One of the mantras in social media circles these days is: “This is not just about blogging.”
So true. I couldn’t agree more. Whether it’s microblogging with Twitter (see marriottpr) or idea generation with evangelistic customers’ input (see MyStarbucksIdea), there are many ways that companies can deploy social media to listen and to learn.
Yet the fact remains that many (most? it’s most if more than 50%, right?) companies are just waking up to what they could do with a blog — internally or externally.
An article by Rich Karpinski this week in BtoB Magazine reminds us that only about 12% of Fortune 500 companies are blogging (11.6% according to the Fortune 500 Business Blogging Wiki).
But that companies like Dell, IBM, Kodak, Intel and SAP “are now deep into blogging programs with multiple weblogs, dozens of
bloggers and a wealth of expertise and best practices to share.”
So while blogs and blogging may be “old news” to organizations and marketers immersed in social media, they are still decidedly a new new thing for many corporate folks.
As intriguing, fun and real-time as many of the social networking tools are, blogs are here to stay. Bottom line, blogs are next-generation websites. They’re not going anywhere.
Useful Link
Beyond Blogs: What Business Needs to Know – BusinessWeek cover story, June 2, 2008
Businesses embrace blogging: Early adopters embrace strategies, new titles for corporate social media marketing efforts by Rich Karpinski in BtoBOnline, June 9, 2008