Clickz Weblog Business Strategies Conference: Day 1

<p><strong>UPDATE</strong>: Day two notes are <a href="http://www.timaoutloud.org/archives/000296.html">here</a>.</p>
<p>I&#39;m at the Clickz Weblog Business Strategies Conference that JupiterMedia is producing and will be reporting periodically. This post will be updated often through the day. </p>
<p>WiFi is on and the hotel staff has brough a small floatila of power strip to the are in front of the podium. I&#39;m surrounded by <a href="http://shellen.com">Jason Shellen</a>, <a href="http://www.intertwingly.net/">Sam Ruby</a>, <a href="http://doc.weblogs.com/">Doc Searls</a>, <a href="http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger/">David Weinberger</a>, <a href="http://www.buzzmachine.com/">Jeff Jarvis</a>, <a href="http://www.dashes.com/anil">Anil Dash</a> and <a href="http://q.queso.com/">Jason Levine</a>.</p>
<h3><a id="MichaelGartenberg"></a>Michael Gartenberg</h3>
<p>Michael Gartenberg start off with Jupiter Research Insight. There is a decline in the creation of personal websites. </p>
<p>Why Weblogs? Rapid communication. Rapid Feedback. Relationships with your audience. Getting the message across. Extend the brand to new audiences. Jupiter is eating their own dog food and have their own analyst weblogs setup. 4k hits a day across the site. Some customers have said that they renewed because of the weblogs.</p>
<p><q>The web is a tool that enables people to have a life to benefit from the efforts of those who don&#39;t</q> - The Register May 2003</p>
<p>The Reality: First Hand Expertise. Traditional Publishing Ego Driven as Well. Opportunity for direct contact to the audience. Customer Centric Communication. Truly a <q>No-Spin Zone.</q> (My commentary: not sure about that last one.)</p>
<p>Lots of Hype. Great for Internal Visibility. Great for External Visibility. Great way to get Fired. Weblogs is a communication medium.</p>
<p>Weblogging in ths business: Keep it modest at first. Go internal before you go external. Ask for permission and not forgiveness. Be ready for the response &#8211; you are putting yourself out in a public forum.</p>
<p>Who should Blog? Everyone with something to say. Blog early and Blog often. There are differences between Corporate Weblogs and personal weblogs. In general, keep the cheesecake recipes <em>offline</em>.</p>
<p>Gartenberg&#39;s business weblog project timeline: Beta internally. Commit core group of Bloggers. Get at least a week&#39;s woth of material. Open for internal review. Internal review. Launch(?)</p>
<p>It is not a medium for enthusiast with too much time and some software. </p>
<p>Now is the time to seize control and do this in your business or else you will cede control because your workers will start doing it.</p>
<h3><a id="DaveWiner"></a>Dave Winer</h3>
<p><a href="http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jupiterCribSheet">Dave&#39;s Crib Sheet</a></p>
<p>Dave asked hwo many people where blogging this event. About 1/3 to &#189; raised their hands. (Nearly all on the left side of the room because that&#39;s where the powerstrips are.)</p>
<p>Dave is showing us the 24 hours of democracy project he did and asks, is this a weblog? Weblogs should not be limited to external uses. Is there someone in your organization that sends around email a lot with links? They are natural born bloggers in your organization. There is no difference between a blogger and a journalist. Weblogs are not that high a calling. (Laughter.) Journalist are regular people too. Be yourself. Writing about your personal life is fine. Put in the cheescake recipe. It shows some truth about you &#8211; perhaps something you don&#39;t even understand yourself. Dave says if I was starting a business I would make it a weblog because it would have a competitive advantage. You&#39;re in future while they are waiting to make the transition.</p>
<p>Dave disagrees with personal websites are going away. Weblogs are personal websites and they are not going away. The technologist are learning how to make this stuff easier to use. Technologists have a backlog of features.</p>
<p>The discussion has shifted to relationship between weblogging and journalism. </p>
<p>From the audience, Doc Searls points out that he get edited from a professional in Linux Magazine and he gets edited in his weblog by his audience.</p>
<p>Dave says, I want to hear about something from a lot of angles to form my own opinion. Bloggers do not wake up and say I want to put a professional journalists out of a job.</p>
<p>Someone points out the Jayson Blair wouldn&#39;t have lasted a month doing what he did. Dave told the NY Times Digital that they need a blogging function and he hopes that they do it. He thinks the NY Times has a bigger problem then just Jayson Blair. He syas they have columnists that pose a journalists. We could talk about [journalism] all day so let&#39;s not.</p>
<p>Userland requires all its employees to blog. He says we crossed the line &#8211; they had an (unnamed) employee that where not team spirited and they had to have a talk with that individual. Its about trust. They came up with a set of ground rules. </p>
<p>One individual from Microsoft (Jason Shellen says its <a href="http://flashgoirl.blogspot.com/">Beth Goza</a>) just pointed that people say Microsoft should get a clue and when they do they are criticized. (You have our sympathy says Dave.) She states that she is held back by the community. It&#39;s her personal blog, but she disclosed that she is an employee of Microsoft and takes a lot of flack. In the real world you are going to get flamed. He salutes her for her courage.</p>
<p>Dave is talking about the evolving laws and what you can and can&#39;t speak about in a company. Dan Brickley chimes in.</p>
<p>There are some things worth going to jail for &#8211; the first ammendent being one of them. Perhaps we should all have weblogs to perserve free speech.</p>
<p>Idealism &#8211; don&#39;t knock it if you haven&#39;t tried it.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cardhouse.com/heath/2003_06_08_archive.html#200402717">Heath Row</a><br /><a href="http://bgbg.blogspot.com/2003_06_08_bgbg_archive.html#200402733">Denise Howell</a></p>
<h3><a id="AreWeblogsAThreatOrOpportunityForEnterprises"></a>Are weblogs a threat or opportunity for enterprises?</h3>
<p>Kathleen Goodwin leads a panel consisting of Carin Warner (President, Warner Communications), Michael O&#39;Connor Clarke (SVP Weber Shandwick a PR firm &#8211; <q>For all intents and purposes I am extinct.</q>), Rick Bruner (Executive Summary Consulting), Jeff Mooney (MediaMap) and Beth Goza of Microsoft.</p>
<p>How do you see personal and public weblogs fitting in to the marketing mix. Beth says that only blogging strategy a marketing department should have is no fixed blogging strategy. May become marketing by default. Weblogs remove the layers between you and your customers. When she reads about Microsoft its somewhat negative (audience laughs). She finds when she meet with people in person there is a very different perseption. Weblogs personalize these big monolithic companies.</p>
<p>Carin Warner chimes in that business weblogs should not be created or destroyed. They should be cultivated and controversial &#8211; its the only way to be interesting.</p>
<p>Rick Bruner challenges the notion of weblogs there is a lot of value in weblogs without controversial. Weblogs can be utilitarian &#8211; personality isn&#39;t necessary. He says ever company should have a weblog in the press and media section.</p>
<p>Warner and Clarke disagree. They think personality is important. What is a weblog without it. The question of what is a weblog is raised. <q>Do we care?</q> asks Clarke?</p>
<p>Personality AND expertise notes Dan Bricklin.</p>
<p>Beth Goza says weblogs are the anti-popup. It&#39;ss pull not push. It challenges the company. Company&#39;s have forgotten how to pull people in.</p>
<p>Mooney asks how do you measure a weblog? How can you tell if your weblogging is being successful. Do you want to measure it asks Warner? Over time it will contribute to the company&#39;s brand.</p>
<p>Jason Shellen says that a CEOs job is to communcate strategy externally and internally. The problem won&#39;t come from the CEO. It will come from legal and marketing department.</p>
<p>Beth Goza notes that Eric Rudder at Microsoft is weblogging now. She notes that she could not have a users group meeting on campus because their lawyers where concerned that someone may slip and fall and sue Microsoft. </p>
<p>Shellen calls out that the lawyers should calculate the missed opportunity cost of not doing something before they say something like that. </p>
<p>Clarke reads a section of Ballmer&#39;s memo calling for more human communication with its customers. That&#39;s the blogging strategy. </p>
<p>Goza notes Dr. Pepper trying to create a buzz by releasing a new product to bloggers and asking them to not tell anyone they gave it to them was the wrong approach.</p>
<p>You have to be a member of the community to make it work. Her concern is that companies will blogging out and not blogging in. </p>
<p>The conversation has moved into how companies can promotes its own users to foster community. </p>
<p>Goodwin says you do not appreciate the commit until you start doing it. She encourages ever person to think about that before.</p>
<p>Warner says compared to traditional media where a marketer doesn&#39;t know if they are reaching the customer &#8211; the possibilities of weblogging to reach out and touch your customer. Thinks of it as an amazing opportunity for marketing. Goodwin adds that her weblogging has been qualitive rather then quanitity.</p>
<p>The conversation is on disclosure and <q>cluelessness.</q> Full disclosure is important. </p>
<p>Jason Shellan speaks out that a <q>pitch</q> is something that I don&#39;t want to happen to me. I want to learn. David Weinberger agrees as says put up and the blogsphere will find you if its interesting. Jeff Jarvis points out that part of being pitched is a sign of respect. It all depends.</p>
<p>How do you distill the essence of weblogging? Key challenge. It is a breath of fresh air to meet someone like Beth Goza from Microsoft.</p>
<h3><a id="ManagingABusinessBlog"></a>Managing A Business Blog</h3>
<p>Jimmy Guterman leads a panel with <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735712999/tima02-20">Biz Stone</a>, Adina Levin (Socitext) and Jason Butler from bostonworks.com. </p>
<p>(After a downed WiFi connection and a hung browser we&#39;re back. NOw its times to catch up.)</p>
<p>Levin: difference between wiki and weblog are quite similar. A blog is about individual voice or a small teams voice. With a wiki taht individual voice gets lost. They server different aspect of communications.</p>
<p>How do we get business blogging? No need for an excuse. Companies need to communicate. Employees are drowning in email. Weblogging (and wikis) need to harness communications.</p>
<p>Let employee&#39;s find their voices says Biz Stone. He is redesigning alumni site. Spun off to students and professors. Found that there are 200 students already blogging at Wellsley. Many students keep paper journals. One professor approach Stone about sharing these journals which weblogging is perfect for. He notes that some people can&#39;t handle feedback on their thoughts or lock-up when they have to write.</p>
<p>Levin says the integrating communications with email and the like. </p>
<p>Dan Bricklin warns about the observer effect. If its an internal weblog with sensitive information such as competitive analysis &#8211; linking gives info away. You can open yourself up without knowing it.</p>
<h3><a id="DavidWeinbergerWhyBloggingMatters"></a>David Weinberger: Why Blogging Matters</h3>
<p>The bubble went away but the Internet and the Web did not. The Internet is a conversation not a communications platform.</p>
<p>What is a blow now? (GENERALLY speaking.) Daily. Few Paragraphs. Reverse Chronological. Linked In. Voice.</p>
<p>Not technology. Rhetoric. Social phenomenon. Something more&#8230;</p>
<p>Rhetoric: the importance of writing badly. There is a contract of forgiveness between reader and writer in weblogging. YOu have to forgive the misspellings and poor grammar.</p>
<p>Social: constructing a self. </p>
<p>Are bloggers <q>authentic?</q> Like an M&amp;M candy. Inner personal real. Outer public artificial. Interplay between the two.</p>
<p>Weblogging favors good writers &#8211; authors that can attract others. Rewards authors that can offer more of themselves. Pushing the line of private into the public. </p>
<p>Objectivity. Strengths: Multiple stories expert sifting. Community baseline. Weakness: Journalists are humans.</p>
<p>Subjectivity: Our world as it is. Strengths: Acknowledges observer. Acknowledges situation. (Missed the rest.)</p>
<p>Blogs allow multi-subjectivity. We have the tools to publish, find and consume these bits of subjectivity.</p>
<p>Weblogs give each author their own voice. There are those who don&#39;t like this. <q>Fort business.</q> Trade on knowledge and controlling information. Gatekeepers of knowledge as also challenged.</p>
<p>What knowledge looks like on the Web. Weinberger is taking us through his experience buying a new washer dryer and his hunt for knowledge.</p>
<p>David is talking about how he had a terrible weekend and could not log on to his blog. He went to MT support board and asked a question and got an answer within a few hours.</p>
<p>This is what knowledge looks like he exclaims the uncertain maybe marketing of stuff to us.</p>
<p>Knowledge is about certainty. Nah! That&#39;s an alienation. We deal with flesh and blood each day. Alienation is going to work each day and speaking like someone else. </p>
<p>We had a second public space. (Ironically Dave Weinberger&#39;s IM popped open and the audience is posting messages to him while he unwittingly continues.)</p>
<p>Once the laughter dies down he reiterates that we&#39;ve never had a second public space and now we do.</p>
<p>During questions: <q>Every time you create a link you&#39;re sticking it to the man.</q></p>
<p><a href="http://bgbg.blogspot.com/2003_06_08_bgbg_archive.html#200403982">Denise Howell&#39;s notes</a><br /><a href="http://www.cardhouse.com/heath/2003_06_08_archive.html#200403932">Heath Row&#39;s notes:</a></p>
<h3><a id="StrategiesAndTipsForBusinessBloggingSuccess"></a>Strategies and Tips for Business Blogging Success</h3>
<p>John Lawlor leads a panel with Major Chris Chambers (Ret.) (America&#39;s Army), Greg Lloyd (Traction Software), Halley Suitt (Halley&#39;s Comments), and Don White (Piedmont Preferred Properties).</p>
<p>Major Chambers discusses the Army&#39;s use of weblogs with the game America&#39;s Army. Greg talked about Tractions vision. Halley explains her personal road towards blogdom. Don White speaks about how they where able to do multiple site for a fraction of what most do a single site for. It only requires 1-2 people part time to keep up.</p>
<h3><a id="BloggingAndasContentManagementSystem"></a>Blogging and/as Content Management System</h3>
<p>I was on this panel and couldn&#39;t take notes. Denise Howell has done a good job and posted them <a href="http://bgbg.blogspot.com/2003_06_08_bgbg_archive.html#200404608">here</a>. I won&#39;t try and do better because I don&#39;t think I could. I&#39;ll just pay attention to the next panel.</p>
<p>Heath does <a href="http://www.cardhouse.com/heath/2003_06_08_archive.html#200404575">an excellent job</a> also.</p>
<h3><a id="BloggingTechnologiesAndPlatformsTodayAndTomorrow"></a>Blogging Technologies And Platforms: Today and Tomorrow.</h3>
<p>Doc Searls leads an esteemed panel of luminaries &#8211; Jason Shellen (Blogger/Google), Bob Frankston, Dan Bricklin (CTO Interland), Anil Dash (SixApart), Michael Gartenberg (Jupiter), John Robb (Userland).</p>
<p>I tried, but I&#39;m too tired (I&#39;ve been up since 4:45AM EDT) and this panel is too dynamic for me to keep.</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE</strong>: Denise Howell took great notes again. They are <a href="http://bgbg.blogspot.com/2003_06_08_bgbg_archive.html#200405035">here</a></p>