Tips for Corporate Blogging

 

Picture: from http://www.redwinebuzz.com/winesooth/

Corporate blogging comes with its own set of challenges.  Here are some simple guidelines that should be followed to make a blog unique from other media outlets.

• Do not try and imitate newspapers or scientific journals.  A blog should be more personal and provide a unique perspective.
• The point of the blog is to communicate the companies initiatives and objectives to the customers. 
• Find an audience and stick with it.  You can not please all of the people all of the time.
• Ensure the designated bloggers for the company know what is and is not an open topic for discussion (ex. no proprietary information should be published).
• Realize developing a blog with a clear message and audience takes work.  Do not expect overnight success.

Links to other corporate blogging resources:
Will you be my Facebook "friend"?
Corporate Blog - Wikipedia
Corporate Blogging Book

'Spec' Design, Crowdsourcing Controversy

How harmful is crowdsourcing to the designers?  Really, should only 'professional' designers have the right to sell photos, create clothes, and have a say in other creative ventures!

It would be naive for me to take a firm position based on reading a few articles/blogs/web sites, but clearly this is a hot topic for designers.  Organizations such as NO!SPEC are adamant that designs should not be created 'on spec'.  Designer and blogger Steph Doyle defines designing on spec:

• "This practice occurs when a designer presents a concept or idea that hasn’t been paid for in hopes of winning a pittance for their effort.  Spec work has become a major force in devaluing the perception of graphic design in the business world and the major players involved in accelerating this practice are the novice designers themselves."

Now, I am not sure if this is a completely black and white issue.  How can soliciting a community for a design be such a sin?  There has proven to be a market for this type of work.  Yes, this does drive down the prices of career professional designers, but does that mean it is inherently wrong?  How will the variance in overall quality of crowdsourced content affect the design profession?

Does Reality Mining Concern You?

The topic of reality mining stood out to me as an interesting phenomenon coming out of social networking research.  It is essentially a way of using a variety of location aware devices to monitor peoples movement.  Scientists believe this can help them better understand human behavior and how we interact.  A particular study of reference was performed by MIT with a partnership with Nokia.

The implications for this type of research extend to many areas ranging from homeland security, traffic management, and targeted marketing.  However, a concern I personally have, and one that has cited in a number of articles discussion reality mining, is what is the trade-off with gathering all this information?

The most prominent point is the privacy implications.  There are some studies performed with opt-in participants, but with the advancements in technology the same type of studies can be performed on involuntary subjects.  What protections are in place to notify and protect the average person from abuse of the information?  I tend to be a little cautious (some would say paranoid), so I am curious to have some other opinions on the subject.  Does the rise of reality mining concern you?  If so, what specific concerns do you have?

For more information visit the, There's Gold in 'Reality Mining' article over at Businessweek.com

Blog Disclaimer: This is an educational experience

This is my first post for the blog started as a requirement for a social media course I am taking this Spring.  On my honor, all posts on this blog are my own.  More posts coming soon, so stay tuned...