Feb 18, 2009

Are They All Becoming Corporate Blogs?

In the recent Times Top 25 Blogs 2009 The Official Google Blog was the only "corporate blog" to make the list. While this is certainly an achievement you could almost argue that other blogs which made the cut such as the Huffington Post or Mashable have become corporates in their own right...so where this distinction is drawn? What makes a Corporate Blog "Corporate"...is a successful blogging empire that makes serious coin now a corporation? Can successful blogs avoid being seen as "corporates" in the eyes of the reader? If so how? If they can't what will the affect of this be, will that corporate image tarnish the content, the perceived independence, and the trust in the blog? I'll Ask500, but would love to hear what you think?

Image from http://www.blogbiz.de/

2 comments:

  1. This is a very good question! I had to ask it myself before I started my work as well. On the one hand, private blogs become more "corporate" when they become more popular; on the other hand you have a whole lot of "corporate" blogs run by a self-employed guy that are closer to private blogging. Also, you have tons of media blogs out there (e.g. take all the NYT blogs). They are actually run by a company, contributing to their core business!
    So, for me, I defined corporate blogs related to company size and corporate communication strategy (because this excludes small business as well as media/news blogs (because they are core business - not strategic company communication). Would love to hear your thoughts.
    Cheers, Nils

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  2. I was going to ask my participants exactly what they considered a corporate blog to be and then from their responses I'd form a definition/gain some understanding...will keep you posted on this.

    I think that company size may be slightly limiting for my research, but I can see that communication strategy will be a huge influencing factor. I like the fact that it excludes media/news blogs...but it will be interesting to see what my interviewees think about this.

    I'll have to read more about your study and get back to you :)

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