In whose eyes? If blogging and social media isn’t that important, why did Michael Dell tell his employees to start using social media to embrace and engage its customers? Why did Ford just create a Director of Social Media, and give that person a 5-person team to head up the company’s SM efforts? Why is Pepsico hiring for a similar position (unless it’s been filled recently)? Why are big companies throwing all this money at something that ‘hasn’t really earned it yet’?

Is blogging the magic bullet that solves every businesses’ problems? Of course not. But it and social media IS changing the way businesses connect with, and reach their customers.

And it’s not going anywhere.

“But, just like I said the other day, print isn’t dead yet, and I get the sense from some that they feel that blogs are the next big wave and everybody had better jump on board thisverydamnedminute or perish.

And I say to that — great. When it happens — when blogs take over MSM — I’ll jump.”

Brian I hate to point out the obvious, but who in this conversation said that print is dead?

Who said that blogs are going to take over (whatever that means) MSM?

What happened is that a several people commented that the NYT and other businesses should take blogs a bit more seriously than they do and realize the influence that the group possesses.

I think what you ‘heard’ was those people saying that print is dead, and that bloggers had ‘taken over’ MSM.

And I think this is where most of the arguing is coming from, what is being said, and what is being ‘heard’ isn’t always the same.

“It’s about respecting bloggers as a group.”

vs.

“Mass generalizations … are not a good thing…”

Are we borg, or not?

Actually, I guess what sticks in my craw about the entire undercurrent of this is the idea that blogging is being treated with a self-importance by some that it hasn’t really earned yet.

Some blogs, just like some billboards, can make for great social and political change. Some e-mail blasts do the same thing, and so do some magazine ads. So do some bumper stickers.

But, just like I said the other day, print isn’t dead yet, and I get the sense from some that they feel that blogs are the next big wave and everybody had better jump on board thisverydamnedminute or perish.

And I say to that — great. When it happens — when blogs take over MSM — I’ll jump. Until then, for the majority of us, it’s vanity press amped up, and we shouldn’t let ourselves believe it for more than it us. Otherwise, we become the emperor in new clothes, 2.0.

To be clear, I don’t believe this at all. Many businesses should NOT be blogging, and many can’t even if they want to. When I speak to companies, I make this point every time.

However, I believe that all businesses should know what bloggers are saying about their business, and should make every effort to respond when they can. If a company can take the time to visit a blog and read what bloggers are writing about them, they have the time to reply.

The great thing about blogs? They aren’t an island. Ideas travel can travel at near-light speed in this space. For example, you claim that “But the NYT is not the Acme Widget Company, desperately looking for publicity.”

But it’s not about publicity, it’s about respecting bloggers as a group. And let’s recall that Dell once announced to the world that ‘we don’t respond to bloggers’. The massive backlash they received from this ONE statement from bloggers shook the company to the extent that they totally altered their approach to interacting with bloggers, and are now the poster child for using social media to engage with their customers.

Dismiss the influence of bloggers on businesses all you want.

“That brings me back to yesterday’s point about bloggers who think they are journalists because they have a keyboard.”

I never understood this point, BTW. I think this is more about how you THINK some bloggers view themselves. Again, JMO.