Early pain is justified by long-term rewards, according to software firm Six Apart
Firms have good business reasons to use blogs to interact with their customers, even if blogs have some drawbacks, according to Loic Le Meur, executive vice-president and general manager at blogging software firm Six Apart.
Six Apart, which offers Movable Type and TypePad services to bloggers hosts some 15 million blogs. But Le Meur said that although blogs have rapidly entered the consumer mainstream, firms are still very reluctant to embrace them, and not without good reason. “It is like putting your feet into a bath of sulphuric acid,” he said, “When you start blogging you will probably get a lot of bad feedback. But the ones that start first will get over this period the soonest.”
Le Meur said that firms could expect to get a lot of negative feedback when they first open themselves up to consumers, but added that this initial poor reception would be offset as firms find, and built relationships with, sympathetic consumer bloggers.
He added, “The rules are different now. You have to be transparent, you have to be authentic, you have to accept a loss of control. When you have 60 million people discussing where they ate, and what car they drive, you have a situation in which firms can no longer afford to avoid blogs.”
Although firms may not get everything right at the start, just being an early mover is important, according to Le Meur, who added that blogs are part of the “Web 2.0” movement. “Everything launches in a beta these days, from Gmail to Internet Explorer. There is so much transparency, and a desire for participation, that you simply have to create your products with your customers’ feedback. You have to pay attention to the blogosphere, and really listen to what bloggers have to say.”
However, although some firms have been slow to adopt consumer-facing blogs, a lot more appear to be using them internally. Six Apart counts 75 percent of Fortune 500 companies on its books, and Le Meur said that Nokia has as many as 500 internal bloggers.
Firms have good business reasons to use blogs to interact with their customers, even if blogs have some drawbacks, according to Loic Le Meur, executive vice-president and general manager at blogging software firm Six Apart.
Six Apart, which offers Movable Type and TypePad services to bloggers hosts some 15 million blogs. But Le Meur said that although blogs have rapidly entered the consumer mainstream, firms are still very reluctant to embrace them, and not without good reason. “It is like putting your feet into a bath of sulphuric acid,” he said, “When you start blogging you will probably get a lot of bad feedback. But the ones that start first will get over this period the soonest.”
Le Meur said that firms could expect to get a lot of negative feedback when they first open themselves up to consumers, but added that this initial poor reception would be offset as firms find, and built relationships with, sympathetic consumer bloggers.
He added, “The rules are different now. You have to be transparent, you have to be authentic, you have to accept a loss of control. When you have 60 million people discussing where they ate, and what car they drive, you have a situation in which firms can no longer afford to avoid blogs.”
Although firms may not get everything right at the start, just being an early mover is important, according to Le Meur, who added that blogs are part of the “Web 2.0” movement. “Everything launches in a beta these days, from Gmail to Internet Explorer. There is so much transparency, and a desire for participation, that you simply have to create your products with your customers’ feedback. You have to pay attention to the blogosphere, and really listen to what bloggers have to say.”
However, although some firms have been slow to adopt consumer-facing blogs, a lot more appear to be using them internally. Six Apart counts 75 percent of Fortune 500 companies on its books, and Le Meur said that Nokia has as many as 500 internal bloggers.
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