By Dylan Stableford
CHICAGO;In a Top Management Meeting that had been dominated with talk of e-media, brand extensions and a litany of other e-related terms;interspersed with the rare mention of print;a panel of business bloggers gave their own interpretations of the To Blog or Not to Blog? question, offering a glimpse into the state of participatory journalism for top-level business executives, many of whom have at least come around on the idea of a blog as a valuable tool, if not acted on the notion.
Rex Hammock, president of Hammock Publishing and operator of the popular rexblog
, said the idea of monetizing blogging for a publisher is a simple one. “Anytime you can aggregate eyeballs, there are ways to monetize it,” said Hammock. Money, Hammock said, is the third “dot” in the emerging “Web 2.0” concept, with participatory media as its content and “sharing” as its community.
, said the idea of monetizing blogging for a publisher is a simple one. “Anytime you can aggregate eyeballs, there are ways to monetize it,” said Hammock. Money, Hammock said, is the third “dot” in the emerging “Web 2.0” concept, with participatory media as its content and “sharing” as its community.
Robert Hof, BusinessWeek’s Silicon Valley bureau chief, said BW’s blogs;like Tech Beat
and Deal Flow
;have helped turn a weekly magazine into a daily, hourly and often continuous publication. Hof said the magazine would add two more blogs this year, but declined to elaborate further. “We think blogs are at the beginning,” said Hof, “and we want to be there to be part of (their evolution).” Hof added that BW bloggers are “only seasoned journalists” and that their practice of moderating its readers’ postings have helped protect their brand, a concern for many publishers in launching blogs. Steve Ennen, American Business Media’s resident Mediapace
blogger, said that balancing the interests of an association with personal analysis can be hard. “We don’t have the liberty to be a bathrobe prophet,” said Ennen. “It’s not a place for mudslinging or personal attacks.”
and Deal Flow
;have helped turn a weekly magazine into a daily, hourly and often continuous publication. Hof said the magazine would add two more blogs this year, but declined to elaborate further. “We think blogs are at the beginning,” said Hof, “and we want to be there to be part of (their evolution).” Hof added that BW bloggers are “only seasoned journalists” and that their practice of moderating its readers’ postings have helped protect their brand, a concern for many publishers in launching blogs. Steve Ennen, American Business Media’s resident Mediapace
blogger, said that balancing the interests of an association with personal analysis can be hard. “We don’t have the liberty to be a bathrobe prophet,” said Ennen. “It’s not a place for mudslinging or personal attacks.”
The panel also addressed the concern over the perceived loss of productivity when launching a blog in-house. “I’d argue you become a better, more concise writer when you blog,” said Hammock. “And a better reader too.” Both Hof and Hammock added that the interactivity of blogs has led to story leads for those who write them. “It’s an easy-to-use content management platform,” said Hammock, who sees blogs as a better way to display content. “A blog is a better online metaphor me.”
[Note: This story has been corrected. In the previous version, Steve Ennen was quoted as saying that as an ABM blogger he does not have “the liberty to be a bathroom prophet
.” The phrase he used was “bathrobe prophet
.”]
