The blogosphere is growing
by 12,000 blogs (or electronic journals) each year, says Catherine
Kaputa, author of U R a Brand! (Davies-Black), offering
planners a great opportunity to enhance their businesses. Here’s
why.
Blogs are free.
“Compared to a website, a blog is cheaper, because companies will
host it for nothing,” says Kaputa, who recommends the hosts www.blogger.com
and www.typepad.com.
Blogs use RSS.
Subscribers, whether they be clients or employees of the company,
can get “pinged” with each update to your blog with RSS (Really
Simple Syndication) technology, making for instant updates and
opportunities for dialogue.
Some caveats. While
blogs indeed offer a new way to hype an event or service, the
wide-open nature of the blogosphere can lead to a loss of message
control, or a few ruffled feathers in case a blog, product, service
or event is criticized online. Fear not, says Kaputa. “If a
discussion is getting too heated or counterproductive, you say,
‘This blog discussion is closed.’ That’s legitimate. But, others
feel that the freedom of expression helps build community.”