A new study finds that (surprise) journalists are much more avid readers of blogs than are the general public. About a third of the 1200 journalists surveyed said they read blogs daily as part of their story research. More:
Of journalists who reported using blogs 70% use blogs for work-related tasks: they use blogs to find story ideas, researching and referencing facts, finding sources and uncovering breaking news.
Larry Bodine tracks the increasing use of RSS feeds on the front pages of law firm Web sites:
In a new phenomenon I’ve discovered, law firms are beginning to add RSS feeds to their Web sites. This is a universal feature of blogs, of course, but it works just as well for Web sites. I’ve had RSS (or Really Simple Syndication) feeds on The LawMarketing Portal for several months. now. They’re wonderful for attracting traffic because they allow visitors to subscribe to my content….
Criminey, if the firm could get the risk-averse lawyers in Corporate and Securities to have an RSS feed, ANY firm should be able to convince ANY practice group head to do the same."
Kevin O’Keefe adds:
RSS feeds are neither a fad nor a bell & whistle. Feeds will change the way we all use the Internet from the present, search & browse, to the near future of search, browse & subscribe. That’s already the case for a lot of people and Microsoft will make that happen with RSS feeds being incorporated into their new operating system, Vista, and suite of Office products due out next year."
[via lexblog]
Would you believe that 30% of companies with $50MM or more in annual revenue have RSS feeds? Another 28% indicate that they will deploy RSS feeds before the end of the year. Why?
Our clients are considering using feeds throughout their businesses (not just in the marketing department) including in their CRM systems, help desks and accounting departments. RSS feeds don’t just have to point outward – inward feeds might be even more important to your business.
[via]
Stephen Baker at BusinessWeek’s Blogspotting asks of the Jarvis/Dell kerfluffle:
Is this a lesson for how companies should deal with bloggers? Or simply with big bloggers? Jarvis, after all, launched nothing less than a media campaign against Dell, one that spread to hundreds of other blogs. 386 by this count at IceRocket. But compare that to this blog post that complains of a problem with an HP printer. That seems more the domain of customer relations. But why dwell on these differences? We’re heading into a world where customer and media relations are merging.
To which Steve Rubel responds:
Steve, over time I think you’re going to see blog search and Web search tools integrated into CRM systems. This will give customer service the tools they need to manage individual issues that bubble on blogs. However, you are right. PR professionals will increasingly need to not only serve as an organization’s mouthpiece (one of them at least), but also its eyes and ears. The best PR pros have done this for years. Blogging just makes it easier to keep our finger on the public pulse.
Exactly. Rather than follow the ‘pr is dead’ meme, think: pr is more important and expansive than ever before. It’s not about blog relations as warmed over media relations, but rather a whole new, nuanced level of interaction. PR can be an ideal place to start putting these new tools — such as blog monitoring and corporate blogging — to work. But, it will take folks ready to stretch and mashup new skill sets, as Mike Manuel has pointed out.
USA Today documents how some retailers are using blogs to increase awareness and sales.
For instance Bluefly.com, an online retailer of designer clothes, updates customers on fashion-related news through its blog Flypaper (flypaper.bluefly.com).
The blog "encourages them to visit often to check postings on styles, designers and fashion faux pas," says Melissa Payner-Gregor, CEO of Bluefly.com. The company’s fashion spotters around the country post items on Flypaper, which launched in April.
Flypaper’s customers typically have relied for fashion news on magazines such as Vogue. Now, they also have the blog as an information source, and the company has an opportunity for an interactive relationship.
It is potentially a lucrative one. A recent study by online market research firm ComScore Networks found that shoppers who visit blogs spend about 6% more than the average online shopper.
[via Micropersuasion]
I will have to admit that the LogoWorks guys are sure doing the right thing. Now, if they would only implement some of my ideas. Here is a follow-up to my previous post regarding the LogoWorks refund policy:
Alex,
I’m sorry for the confusion. This is my fault. The LogoWorks refund policy states that if you don’t like the initial concepts we provide that you can get a refund at that point in the process minus a $75 fee. We used to do a full money-back guarantee but there was a substantial amount of abuse (like the time one of the concepts we did showed up in use on the website for the church who bought it and had their money refunded). So we had to introduce some level of non-refundable fee to make sure people were serious. That said, our refund policy doesn’t allow a customer to choose a concept, order several rounds of revisions, get to a final logo and then decide that they don’t like (and presumably ask for a refund). They have to make the request after the initial concepts are delivered.
In your case, I could tell you were frustrated by your blog, I knew you weren’t abusing the system so I offered a full refund (no fee). When you called into our support center, I’m not surprised that they explained that you technically weren’t eligible for a refund because technically you’re not. I apologize for the confusion. I should have put a note in your account so customer support had the right information when you called.
That said, Debbie tracked me down yesterday and asked what to do. I advised her to call you and ask you what you wanted to have happen. I advised her that if you wanted more concepts, to do them for free. If you wanted all your money back for both projects then to process the refund with no fees. Hopefully this resolves the problem.
On the other issues you mention. We do have someone full-time monitoring blogs. We haven’t thought through how this monitoring might need to scale in the future. It will probably require something similar to Google Alerts to keep up.
As for the other problem… As you know we were accused of plagiarism on a handful of logos in our logo gallery. We have responded to this formally and informally in several places already. However to reiterate our position, have do not tolerate any form of logo duplication, we have terminated designers in the past when this has occured, we have several check and balance systems to prevent it, but our sheer volume (over 30,000 customers) makes this issue particularly challenging for us. I would add any designer working in any agency can plagiarize work. It happens. It is an industry problem, not a LogoWorks problem.
Lastly, all of those postings are written by a handful of designers that resent our business model. They feel we are devaluing the graphic design industry because we charge so little for what we do. Our model is disruptive, it is changing the way graphic design is delivered. When online stock trading launched there was a lot of pissed off stock brokers. Same for travel agents with online travel. I’m sure there were a lot of nervous local bookstore owners when Amazon started getting traction. What is not generally understood is that in most cases, the market size actually increases and the rising tide lifts all ships (more people trade stock because it is easier, more people travel because it is more convenient and they can find better deals, and even with books Amazon increased the overall size of the market). Unfortunately, a small number of graphic designers don’t see it this way and are trying to blog us to death. They are malicious. With our business growing at 50% per quarter and the percentage of customers who say they would recommend the service to a friend at 98.6% and rising we’re obviously doing something right.
Best,
Jeff
We first reblogged a MAKE: story about a guy named Jose who built an apartment full of furniture out of FedEx boxes. You can follow the thread here. I figured the story was basically over (it has lasted for more than a month), until my wife and I were watching MSNBC last night and saw Jose on a program called Countdown(that is my son in the background asking what I was doing). The story about the "FedEx Furniture Guy" lasted more than two minutes and included a live interview. Next, this morning Jose was on the Today show for more than three minutes. I understand he will be on Good Morning America later this week and Inside Edition on Friday. I assume the next step is the late night shows: Leno, Letterman and Kimmel? Will it be over then? Or maybe there will be a national book tour, a movie of the week, or maybe a SIM video game?
The Tucson Citizen gives a little blog intro, mentioning how companies are using & tracking blogs for better input:
Blogs are a quick and easy way to get your message out there and, best of all, you’re in complete control of the message. The vice president of General Motors, Bob Lutz, has even gotten in on the blogging craze (http://fastlane.gmblogs.com).
Many companies also monitor blogs to see what’s being said about them. It’s a fast means of getting a snapshot view of how the general public perceives their business.
Technorati.com and PubSub.com are Web log search engines that help you find the content you’re looking for. Just enter in a few keywords. You can also search for a particular blog by going to http://blogs.icerocket.com/.
A few notes around on how DC Mayor Anthony Williams started a blog, then stopped talking when 44 of his consituents used the new site to engage Hizzoner. Not everyone needs to blog. If you’re really not interested in talking directly to the people who influence your organization, or you’re not interested in listening to what people have to say via comments & links, don’t blog. There is no quicker way to highlight your lack of interest in folks than starting a half-hearted blog. If you start talking, keep talking. We’re not saying you respond to every jot & tittle on the Internets, people. Don’t get crazy. But, monitoring what is being said, prioritizing issues and responding in a reasonable time frame is going to be key.
We have used LogoWorks for some of our WebWorks projects and have had mixed results. I blogged about a problem I had with LogoWorks and got an email from the Chief Marketing Officer within the same week. I was impressed by their ability to listen to their customers (via weblogs) and try to help when possible (see this post). But can they keep up this level of reponse and support? Dell is going to start monitoring blogs and forwarding issues to the appropriate groups – will blogging about your issues be better than calling the support line?
LogoWorks has a bigger problem than the one detailed above. You can read about it here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Given all of this noise, will Jeff (the CMO) be able to pick out my signal? Jeff explained I could get a refund in an email, but Debbie told me I could get 10% off of my next project. What next project I asked?
