Via Micro Persuasion: a small but growing number of businesses are hiring people to write blogs. Companies are looking for candidates who can write in a conversational style about timely topics that would appeal to customers, clients and potential recruits.

“Blogging as a job has emerged as companies of all stripes increasingly see the Web as an important communications venue. Blogs allow firms to assume a natural tone rather than the public-relations speak typical of some static Web pages, and readers are often invited to post comments. While some companies are hiring full-time bloggers, others are adding blogging duties to existing marketing or Web-editing positions.

Currently only 4% of major U.S. corporations have blogs available to the public… But ads for blogging jobs are popping up on online job boards in recent months. Blogging jobs are growing in popularity…”

Read more…

Aircraft maker Boeing launched a new blog ten days ago - Flight Test Journal, a place where the engineers and test pilots of Boeing’s new 777-200LR Worldliner talk about their work in getting the world’s longest-range commercial airplane ready for commercial service. Only two posts so far, but it looks like the scene has been set by Joe Kranak, Chief Engineer, Test and Validation, 747, 767, 777.

I perfectly agree with Neville Hobson when he writes: “Even with just two posts so far, this blog conveys a refreshing informality and insight into some aspects of the work of some pretty skilled people that you’d likely never get a glimpse of otherwise. Just take a look at this example, posted a few days ago by Suzanna Darcy-Hennemann, Chief Project Pilot, Boeing 777-200LR Worldliner… Suzanna’s post includes her photo. That’s a perfect touch, which adds greatly to her post to help make a real connection with Boeing. Would you get that just from reading the dry description about the new plane, or even watching one of the videos?”

“The new blog is a terrific step in sharing commentary and opinion on a subject that most people would only find out about through traditional communication means (TV, print media, etc). And without any of the informality… It looks like Boeing now has more of a plan about blogs and where they fit into their overall marketing and communications.”

Via NevOn.

Many intranets are only now beginning to show their true potential. However, many staff, having had unsatisfactory previous experiences of the intranet, may need quite some convincing that the intranet is now genuinely useful.

If you want to change that perception you need to get out there and sell:

• Get people in a room and show them how search has improved.
• Get out in the office and evangelise about the wonderful new HR section.
• Put posters up in the canteen about the revamped staff directory that is no longer a genealogical resource.
• Have competitions, create fun events, but whatever you do make sure you’re actively managing the perception of your intranet.

Read more….

The author is missing one major step: you need to include an internal weblog into your intranet, or even better, to make it a blog!

Via Column Two.

Listen to the wise Yoda you should:

• Blog you must for your business.
• Truth, passion, authenticity a blogger must have.
• Comment and trackback spam paths to the Darkside are.
• Prideful blogging, a dangerous thing it is. A way to the Darkside it is.
• The Blog-i Masters train you in the way of the Blog, they can.
• Blog-i Masters guardians of the Blogosphere they are.
• May the Blog be with you.

Via CorporateBloggingBlog.

Microsoft turns on hundreds of knowledge base RSS feeds:

“Whoa, hundreds of RSS feeds for Microsoft’s knowledge base.

In the past I said that people should get fired if they don’t do RSS. In this case, the team that did this should all get 4.5s (Microsoft lingo for “get a raise.”)

This is really huge. Now someone who is really passionate about one of our products and wants to keep up to date on all the problems and fixes for that product, can subscribe and instantly be warned when a new knowledge base article comes out.

MVPs are gonna LOVE this one! (When I was an MVP I LIVED inside the knowledge base).”

Via Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blogger.

95% of IT expenditure in companies supports business processes. Almost nothing goes into the social fabric. Meanwhile, the vast majority of what workers actually do is handling exceptions to process, what you could call the domain of business practice.

Wikis, Blogs, RSS Aggregators and other Social Software provide an alternative to email for supporting the social fabric. Hidden in email is 90% of collaboration and 75% of knowledge assets, but all the value disappears below the fold — while spam, occupational spam and viruses hamper productivity.

Read more…

Via Das E-Business Weblog.

Today, however, an increasing number of organizations are using blogs to communicate internally and with analysts, press, and customers. Technology companies including Macromedia, Microsoft, IBM, and Dell all have blogs.

Read more…

When eCourier Ltd. developed an innovative online package-tracking system for its customers last summer, it had to coordinate activities between front- and back-end developers working in Italy, Germany and the U.K. But instead of using traditional project management software to monitor the project, the company’s developers used weblogging tools from Providence, R.I.-based Traction Software Inc. to generate project updates and provide a record of the work that was done.

Read more…

Blogs now mean business says Scott Koegler for InternetWeek. If you look at the different tools available, it goes from freeware to expensive solutions; your choice will depend on how much control you want to exercise over the content of your business blog.

“Most general-purpose blogs used by consumers are meant for unfettered access by anyone who cares to read them. Business blogs are focused, instead, on enabling internal communications, in many cases supplementing intranets as vehicles for quickly communicating information within work groups. For example, while general-purpose blog applications allow users to freely post entries or comments, blogging systems that are more specifically designed for business use allow more control over individual users’ access rights.

In addition, personal and general-purpose blogs are generally created using hosted applications, which can be set up quickly and economically, and without the overhead of installing software on a server and maintaining user accounts and data. However, for more controlled environments where the security of the data content is a critical, an organization may decide to install blog software on its own servers.”

Then Scott presents five blog applications from which I will only reproduce the one about Traction.

Traction
Traction is designed as a communication environment, and as such has various security levels to separate groups and their projects. This makes Traction a good fit for companies with multiple projects and multiple groups because Traction allows each to be defined with its own privileges. While the application is easy to use once it’s been set up, there is a definite learning curve attached.

Traction will run on Windows, Solaris, Linux, and Mac OS X, and is sold on the basis of the number of named users who can log into the system and are assigned access privileges. The system allows for an unlimited number of viewers. Its base price is $250 for two users and three projects, but companies wanting to take full advantage in a corporate setting will need at least TeamPage-15, which works with 15 users and five projects for $5,000. Larger configurations are priced individually.

What makes Traction uniquely viable for the corporate environment is the extent to which the linking is integrated with the system’s permissions. Links are only visible to members who have been given permission to access their content. This means a company can use Traction as both an internal, multi-departmental project management system and a publicly-accessible portion of the Web site. Only content designated as viewable by the public, even if it is part of an internal posting, will appear on the open Web site, eliminating the need to manage multiple sites with the same or similar content.

Traction delivers a set of features likely to satisfy demanding corporate environments. If you expect that your business blogging will grow beyond simple consumer level blogs, Traction is your best choice. You can start off with a minimum investment and grow the system to accommodate a complex organization without having to change software.

During the Microsoft CEO Summit, Redmond., Wash. (May 19, 2005), Bill Gates described the workplace trends that are transforming the landscape of global commerce. According to his vision of the “New World of Work”, individual workers will have to make a stronger impact with their daily tasks, manage their communications and collaboration in a unified environment, and more readily visualize and extract valuable insights from large volumes of incoming information.

“Today’s companies thrive when their employees can effectively collaborate, visualize and act on business intelligence and prioritize scarce time and resources. Information workers are the driving force behind business innovation. To adapt and succeed in the ‘New World of Work’ today and tomorrow, they need advanced tools that will help them make the most of their unique talents, experiences and judgment.”

Via Microsoft Press Pass.

By the way, Steve Ballmer seems to be reasonably enthousiast about RSS…

“We believe RSS is important and will be around for a while but it is not going to change the world. It is a little too simple, that is also the reason everyone’s using it. We are working on more existing powerful stuff, around XML/web services [sic] that will address many issues beyond RSS. RSS will be around, but whatever we are working next will be cooler and more prevelant.”

Via Micro Persuasion.

Interesting post by Jim Logan on what a real blog coach is supposed to do.

Via Real Lawyers.

It was revealed first on Silicon Valley Watcher: IBM largest ever corporate blogging initiative in a bid to encourage any of its 130,000 staff to become online evangelists for the company.

After the company has missed its financial expectations and announced thousands of layoffs, it is now trying to boost its business again by galvanizing employees into an army of online evangelists for IBM’s products and technologies, following the example of the famous Robert Scoble.

The goal is to help improve IBM’s competitive position in key IT markets by having more of its tech gurus participating in online communities and discussions. This is exactly the theory of the porous membrane!

The IBM blogging project is being run by Jim Finn, the former chief of communications at Oracle, and by chief strategist, Irving Wladawsky-Berger.

IBM’s blogging initiative includes the publication of interviews with staff who are already bloggers and are well recognized within their online communities, such as Catherine Helzerman. She says it has been good for her career. “Blogging has provided me with recognition within the company, and outside,” said Ms Helzerman.

This initiative is different from the ones at Microsoft or Sun Microsystems. IBM wants to promote individual initiatives. There will not be a single site referencing all blogs from IBM’s employees, at least in a first step.

Can blogging really boost IBM’s revenues and reduce layoffs? I bet it will. But the project owners will have to be careful about a number of problems and risks. As Neville Hobson said: “This huge-scale blogging plan is visionary, to say the least, but the goal must be regarded as extraordinarily ambitious.”

Of course, IBM bloggers will need to follow some guidelines. And Jonathan Schwartz, the chairman of Sun Microsystems, immediately offered his help in this note (scroll to the end of it). He offered for free Sun’s blogging policy to IBM, which would only have to replace the word “Sun” by “IBM.” Obviously, IBM didn’t accept this proposal and published its own policy, “IBM Blogging Policy and Guidelines” (PDF, 79 Kb).

Via The Blog Herald, Micro Persuasion, iaocblog, Company Blogs and Corporate Engagement.

Why do people trust certain blogs only?

“… the answers generally have to do with: their view of the credibility of the author and content; the amount of traffic they perceive the blog to be getting; the number of other sites linking to the blog; how active the blog is; and the look and feel of the blog. Blogs that rate high in these areas tend to be trusted more than sites that rate low. This is very consistent with studies looking at how online users perceive web sites in general.”

Via iaocblog.

One day, Hugh Macleod at Gaping Void was trying to answer this simple but essential question: why does corporate blogging work?

It ended up in the theory of the porous membrane, which I let you read by yourself on Hugh’s blog. It is sooo obvious.

Via BlogSpotting, Marketing Tom, Moonwatcher and BlogWrite for CEOs.

Professional blogs and their impact on communications. In other words, what are the factors driving the rapid growth of professional blogs.

• The cost of setting up and maintaining a blog is very low, and the audience reach potential is high.
• The advent of advertising based business models has created revenue opportunities for entrepreneurial bloggers, and blogs can now monetize a quality audience.
• Blogging is also seen by many as an interesting job opportunity with an appealing lifestyle.
• The growth of professional blogging has attracted both new media entrants and traditional media companies. Traditional media firms are also adding professional blogs at a very rapid pace.
• Product information and industry information blogs are particularly attractive to blog publishing entrepreneurs.

“… professional industry and product blogs will have larger audiences and greater influence than amateur blogs… Corporations will need to identify professional blog sites that cover their products and industry and develop programs for working with these bloggers. Customers and other stakeholders will increasingly use professional blogs as part of their product and company research efforts, and these blogs will impact corporations much like traditional media has done in the past.”

Via International Association of Online Communications.

Who would believe it? The United States Marine Corps have implemented internal weblogs to foster communication.

It is interesting to note that the mentality can change in the army too… See what General James E. Cartwright said:

“The metric is what the person has to contribute, not the person’s rank, age, or level of experience. If they have the answer, I want the answer. When I post a question on my blog, I expect the person with the answer to post back. I do not expect the person with the answer to run it through you, your OIC, the branch chief, the exec, the Division Chief and then get the garbled answer back before he or she posts it for me. The Napoleonic Code and Netcentric Collaboration cannot exist in the same space and time. It’s YOUR job to make sure I get my answers and then if they get it wrong or they could have got it righter, then you guide them toward a better way…but do not get in their way.”

Via Das E-Business Weblog.

Robert Nyman underlines the lack of respect CMS manufacturers show their clients when they create administrative interfaces that only work in IE on a PC.

“Their WYSIWYG editors generate terrible and invalid code that cannot be presented as strict HTML or XHTML. We’re talking about editors that generate deprecated tags, upper-case tags, attribute values without quotes, invalid attributes and so on. Basically, worthless code that also (as to top it off) isn’t well-formed, hence impossible to use in a stricter XHTML/XML scenario.”

The solution suggested by Robert: the Javascript Content Editor TinyMCE by Moxiecode. It is solely based on JavaScript, which means that it doesn’t require any plug-ins or extra programs to run. For the moment, it works in IE and Mozilla/Firefox, meaning that with the Gecko support it is also available on the Mac and Linux platforms, as well as the PC platform.

And the good news is: the latest release of Traction TeamPage (3.6) includes an improved version of TinyMCE for post and comment editing!

Via FredCavazza.net.

Via Corporate Engagement: James Richards, a management lecturer in Scotland, publishes a full A-Z and job-based categorisation of hundreds of work-related blogs.

No time yet to look at all of them but certainly a great idea.

Procter & Gamble started to blog on Sparkle Body Spray.

Via Loic Le Meur Blog.

It is just unbelievable how fast weblogs are reaching out to just everybody in our society. Provided that they have access to the Internet of course.

One new category of bloggers is represented by all the people who want / need to talk about health. Merely private blogs dealing with some specific diseases, medication, treatment, techniques, etc. Very often, these blogs are the consequence of personal experiences. One good example is Diabetes Mine, the blog of Amy Tenderich, diagnosed with diabetes and who wanted to share what she was learning about the disease. See The Cancer Blog in the same category.

No one officially tracks patient blogs, but David Sifry, founder of Technorati, estimates that there are hundreds of thousands of people blogging about illnesses, caring for parents, dealing with end-of-life issues and pregnancy, etc.

Health weblogs even go into podcasting! See The Health Show for example.

Now health-care groups and hospitals are trying to encourage and even sponsor some form of blogging to help patients share their experiences. These blogs can also be used to keep friends and family members informed during a long or difficult treatment. The High Point Region Hospital provides a hosted blog platform as a service for its patients.

Even the The Wall Street Journal is interested by this new type of blogs; beginning of this month, Laura Landro published an article about it: Blogging From Your Sickbed (see the article - print the article).

Via Blogging about Incredible Blogs..