The Beauty of Blogging
Once upon a time there was an evil bespectacled king called Bill who ran nearly 98% of the world, imposing on it bloated software solutions and enslaving it in usurious licensing agreements.
Resentment of Bill was so widespread that all the king's public relations and philanthropic works couldn't put his image back together again. Then, one day, along came a rather chubby computer marketer called Robert Scoble who, via his online journal, or blog, turned it all around. Suddenly everybody liked the king again and bought all his products. (Well, at least, they didn't resent him quite so much, and even spoke to him at parties.)
OK, it didn't happen quite like this. But the arrival of Mr. Scoble at Microsoft a year ago has certainly made a difference. Mr. Scoble, you see, writes a blog which is about him, Microsoft, technology, cars, more or less anything. He gets three to four thousand readers a day, which in the blogging world (we bloggers call it the blogosphere) is no mean feat. When Mr. Scoble helped launch an internal Microsoft news channel in April called Channel 9, it got tens of thousands of visitors on its first day. The reason for his success? Credibility.
BLOGGING FOR BEGINNERS
Here are some tips for setting up a blog of your own. If you're thinking of building it inside your corporate universe, and keeping it invisible to the outside world, you'll need professional technical advice that's beyond the scope of this column. So unless you really know what you're doing, I'd recommend you start a blog on one of the popular Web sites. Blogger, recently bought by Google, is a favorite, and is free. For the more discerning, there's TypePad.
There are millions of blogs. So don't expect that anyone except your closest friends, your mother and possibly the weird guy in the next cubicle will read you unless you make it interesting enough. Differentiating from other blogs requires dedication, but if it's good you should find a modest audience quite quickly. Try to specialize, avoid writing a diary, and write about what you know. Expertise is a definite draw.
For those of you who really get into it, I'd recommend using special software to update your blog. While it's easy enough to visit your blog Web site, log on and then post stuff, I've found it easier to use software called "blogging tools" which automate a lot of this process, and allow you to prepare your posts while you're not connected to the Internet. You can find a list of programs to help you do this on my Web site, Loose Wire Cache.
As for reading other people's blogs, here are some pointers. Finding them is the first task. There are several directories of blogs on the Internet, but your best bet is a simple search on Google including your interest (blog and garden chairs, or blog and wernham hogg, for example). If you're only interested in one or two blogs it makes sense just to bookmark them and visit them every day or so. If you've got more, you may want to try lumping them together to make it easier. A new tool called Kinja does this quite nicely, by pooling your favorite blogs into one page-sized digest.
If you're a real blog freak, you probably should install what's called a newsreader and subscribe to the blog's RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed. If that last bit is double Dutch to you, check out my column, "No More Information Overload," for details.
One small related update: I wrote earlier this year that "eventually, RSS will replace e-mail. Or rather, it will dovetail with e-mail so that it appears in the same place, in the same program, so you can read Aunt Edna's newsletter as well as the news feed of your favorite football team." I also mentioned a great little program/service called Oddpost, which I said came closest to this ideal. Yahoo agrees: This month the company bought Oddpost for an undisclosed sum. This is a significant move toward the merger of Blogs/e-mail/RSS. In short, putting lots of different bits and pieces in one place that you can really control and access from anywhere.
"If there's a reason that Microsoft hired me, that's it," says Mr. Scoble. "They knew they couldn't just come in and pay some guy to write a blog. It had to be an authentic blog by someone who had some street cred."
This credibility comes from Mr. Scoble not being afraid to be rude about Microsoft -- he's written about how it should be broken up into separate companies, something that is definitely NOT the party line. He's been rude about the marketing efforts of some of his colleagues (he called the Microsoft Media Centre one of the most underpromoted products he'd come across) and, shortly before leaving for holiday, gave a personal take on the company's recent cost-cutting measures. To Mr. Scoble, it's all about being authentic: "If I tried to spin, my readers would call me uncle. They would unsubscribe or call me a corporate shill."
Of course, Mr. Scoble's not the first to do this, even within Microsoft. Corporate blogging has been around a few years, and there were already two dozen or so blogs at Microsoft. But after his arrival, "things really took off," he says. He doesn't claim credit for this: Microsoft, he says, hired him after one of their executives saw the success of his guerrilla marketing efforts on behalf of computer manufacturer NEC. The executive, he said, "told me later he was seeing that I was changing customer opinions about NEC and he wanted me to do the same at Microsoft." The weapon? His blog. Last week, Microsoft launched its own directory of Microsoft employee blogs, the Microsoft Community Blogs Portal. It currently lists 366.
It's hard to quantify, but Mr. Scoble's presence on the Web is gradually changing perceptions about Microsoft. It puts a face on the corporate behemoth and blurs the lines between what is the corporate message and what is the private view of someone who happens to be an employee. So does Mr. Scoble consider himself a Microsoft spokesman? "I think it's pretty clear that I am a spokesperson for the company … I'm not talking on behalf of Microsoft but I can affect things on behalf of Microsoft," he says.
Mr. Scoble's experience is now being replicated elsewhere. Slowly, companies are waking up to the benefits of allowing -- even encouraging -- their employees to blog. Sun Microsystems Inc., for example, has dozens of employees blogging: So many, in fact, that one employee has fashioned a blog of all the Sun blogs, so that if you really, really care about what's going on in Sun, you can read it all in one big lump. Soon companies won't be able to afford NOT to have some sort of blogging presence.
And it doesn't stop there. Corporate blogging is not just about getting the message out. It's about the dialogue within an organization. Whether the blog is a personal one, written anonymously out of office hours, or an officially sanctioned journal stored on the company's servers, it will evolve as the writer and readers interact, heading off onto alleyways and side roads as discussions gather pace. Those discussions can only help the organization, however casual they appear to be.
Blogs are the word-of-mouth, water-cooler discussions of old. And, like water-cooler discussions, they can be about anything, from company gossip to what cars to buy, what movies to see. Only they're on computers, which means they reach a much larger group of people, and unless they're secure inside a corporate network, they can't help but leak to the outside world. In short, blogs start a conversation both inside the company and through the walls into the outside world. And, because it's a conversation, it flows back in as well. The result: "They realized that if they could bring in a human connection they could change perceptions of Microsoft," says Mr. Scoble. But they were smart enough to realize it worked both ways. "And they could build a better product because they're getting better feedback."
Not everyone likes this new world. I've spoken to three people who were fired for keeping blogs. While all the cases are different -- and their blogging activities may have been the excuse and not the reason for their dismissal -- it highlights the nervousness some employers have about their staff keeping an online journal that, however tangentially, discusses company business. But this only illustrates the power of blogs, and how they'll change the way we do things, whether we like it or not.
企业领略网志之美
从前，有一个带著眼镜、名叫比尔(Bill)的“暴君”，统治著全球近乎98%的“领土”。他将自己的软件解决方案强加于人，并且通过高利贷式的授权协议盘剥著整个世界。这个世界对比尔的憎恨是如此普遍，以至于“暴君”所有的公关活动和慈善事业都不能挽回他的形像。后来，忽然有一天，出现了一个名叫斯科博(Robert Scoble)的胖胖的电脑商人，他通过个人网志，也就是blog，改变了这一切。转眼之间，大家开始重新喜欢这个“国王”，并购买他的产品。（至少，人们不再那么憎恨他了，甚至在晚会上见了他，也开始和他打招呼。）
好吧，也许事情不是这样的。但斯科博一年前加盟微软(Microsoft)的确是带来了一些变化。众所周知，斯科博创建了自己的网志(
http://scoble.weblogs.com)，介绍微软、技术、汽车以及他个人的一些情况。他的读者每天有3,000到4,000人，这在网志的世界中无疑是很可观的。当斯科博在4月份协助推出名为Channel 9 (
http://channel9.msdn.com)的微软内部新闻频道时，首日即有上万名访客。斯科博成功的原因是什么？公信力。
斯科博表示，微软雇用他的主要原因即在于此。微软很清楚，他们不可能在涉足网志后，随便雇些人写日志内容，微软必须找到具有公信力的人创建值得信赖的网志。斯科博的公信力来源于他毫无畏惧地批评微软──他曾经在日志中谈论应该怎样分拆微软，这肯定不是微软的传话筒能做的。斯科博还曾经批评他某些同事的销售行为，把微软新闻中心(Microsoft Media Centre)称为他所见过的推广最不力的产品之一。在外出度假前不久，斯科博还就公司最近的缩减成本措施发表了个人看法。对于他来说，真实可信就是一切，他说，如果自己试图敷衍塞责，读者就会取消订阅，或者把他当成公司的“托儿”。
当然，斯科博不是第一个尝试企业网志的人，甚至在微软内部也不是第一人。企业网志已经多数年历史了，在微软内部也已经有20多个类似的网志。但在斯科博加盟以后，用他的话说，“事情有了突飞猛进的变化”。但他并不以此居功，他表示，微软雇用他是因为此前微软的一位管理人士看到他服务日本电器公司(NEC)时取得的一些销售业绩。斯科博说，微软这位管理人士后来告诉他，他注意到斯科博改变了客户对NEC的看法，他希望斯科博在微软做同样的事情。武器当然就是网志。上周，微软推出了自己的雇员网志名录Microsoft Community Blogs Portal，目前名录上列有366个网志。
尽管很难量化，但斯科博在网络上的存在的确慢慢改变著人们对微软的看法。他在日志中对公司发表看法，模糊了公司信息与恰好是公司职员的某个人的私人观点之间的界限。那么，斯科博把自己看作是微软的发言人吗？他说，他认为自己显然是公司的发言人。虽然他不代表公司的立场发言，但他能够代表微软对事情施加影响。
斯科博的经验现在正在其他地方重演。慢慢地，企业开始意识到让自己的雇员发表网志的好处，甚至开始鼓励他们这样做。比如Sun电子计算机公司(Sun Microsystems, 又名: 升阳微电脑)，有十几名雇员在刊载网志。实际上，由于该公司雇员的网志是太多，一位雇员就把所有雇员的网志整合在一起，这样如果你真的关心Sun电子计算机公司，你将能够在一个网志里读到所有这些内容。相信不久之后，企业就不能不没有雇员网志了。
事情远不止如此。企业日志不仅仅是把消息传播出去。它还与一个企业内部的沟通密切相关。不管网志是个人在业余时间匿名发表的，还是经过正式批准、在公司伺服器上存储的，它都将演变成作者与读者之间的互动，并且随著讨论的逐渐扩大而偏离最初的话题，扩散开去。不管讨论的形式多么随意，这类讨论只会对企业有益。
网志是传统的亲切讨论的延续。和亲切的炉边谈话一样，网志的话题无所不包，从公司小道消息，到买什么车、看什么电影等等。只有一点，这些内容是在电脑上，能够触及更多的人群，除非它们被限制在公司内部网中，否则外界的人就可以看到它们。简言之，企业网志的话题既是在公司内部，也会渗透到公司之外。而且由于是对话，也会收到反馈。斯科博表示，其结果就是，微软意识到如果他们能建立一种人际沟通的途径，他们就能够改变人们对微软的看法。事实上，微软足够聪明，看到两种途径都能殊途同归。斯科博说，微软能够推出一种更好的产品，因为他们正在获得更好的反馈。
并不是每个人都欣赏这个新世界。我曾经和3个因为刊登网志而被解雇的人聊过天。三个事例各不相同，也许他们拥有网志仅是被解雇的借口，而不是真正的原因，但这至少反映了部份雇主对自己的员工拥有谈论公司事务的网志的担心，哪怕只是无关痛痒的话题。但这也恰恰证明了网志的力量，以及它将如何改变我们的行为方式，不管我们乐意与否。
初学者怎样建网志
以下是一些关于创建个人网志的窍门。如果你想在公司伺服器上建网志，并且不让公司之外的人看到，你需要一些专业技术，这不在本栏目的讨论之列。所以说，除非你真的知道自己要做什么，否则我建议你先在流行的网站上建个网志练练手。最近被Google收购的Blogger (
www.blogger.com)是个热门网站，也是免费的。如果要找更特别的，可以试试TypePad (
www.typepad.com)。
网上有数百万计的网志。所以，别指望除了你的亲密朋友、你母亲和某些怪人之外，还有谁会来光顾你的网志，除非你把它做的足够有趣。要想与其他网志区别开来，你需要用心，当然，如果足够好，很快就能聚集相当多的读者。尝试让网志更专业，避免在上面写日记，写些自己知道的事情。专业的东西绝对有吸引力。
对于那些真正喜欢网志的人，我建议他们使用特殊的软件更新网志。浏览、登陆和更新网志虽然很容易，但我还是发现用一款名为blogging tools的软件会更便捷。这款软件使上述的大部份步骤自动化了，能够让你在离线的时候准备个人网志的内容。在我的网站Loose Wire Cache (
www.loose-wire.com/blogtools)上，我列出了一些类似的程序。
以下是关于阅读别人网志的一些建议。找到满意的网志是第一步。在互联网上有些网志名录，但对你来说，最好的办法是在Google上，用感兴趣的关键字搜索(比如blog and garden chairs，或者blog and wernham hogg等)。如果你只对一两个网志感兴趣，可以把它们加到书签里，然后每天访问。如果你感兴趣的网志特别多，你可以把它们集合到一起，这样浏览更容易。一款名为Kinja (
www.kinja.com)的新工具软件能很好地完成集合任务，可以把你喜爱的网志集合成一页大小的文摘。
如果你是个真正的网志迷，你应该安装一个名为新闻阅读器的东西，并订阅RSS(Really Simple Syndication) feed。
有一点要补充一下：我在今年早些时候曾撰文称，RSS将最终取代电子邮件。或者说，它将最终附在电子邮件后面，并且与之在同一个程序中阅读。也就是说，你可以一边阅读信件，一边阅读自己喜欢的足球消息。我还提到，一种小型的程序/服务Oddpost (
www.oddpost.com)，它几乎能实现上述功能。雅虎公司(Yahoo!)完全赞同我的看法：本月，该公司收购了Oddpost，交易金额未透露。这是向网志/电子邮件/RSS的整合迈出了重要的一步。简言之，就是让不同形式的信息出现在同一个地方，方便我们在任何地方控制和获取信息。
