Putting People First blog posted about a survey that strategy consultancy McKinsey just conducted with executives about Web 2.0 technologies. Although they found significant interest, execs still shy away from blogs.



Only 16% of the companies surveyed said they were investing in blogs, compared to 63% for web services, 28% for peer-to-peer networks, and 19% for social networks.
78% identified web services as the Web 2.0 technology/tool most important their their business.

Bruce Nussbaum of Business Week says companies are afraid of blogs.
Why?
IMHO companies are still uncomfortable talking to their customers directly, actually, uncomfortable allowing "employees" to talk to customers directly. They like the idea of social networks and communities, they are easily distinguished from the "company."
Blogs, on the other hand, are written by humans that talk to other humans -- employees to customers, employees to partners, employees to investors, employees to stock markets, employees to press (or at least that seems to be the terrifying image).
One of the problems is that the people who are blogging are not necessarily the communication professionals -- those the companies would like to be blogging. In fact, they are people who work on the nuts and bolts -- it's a marketing person talking about marketing, it's a developer talking about developing apps. In fact, if a communication professional started blogging they would be more likely to be participating in the PR blogosphere.
The problem for companies is they want to decide who represents them in the marketplace, that's why there are spokespeople. I'm sure they would prefer to pick the people who blog for the company and groom them and train them to say the right things. But right now the early adopter bloggers are driven by something else, they self-identify, they just start blogging, they just are blogging. I really think companies need to do a better job of finding the people who are blogging in their company and saying, "Hey, how can we help?"
Look at what Digitas has done with David Armano, and now Greg Verdino .


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McKinsey Reports Businesses Loving Web 2.0... Except Blogs

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Karl Long, straight talk, critical thinking, and strategic vision. Karl is fascinated in what happens and what value can be created "in the space between" customers and businesses, it is this space that customer experience happens, brands are built, value is co-created, and sometimes customers are let down.

Karl likes to focus on these areas and is a passionate believer that companies that pay attention to this space, like Google, Netflix, Amazon, ikea & ebay, create the strongest brands that essentially market themselves.

Karl writes the number 2 site on the topic of customer experience at blog.experiencecurve.com - customer experience strategy est. 2003, where he explores the marketing, branding and design implications of customer experience.

More recently Karl started up CustomersOnfire.com - microbrands & micromarketing to explore what he thinks is next generation marketing and branding that will rely on non-traditional marketing channels, like blogs, social software and co-created content.

Karl holds an MBA in Design Management from the University of Westminster in England and currently lives in the South of Florida for his sins.

Feel free to get in touch:
karl.long@gmail.com



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