Richard MacManus prompted me to get back into ITConversations after a break from it over the summer holidays (I live downunder). Specifically I was dying to check out the recent Gillmor Gang with guests Rafat Ali and Stephen O'Grady which was all about blogs and RSS.
It started out well, but quickly became pretty frustrating to listen to...no doubt the participants were all eager to say their bit, but their enthusiam pushed the discussion all over the shop. I kept wanting to interject because the gang seemed to constantly to confuse 'blogging' with blog tools, and RSS, and vice versa. By the end of it I felt worn out...But after a sound sleep, and with the benefit of some hindsight and cogitation time, here is what I would have said if I were a guest on that episode of the Gillmor Gang:
1) Let's just be clear, RSS and blogging are two different things. RSS has been pushed into the mainstream in large part by the proliferation of blogging and blog specific CMS tools, which have always embraced the idea of RSS. John Udell (I think) was the one who made the point that RSS has many other uses, and I whole heartedly agree...Blogs are cool, but I reckon there are lots of even more interesting uses of RSS that are only now emerging. KnowNow was mentioned and they do rad stuff...witness the Mod-pubsub project that was formed to build on the work they've realeased under an open source license.
2) While we're talking about RSS, I think that Rafat Ali's low key projections about the 'business models' for RSS were right on, and it's probably no coincidence that he's the one with the most skin in the publishing game as a small independant. The assertion that the RSS subscriber is likely to be more enthusiastic and so warrants more $$ from the advertiser (than someone who actually visits the website), is like saying that because I have a late model cell phone which plays MP3's I am a bigger fan of Britney Spears. For crying out loud, RSS is just another way to consume the content and just because someone is an early adoptor, or is somewhat more tech savvy, doesn't mean that they're anymore engaged in a particular topic...the only space in which I conceed this might be true is the RSS space itself. I don't think RSS is likely to become a separate media buy anymore than email newsletters are today (and no, I am not saying email newsletters and RSS are the same thing).
3) Regarding blogging, there's no doubt that the gang get it, but the conversation didn't make it at all clear about what blogging is. Which is to say I think that people talking about blogging in two different ways, which are some what linked but bear some clarification...
First, blogging is an evolution (not a revolution) in content management tools, and in this respect it is not exactly rocket science. The Gang wondered why the big software vendors were not yet doing blogging tools, and I have to admit that I have often wished that we had the tools in the enterprise where I work. We use Open Text's Livelink server on our intranet for group and project management, and I wish that it had some blogging tools built into it so I could easily set up a team space with a blog for projects I work on. In case someone from Open Text is monitoring Technorati for mentions, I should add that it would be fantastic if it had aggregation functionality aswell.
Anyway, I digress...the point is that blogging from a tools perspective is not rocket science, and I do think that they will eventually show up in enterprise tool kits. The reason it has been slow in coming is because blogs represent a social challenge rather than a technical one.
There are a few aspects of the typical blogging tool which do represent more significant evolution...namely trackback, pingback, and the wonderful permalink. These are not a technical challenge, but do underpin why I think blogs represent a social challenge for business...these are building blocks on which conversations flourish.
If blogs are revolutionary for business, it is because they represent a more human approach to markets. That's not to say that a blog can't be used in a traditional mass marketing kind of way (Raging Cow anyone?), but the tools of blogging, trackbacks, permalinks, reverse chronologies, comments etc, represent a more human, conversational communication style.
The Cluetrain started in 1999, and the fact that "markets are conversations" is only now beginning to sink in. It is in this sense that I think 'blogging' has the most to offer the enterprise. Not just as a way to engage markets in conversations, but to engage employees, project teams, shareholders...people (I nearly said 'stakeholders' but that wouldn't have been very cluetrain of me).
At the end of the day it doesn't even have to be called blogging, because it isn't about the tools. In fact it is only about the web in so far as it it is a great way to reach people. It is more about a companies approach to business. For example, if you are a maker of enterprise wiki tools you could spend bucket loads advertising in trade mags, or you could develop a voice in the marketplace and start conversations with your customers and partners...that will say volumes more about you and your business than even the glossiest full page advertisement.
So there are blogging tools, and there is an approach to business. The latter is often characterized by the use of blogs, but a blog isn't itself a sufficient condition to start a conversation with your market. In the coming months we will see many 'blogs' appear on corporate websites, run by Public Affairs and vetted by Legal, and which will demonstrate that those involved are still waiting on the platform having missed the Cluetrain.
Oh, and one more thought for the enterprise software vendors who might be considering building blog like functionality into their products...if you're planning a product which includes complex approval workflow so that content can be vetted by legal etc before being published then I suggest you don't bother. In my mind that isn't what blogging is about and there are already plenty of great content management systems which manage that kind of stuff very well.
Tell us what you think...