Jan
22
2005
4 disadvantages of blogging… according to Gerry McGovern
Posted in the Category of CEO Bloggers and Marketing and Stuff and Writing Tips
Web content expert Gerry McGovern has published a useful and authoritative e-newsletter every week (he's never missed a deadline, he told me) since 1996. It's a text-only email but almost always has a gem or two related to content management. New Thinking archives here. I just ran across an article he published in August, 2004 on Blogs and blogging: advantages and disadvantages. He makes some excellent points about blogs and writing...
He notes that "some of the most significant revolutions of the past 20 years have had to do with writing." I.e. email, Web pages, text messaging... and now blogs. I love that observation. Then he goes on to list 5 advantages and 4 disadvantages of blogging. I agree with the first 3 disadvantages (although there are ways around these for a business blog). Full article here.
1. "Most people don't have very much to say that's interesting... "
2. "People who have the most time to write have least to say... "
3. "Like practically everything else on the Web, blogs are easy to start and hard to maintain... "
I take issue with his 4th disadvantage:
4. "The Web makes many organizations look like disorganizations, with multiple tones and opinions. Contrary to what some might think, the average customer prefers it if the organization they are about to purchase from is at least somewhat coherent."
I don't agree when it comes to many corporate Web sites. Indeed there's often a sameness and blandness of tone (I call it marketing-speak or corporate-speak) that makes them dull as heck.
If a CEO thought leadership blog were added to a bland corporate site, it would add a human voice to the company that many would-be customers might find extremely compelling. Of course I agree that the blog should be part of an overall communications strategy. A corporate blog may appear to be a slap-it-up, real-time, informal conversation... but that's just part of the magic of blogging as a publishing tool. There should be plenty of thought behind how the tool is used.
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Comments
hugh macleod said on January 23, 2005 at 08:40 AM
Well, a good blog is a real time guzzler.
Another disadvantage, you might have a lot to say but your writing skills are just not up to it. I’ve been a pro writer for 15 years and yes, it gives me one heck of an advantage.
Hey, congrats on your Change This manifesto doing so well =) Shot right up the charts!
I just blogged something about the new GM blog…
http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/001324.html
The gist of it is; we already know blogging works even at a corporate level. The issue is about whose entrenched interests do blogs upset. The idea that blogs have no ROI is ridiculous.
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