While I was away at the New Communications Forum 2005 last week, a package arrived from Amazon with my copy of Hugh Hewitt’s new book on blogging, published on 13 January.
With the rather lengthy title Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation That’s Changing Your World, this 256-page hardcover book is the first of the bevy of books about blogging that have been announced in the past few months.
I haven’t read it yet (I unwrapped the package only last night!) but a quick 15-minute scan through indicates to me that this will be a very helpful book to anyone looking for some broad understanding on what the blogosphere means to business and the influencing role it plays, why businesses should care and how to use blogs as a business tool.
An extract from the book’s blurb:
“From a business standpoint, your organization can benefit from developing a two-pronged approach to blogging by creating offensive and defensive plans. Not only do you need to blog internally to promote ideas and foster better communication among colleagues, but your company also should take advantage of the advertising and publicity benefits of blogging.
Put yourself at the front of people’s minds, and make sure you stay there. As for a defensive strategy, create a plan for addressing immediately even one negative blog, because in just a click of a mouse it will spread like wildfire, and you’ll soon have one hundred negative blog references out there, and then a thousand or more. Blog shows you how to develop both.”
In other words, it addresses everything business bloggers have been saying for ages about why organizations should embrace blogs. It validates that view; more importantly, it provides concise but detailed information on the background to the blogosphere, what’s happening right now (ie, about November 2004 when the book was being finalized), and what business executives need to do to get started.
The last section of seven chapters is where I’ve spent most time on my quick scan as it’s all about the nitty-gritty of business blogging. I very much like the content’s focus, aimed as it is at the business executive, with its examples of the types of organization and situations where a blog would be of significant value to the organization. It includes sections on leadership blogging, management blogging and employee blogging, and recommends involving the corporate communicators in planning a business blog – a smart suggestion which I like a lot!
Hugh Hewitt is a well-known writer and commentator in the US (maybe not so well known in Europe), and if my quick scan is anything to go by, he’s done a good job in presenting the business case for blogging.
Neville Hobson is the author of the popular NevilleHobson.com blog which focuses on business communication and technology.
Neville is currentlly the VP of New Marketing at Crayon. Visit Neville Hobson’s blog: NevilleHobson.com.
