Here’s a podcast with Charlene Li of Forrester Research on the impact of blogging and RSS as marketing tools.

[I'm hearing from marketers:] ‘I don’t want to give up my email newsletter in favor for RSS.’ But actually corporate marketers can now shift the heavy lifting forcing into email newsletter to RSS, and have email newsletters play a different role. For example: instead of holding a product launch for another 2-3 weeks waiting for the next email blast, now with RSS, marketers can put it up whenever they think is the right time. And get feedback and conversations back and forth very social and control goes back to marketing." 

Shankar Gupta updates us on the Dell/Jarvis story this morning, noting that Dell has changed its approach to blogs.

DELL COMPUTERS, INC., WHICH CAME under fire this summer from blogger Jeff Jarvis, says it has new procedures for dealing with the blogosphere. The company’s public relations department monitors blogs, looking for commentaries and complaints–and, starting about a month ago, began forwarding complaints with personally identifiable information to the customer service department so that representatives can contact dissatisfied consumers directly, said Dell spokeswoman Jennifer Davis. The move appears to have been triggered by a series of "Dell Hell" posts penned by Jarvis about his problems with a Dell computer. Jarvis first wrote about the topic in June, and continued posting updates through the summer. 

Recently IKEA moved to Dallas (Frisco actually) and I still have not been able to visit (the line is just too long).  Anyway, I have been doing my homework on IKEA and they have some of the best citizen PR we have seen.  Can you imagine people taking the time to paint their houses the same color as your business, or taking the time to make fun of your exits?  We would love to be working with them.  If you know anyone at IKEA please shoot us a note.  

Check out this screencast, it should help you understand RSS and the benefit of a newsreader. 

A column in today’s USA Today notes the value that blogs have for small businesses, including:

•Strengthen relationships: Online it is far harder to get your personality across than it is in the real world. But because a blog allows you to wax poetic about subjects of your choice in your voice, it allows customers and potential customers to get to know you better.

And because blogs can also be used to solicit feedback from customers (not just talk to them), it can be a valuable way to increase interaction. For instance, asking for feedback via your blog may be a great way to get immediate reactions to your business, a sale, a promotion or whatever.

•Build your brand: Your blog is your voice and your words. It allows you to directly convey the image you want people to have of your business without having to go through the cost and diffusion that advertising and marketing require. The values that define your business and brand can, and should, be incorporated into your business blog.

•Improve customer service: You can use your blog to keep customers informed of important events, sales, deadlines, and so forth. You can answer customers’ questions or provide valuable links to related products and services.

• Increase employee awareness: An internal blog can be used to post schedules, make announcements, crack a joke, etc.

•Build your reputation: Blogging is an inexpensive marketing tool that permits you to position yourself as an expert in your field. If your blog provides cutting-edge analysis or information for people in your industry, your reputation grows in direct proportion to that.

•Bump your search engine rankings: Blogs that allow reader responses (and many do) create Web pages with valuable key words. This in turn can increase your search engine rankings.

Jim Calloway recommends Bloglines as a way for lawyers new to blogging to keep up with their Web feeds.  We’ve been evaluating newsreaders and are less than thrilled with what we see.  (We do love us some NetNewswire.) Anyone have recommendations/arguments for their favorite reader?  Client or hosted?  PC or Mac?  How come?  Where is my supersmart reader that helps me get to what I want?

 [via lexblog]

In this interview with CNN, Mena Trott notes that blogging as a term will probably fade away.  Exactly.  Entering the online conversation will be as natural as going to your machine.  Remember when you had to ‘go online.’  Now, you simply are.  Today’s corporate blogs are the first instances of what will become commonplace — highly interactive sites that accelerate and add value to the conversations a company has with its customers.  Same thing with RSS.  It’s an inside baseball term — probably not all that useful for widespread adoption.  Word today that Google has also started calling RSS feeds something different — Web clips.  Does it matter?  Probably not.  RSS is just as powerful if it’s called a Web feed, a Web clip, a plain ol’ feed, etc.  It’s the Web coming to you, and that’s what makes a difference in people’s lives.

[via Blogwrite for CEOs]

Mark Cuban created his blog to talk back to certain news stories that he thought weren’t telling the complete story.  Here’s an example:  a story in the New York Times yesterday.  Cuban’s posting of the complete email exchange between him & the reporter.  BusinessWeek wonders how this open source approach will change things?  Will someone write a counter story, using the same basic exchange? 

Ross Mayfield announces Wikiwyg – an open source, wysiwyg editor for wikis.  Check the Bar Camp wiki for Wikiwyg in action. 

One of Texas Monthly’s "Texas Super Lawyer" and D Magazine’s "Best Lawyer in Dallas" wrote an interesting article about blogging in the workplace.  Michael Maslanka is a partner at the firm of Ford & Harrison LLP located in downtown Dallas.

Steve Shu pointed me to Michael and his recent article in Texas Lawyer about The Right Response to Employee Blogs.  It is interesting that, as a group, lawyers seem to understand the benefits and risks of blogging.  Many of our new blog clients are either law firms or lawyers at law firms – they seem to understand the why and how of blogs faster than any other group.  Michael’s post is very topical as more and more employers are asking us how to control bloggers (both inside and outside the company).   

Check out our draft videoPDF for lawyers here.