Blogs are about interaction and influence

Great article in The Independent newspaper yesterday about blogs and the business benefits by James Cherkoff, the advocate for open source marketing.

It’s a good overview of what’s happening and makes the case well. None of it will be news to anyone in the business blogging community, but will be a great starting point for those who aren’t (ie, the paper’s general readership).

Key message:

[…] It’s the interaction between blogs that makes them so interesting and influential. A single blog can be akin to a ranting madman on the corner. However, when linked together into massive intertwining communities, they have the vibrancy and passion of a massive street market, with information, opinions and whispers exchanging hands at light speed. And it’s no longer confined to techy chats. Conversations about every conceivable subject take place. And as the quantity and quality of these conversations grows, so does the blogosphere’s influence beyond the internet, including the commercial sector.