Corporate Blogs Vs. Content Updates

April 10, 2006

Ok, so the title of this post is a little deceiving. You'd think I'm implying that there is a difference between corporate blogs and regular content updates, but I'm not. My whole point is that "blog" in the corporate world is simply a catch-phrase.

I've been seeing a number of sites and businesses rise on the Internet that claim to offer corporate blogging services. These services claim that by adding a blog to a corporate website it can bring in new traffic and increase exposure. While this may be true, the term "blog" is completely superfluous.

I guess the first thing we need to do is define the term "blog". To me, a blog is a website that is run by an author who posts ideas and opinions about whatever subject they think is appropriate to post about. That's it! I guess some people take blogs down the "journal" route and impart A LOT of opinions and feelings into their posts, and some people like to take a more impartial route which is probably more typical of a "corporate blog" where very opinionated posts are downplayed. The important thing to remember is that the content is written from an individual's point of view that imparts some kind of opinion.

This isn't new! Isn't this exactly what a newspaper editorial is? I believe the term is "Op-Ed"...opinions and editorials. I'll take it a step further...am I not describing the typical magazine article? I mean, this has been going on for ages! Why is the term "blog" supposed to be something different? A website owner is an editor and their posts are opinions.

So, going back to the irony of the title of this post...what I'm trying to say is that if you integrate a blog into your website, be it a corporate site or not, you're really just adding regularly updated content written from someone's point of view and imparting their opinions. You're creating an "op-ed" section on your site. It's not magic, I don't believe it needs a new catch-phrase, it is what it is...regularly added fresh content.

Technorati Tags: coporate blog  blogging  content update  crm