Jun 24, 2006
Inside Blogs Survey
As I had reported a while ago Dr Nora Barnes of the University of Massachussettes Dartmouth was doing a survey that was designed to go behind the scenes of business blogging. Well the survey is finished and is now being distributed, and let me tell you it is a must read for any one that wants some data to back up any discussions about social media.
Some nice takeaways were the “4 blog truths”
- Blogs Take Time and Commitment
- Blogs Must Be Part of A Plan
- A Blog is a Conversation
- Transparency, Authenticity, and Focus are good. Bland is Bad.
and some nice titbits:
Blogs serve as barrier breakers. Some companies are running (or considering) blogs in other languages to reach markets where traditional marketing may be costly and difficult. These are particularly good to “introduce” products without the expense or risk of a full campaign.
…
Blogs evolve. Bloggers surveyed also plan to add more video, introduce new media/mobile technology, add podcasting and expand the number of visitors to their sites. Here are some of the responses that address these kinds of changes:
…
Blogging begets blogging. When asked how to grow readership and promote a blog, our respondents were very clear. One blogger wrote, “The best way to promote a blog is by commenting on other people”s blogs in the same niche and industry.” Another offered, “Grow your blog by being cited by other more popular blogs.” The theme continued with, “Get linked to by talking about issues of importance to bloggers with high PageRank.”
…
It is the humanity of the blogoshpere that makes it an enormous threat to business as usual. The only way for businesses to survive this new consumer movement is to understand what makes blogs successful. We asked our prestigious group of bloggers to tell us what characteristics make a good blogger. Many offered lists of personal traits including:
“Dedicated, opinionated, inquisitive”
“Disciplined”
“Intelligent, diligent, and patient”
“Personality, commitment, networking ability”
“Responsible, honest”
“Being true and real at all times”
“Passion, engagement, sincerity, authenticity, to be coherent, to answer comments (even
the negative ones), to post regularly (even if only once per week)”
…
Blogs evolve. Bloggers surveyed also plan to add more video, introduce new media/mobile technology, add podcasting and expand the number of visitors to their sites. Here are some of the responses that address these kinds of changes:
…
Blogging begets blogging. When asked how to grow readership and promote a blog, our respondents were very clear. One blogger wrote, “The best way to promote a blog is by commenting on other people”s blogs in the same niche and industry.” Another offered, “Grow your blog by being cited by other more popular blogs.” The theme continued with, “Get linked to by talking about issues of importance to bloggers with high PageRank.”
…
It is the humanity of the blogoshpere that makes it an enormous threat to business as usual. The only way for businesses to survive this new consumer movement is to understand what makes blogs successful. We asked our prestigious group of bloggers to tell us what characteristics make a good blogger. Many offered lists of personal traits including:
“Dedicated, opinionated, inquisitive”
“Disciplined”
“Intelligent, diligent, and patient”
“Personality, commitment, networking ability”
“Responsible, honest”
“Being true and real at all times”
“Passion, engagement, sincerity, authenticity, to be coherent, to answer comments (even
the negative ones), to post regularly (even if only once per week)”
Also Steve Rubel has noted it at micropersuasion
(BTW I’m sorry to say that I didn’t fill it out after all my effort promoting it, my bad)
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