of interaction that can be throttled up or down. I’m guessing it’s somewhat rare, at least for small business bloggers, to have their blogs become a primary means for customers interact with one another… that’s more a definition of a message board or web forum, a tool I definitely support using assuming there’s a skilled moderator in charge.
Finch cites the Strib’s blogs as good examples, but I don’t think that’s helpful. I think of those as media blogs, a subset of business blogs, distinctly different than a blog that most businesses might set up. Better examples (among my small business blogging clients) the two that have been blogging the longest: Knecht’s Nurseries and Landscaping; and Northfield Construction. And neither have comments enabled.
