Companies embrace blogs
Unfortunately I could not make it to BlogOn this week - but via Shel Hotz I learned about the latest Guidewire Group’s BlogOn 2005 Social Media Adoption Survey that was released there.
The stats are unbelievable - 55% of companies use blogs - for both internal (91.4%) and external (96.6%) purposes. More than half launched in the last year and most of those in the last 3 months.
Here are some other noteworthy stats from the survey:
- 60% of those with external blogs have more than one - 17% have more than 5!
- Expected benefits from external blogs are improved brand recognition (78%), improved external communications (78%), and improved customer feedback (66%)
- Of those not blogging 70% are positive about starting one
- the biggest challenges are maintaining enthusiasm and encouraging adoption
Shel points to the fact that the total numbers are probably off by a big margin as the methodology for getting to the numbers has not been made available and could possibly be flawed.
What strikes me is that there is nothing new coming through those numbers - companies are trying to force-fit the same old business models on this new social platform instead of looking at new ways to interact with the marketplace…a typical behavior when new innovations get adopted.
[Technorati Tags: corporate blogging technology adoption]
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October 19th, 2005 at 2:01 pm
hi francois…I was at BlogOn and, being a non-busienssperson noticed exactly what you point out. There was, however, a similar problem at We Media among media types–trying to fit an old media model to a new form of communication.
The main problem is that both old business and old media are unwilling to talk to the people to find out how to communicate across blogs. Business fears negative press and media fears ethics breeches. There was a palatable air of superiority both among business professionals and among media professionals that precludes them from establishing meaningful dialogue, and it comes from fear. Both fear being usurped by the barbarians at the gate, so they will condescend rather than communicate.
Businesses can make headway among bloggers if they can develop the proverbial thick skin, be sincere (a form of transparency), stop trying the hard-sell, and give bloggers props when a blogger does something nice for a corp. But overcoming top-down thinking (and communicating) is a long way off.
October 19th, 2005 at 2:35 pm
Tish - you are right. And it’s not just that old media guys have a hard time innovating - even new media folks are trying to force-fit old media business models onto the new platform.
On the business side of things people could use it not just to “communicate” - but also to learn, iterate, design, innovate, deliver, etc. It’s an opportunity to externalize many of the traditionally internal processes.
October 20th, 2005 at 1:29 am
Hi Francois,
You can download the survey executive summary here (http://www.blogonevent.com/archives/2005/10/guidewires_exec.html).
There have been a number of great critiques and comments like yours recently, so I’ll be posting some notes and clarifications in an update to the original post shortly.
If after you review the survey you have other suggestions for improving our future products and surveys, we’d appreciate your feedback.
Best,
Mike Sigal
Co-Founder and CEO, Guidewire Group