Tomorrow, Google reports its first quarterly financial results as a public company. In a report today, the Wall Street Journal says there’s little agreement on what those results will be. Financial analysts’ estimates for Google’s third-quarter earnings, excluding several expenses, range from 22 cents to 61 cents a share, according to Thomson First Call, the […]
Category: Communication
Blogging for dollars
The latest business-focused story about blogging appears in the October issue of CFO Magazine. Although the magazine article covers a lot of the same ground that has already appeared in publications like Business Week and through newswires like Reuters, its readership comprises an excellent business audience for getting the message to about the benefits of […]
Blog vs forum: What’s the difference?
One of the comments in response to the first post a few weeks ago by IABC Chair David Kistle on the new IABC Chair’s blog was question #7 asked by IABC member and leader, Jennifer Wah: What’s the difference (other than public access) between this and MemberSpeak [IABC’s member-only discussion forum]? Will one not cannibalize […]
Coming Soon: Blog conference for PR/Marcom professionals – New Communications Forum 2005
If you are considering starting a corporate blog, want to learn how to maximize your current blog, or simply want to learn more about how blogging and other new communications tools such as wikis and RSS newsfeeds are becoming crucial for your communications toolkit, we’ve got a conference for you. There is growing demand for […]
Creative Commons elevator pitch
Using a Creative Commons license to provide some protection of your rights to the intellectual capital that makes up the content of your blog is a sensible thing to do. I’ve done that on my blog (license at the bottom of the right-hand column). The trouble is, understanding the different Creative Commons licenses and what […]
Business blogging: It just makes sense
If you want more hard evidence of how real-world companies are gaining business benefit from blogs, look no further than the experience of Clip-n-Seal. Christopher Carfi, CEO of Cerado, Inc, posted a great interview with Scott Benish, Brand Manager for Clip-n-Seal, on his blog. Just two of the Q&A will make you want to read […]
Illustrating the Law of the Many
Alan Nelson, co-founder of The Command Post political blog, posted an exceptionally good commentary last week with the full text of a speech he made to managing editors of major North American newspapers that subscribe to the Associated Press newswire service. What’s exceptional about Nelson’s post is that, while it focuses on one specific audience […]
The Kitchen starts cooking
Now open for business – The Kitchen: How to Cook a Weblog. The brainwave of Shelley Powers, here’s what it is: The Kitchen: How to Cook a Weblog is a two-week clinic on weblogging and related topics for bloggers and those who read blogs and even those who don’t but still manage to use the […]
Instructors for New Communications Forum 2005
Elizabeth Albrycht and Guillaume du Gardier have just announced the first list of instructors/presenters for the New Communications Forum 2005 conferences in the US and Europe next January and February respectively. Elizabeth’s post | Guillaume’s post
Blogs at the heart of truth-telling networks
Once again Evelyn Rodriguez writes pretty thought-provoking commentary with a post yesterday on the topic of blogs as truth-telling networks. She quotes a key passage from Hardball: Are You Playing to Play or Playing to Win by George Stalk and Rob Lachenauer: …Employess, operating out of self-interest, often shade the truth when they pass information […]
Don’t forget the reality checks
Like most communicators who blog, I’m a strong advocate for encouraging, persuading, prodding and cajoling my fellow communicators into introducing blogs in their organizations as part of their communication planning. This isn’t a blind, because-it’s-there thing – although, depending on the organization, elements of that approach can be a very good idea in applying a […]
Delta employee firing highlights need for blogging policies
The story of Delta Airlines employee and blogger Ellen Simonetti, who’s been fired, is now a global story following a report today on BBC News. First reported on the blogosphere earlier this month by, among others, Steve Rubel, the story concerns a post on Ellen’s blog Queen of the Sky which included a photo of […]
Microsoft executive emails: Great blog candidates
For some time, I’ve subscribed to Microsoft executive emails, the ones that periodically come out under either Bill Gates’ or, more usually, Steve Ballmer’s name. These emails address topical technology-in-business issues, and discuss how they relate to Microsoft’s products and services, obviously with a clear and strong Microsoft view. While some people cynically view these […]
Sun interviews Tony Perkins on blogging
Reverse-interview: Tony Perkins (founder and editor Red Herring, and founder and chief editor Always On Network) interviewed about business blogging by Sun Microsystems: Blogs are one of today’s hottest and most widely available technologies. They affect elections, create instant celebrities, generate scandals, and open amazing potential for open communication. As a business executive, you should […]
Delta employee not fired for blogging
The story about Ellen Simonetti, the Delta Airlines employee in trouble regarding a photo she published on her blog, is making the rounds of the blogosphere. Nearly every post I’ve seen in the past two days has got it completely wrong. See the first line of this post, above. Ellen’s got into trouble with her […]
Firefox call to arms paying off
Red Herring has an interview with Rob Davis, the man behind the Firefox marketing campaign behind the New York Times ad. A reminder of the marketing story so far: The Mozilla Foundation wanted to raise money to support launch activities for Firefox 1.0 upon its release on 9 November, including a full-page advertisement in the […]
Yet more reasons for policies on blogging
ComputerWorld has a very good article on the legal issues and potential liabilities facing companies whose employees blog, whether those employees do so officially or not. The article discusses topics that include libel, disclosure of trade secrets and confidential information, careless statements that can be used during litigation, the risks of loose-cannon bloggers, and advocates […]
Corporate blogging: Setting the ground rules
Yesterday, I posted a contribution to the Kitchen: How to Cook a Weblog collaborative blog on the subject of establishing clear policies regarding corporate blogging. It’s a mini-essay that discusses why companies and organizations need to pay attention now to how they enable blogging as a communication channel, and avoid messy and potentially damaging outcomes […]
Delta employee blogger now fired
The latest development in the story about Ellen Simonetti, suspended by her employer Delta Airlines for posting a photo on her Queen of the Sky personal blog – she has now been fired. A BBC News report says that Ellen is initiating legal action against the airline for "wrongful termination". Delta has repeatedly declined to […]
The story of the copywriter who didn’t get it
Here’s a good example of someone involved in marketing who either just doesn’t get it or feels intimidated by a communication channel that he doesn’t understand. I’m talking about blogs, of course. There’s a bloke in the US called Robert Bly who apparently is a copywriting wiz. He wrote an article in DM News about […]