And here you thought it was all about writing. Wrong! For the business world, anyway, as it slowly gets acclimated to the blogging phenomenon, there’s a whole lot more listening going on than writing. And that’s a good thing. As I noted in my blog post of January 3 on “Intelligence Mining,” companies will increasingly be gathering knowledge and insights from blogs, especially related to consumer research. They’ll be picking up information that was more difficult or costly to obtain pre-blog, and they’ll be doing that by…simply listening. That is, by monitoring what’s being said about them and their products. So, I thought this piece, recently published by Information Week, would be a good follow-on to my previous post — it’s called Companies Go Bloggy For Marketing.
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With all the reliance we place on online communications today, it’s so easy to forget how important it is to break away and get facetime with people — and I’m talking specifically with lots of ’em, at events and conferences. Sometimes we have to force ourselves to do this, to leave the routine behind, but the payoff is great. I learned this years ago, when I found that jumping on a plane every now and then to attend (and report on) technology events energized me like nothing else. You just can’t beat getting into the middle of such gatherings of smart people and movers and shakers in this business. It isn’t just the intelligence you pick up at these things, but you meet the greatest people. I’ve compared it before to this, but it’s like to going to camp. Some of my closest professional colleagues and friends today I met at conferences, going back 6, 7, 8 years.
I’m happy to say now that the nice folks at Demo ’06 have seen fit to admit me as a press registrant. So, I *will* be blogging from there (and even posting in advance) — and I’m greatly looking forward to it! I know there wll be big energy at this happening. And I intend to capture as much of it as I can for you, along with lots of juicy details.
Turns out my old Conferenza colleague Shel Israel found this one a day before I did… 🙂 But, hey — he, like Doc, has geographic advantage! Great post, on a great topic: how blogs are impacting launch PR for tech startups.
Don’t ya just love intrigue? I do. Stealth companies are so fascinating to me — trying to figure out what they’re up to, how they’re plotting their intro strategy, targeting their market, weaving their messaging, etc. (And I’ve been involved in my share of ’em.) The anticipation, the wonder, the pre-launch tension(!) — it’s a great part of this crazy technology business.
Heard of Krugle yet? You will. Just got an email from my good friend Steve Larsen (formerly of Minneapolis and now Menlo Park), and I noticed a little link at the bottom to Krugle’s new blog. They’re launching at Demo ’06 in Phoenix, it turns out, which is just a few weeks away. And, wouldn’t ya know it, I learned my buddy Doc Searls has already been involved in checking out this new technology. (Smart move, Steve — but then you’re the best I know at this game.)
I have my ideas of what Krugle’s about. But maybe, just maybe I’ll do my conference-reporting thing again and get out to Demo and blog from there…on Krugle and more (hey, 70 companies are participating!). If you’ve been with me for a while, you know I’ve filed conference reports on many, many tech events in the past, especially as a contributor for Conferenza, where I got to meet and work with such cool guys as Gary Bolles and Shel Israel. I hope I can get to this Demo, because I sense it will be really, really good…
Got blogged by Doc Searls. Thanks, Doc! You *are* da blogman… I met Doc in about ’98 (we’d been emailing for while before that, in his Cluetrain Manifesto days) — really before the whole blog thing fired up. I recall it was at an Internet World event in LA. I liked him instantly. I think we had a lot in common because we’d both been technology ad guys once upon a time.
Then, he actually came to Minneapolis to cover an event for Linux Journal, and we met up again. Since then, we’ve seen each other at various conferences, including O’Reilly’s, and stayed in touch by email. I’ve gained even more respect for Doc over time — it’s amazing what he does, the great perspectives he provides, the way he so clearly presents and positions things going on out there. The man also has a great quality missing too much these days: humility. I think he personifies the best of the whole blogging phenomenon. And to think it all started with that simple, yet oh-so-prescient quote of his: “Markets are conversations.”
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