A tip of the blog hat to MPR’s Future Tense reporter Jon Gordon on the release of this Forrester Research report last week.

I’m guessing that their report focuses on PR-type blogs and maybe to some extent on product manager/mid-level manager blogs. I’ll try to find out if they have much to say about top leadership/CEO blogging.

Blogging: Bubble Or Big Deal?
When And How Businesses Should Use Blogs
by Charlene Li, with Josh Bernoff, Tenley McHarg
November 5, 2004
Price: US$349.00
Length: 18 page(s)

Although Weblogs (blogs) are currently used by only a small number of online consumers, they’ve garnered a great deal of corporate attention because their readers and writers are highly influential. Forrester believes that blogging will grow in importance, and at a minimum, companies should monitor blogs to learn what is being said about their products and services. Companies that plan to create their own public blogs should already feel comfortable having a close, two-way relationship with users. In this document we recommend best practices, including a blogging code of ethics, and metrics that will show the impact of blogs on business goals.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
– Introduction To Weblogs
– Corporate Use Of Blogs Should Vary Based On Business Goals
– Best Practices For Creating Public Blogs

RECOMMENDATIONS
– Start Slow But Start Now With Blogs

WHAT IT MEANS
– Blogs Will Evolve Just As Web Sites Have
– Supplemental Material

Other business blog reports/ebooks/whitepapers:

What Could Your Company Do With A Blog? How Smart Companies Use Blogs for Marketing and PR Success and How You Can Too, by B.L. Ochman.
(Oct. 2004; self-published PDF; 105 pages – $97)

Business Blogging Starter Kit: Learn the what, why and how of blogging as a business tool, by Debbie Weil
(July, 2004; WordBiz report PDF; 127 pages; $97)

Business Blogs: How Successful Companies Get Real Results With Weblogs, by Kate Kaye & Rick Bruner
(November, 2003; MarketingWonk report PDF; 103 pages; $99)