Are Blogs a Disruptive Technology?

This article thinks maybe they are.


It doesn't really offer a lot of insight into how blogs can be used to redefine the competitive landscape. His advice won't impress many experienced bloggers.

I think that he is too optimistic about the ability of blogs to unleash an authentic human voice in communications.

Often, when information goes through a formal marketing or PR process, the end result is an attractive, expensive, stale, diluted document written in corporatespeak. This result is generally due not to any incompetence or malevolence on the part of corporate communicators but to the processes that have evolved to accommodate the costs and standards of print technology. As a result, the edge, the authenticity, and the voice of the professional speaking to his fellow professionals are lost.


He conflates two forces here. Blogs do have economic advantages compared to print which allows for faster and more varied communication. But the stale, diluted style comes from management oversight that has nothing to do with quality control or cost containment. There is a fear of clear statements and a love of weasel words that is separate from the media used.

Blogs may have marketing applications. But i think they have even more usefulness as an internal forum for strategic planning and competitive analysis. There they can have a major impact if implemented right.

Found via Business Pundit