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Introduction to Blogs and BloggingEileen Brown

Manager, IT Pro Evangelist team, Microsoft UK

http://blogs.technet.com/Eileen_Brown

Agenda

What is Blogging

Aggregation

Blogging communities

Corporate blogging

What’s a Blog?

Web + Log = “Blog”

Online journals

Frequently published corporate Web writings

–Scanned by journalists

Instant feedback opportunity

Whatever

Blogging Overview

Reverse chronological display

Single person or single entity?

What makes blogging attractive?

Blog search

Why Blog

Human face

Way to engage with feedback

Demonstrates you’re listening

Builds partnerships

Gets PR

Why Blog?

Watch news propagate

–2500+ Microsoft employee bloggers

Fast distribution of technical content

– (security alert, anyone?)

Immediate customer feedback

–you post, they can comment

Press enquiries

– and attention

Good blogs

Informative

Passionate

Credible

Finding blogs

Search and find Web page

RSS (XML) feed subscription

– read in a RSS Reader

URL link sent via email

Media

–publish links to blogs as part of a news story

Demo

MSN spaces

Community Server

Bloglines.com

Agenda

What is blogging

Aggregation

Blogging communities

Corporate blogging

RSS feeds

–The foundation

News aggregators

–Some are web based

–Outlook 12 will have RSS support

Work on subscriptions

Aggregators vs. Browsing

Aggregation

Popular aggregators

Sharpreader www.sharperader.net

Newsgator http://www.newsgator.com/

Bloglines http://bloglines.com/

Feedreader http://feedreader.com/

IntraVnews http://www.intravnews.com/

Start (Web based) www.start.com

Demo

Newsreaders

–Sharpreader

– Feed Demon

– Start.com

Agenda

What is blogging

Aggregation

Blogging communities

Corporate blogging

Blogging communities

What is a blogging community

Why join one?

Blogging communities

Geekswithblogs.net

Weblogs.asp.net

Dotnetjunkies.net

Blogs.technet.com

Blogs.msdn.com

http://myitforum.techtarget.com/blog/

Communities vs Self hosted

Communities

Easily discovered

Advertisements

Maintenance controlled by admin

Visitors look for specifics

Self hosted

Discovery down to you

Complete control

Self hosted and maintained

Visitors look for you specifically

Resources

Community Server Source Code and More Info http://communityserver.org

Scott Watermasysk’s blog http://scottwater.com/blog

Microsoft.com Blog Portal http://www.microsoft.com/communities/blogs/PortalHome.mspx

Portal and Smart Components Blog post

http://blogs.msdn.com/MSCommunity/archive/2004/07/09/178584.aspx

Building Relationships

scoff at the small audience size

– Steve Ballmer reads blogs

– Steven Levy from Newsweek

– The CEO or CTO of your best customer?

Inside a real-life blog relationship

How these relationships add up to real business

Podcasts

Audio files made available via RSS

Derived from “Portable Device” and “Broadcast”

Synchronised with your audio device

Podcast aggregators

–Apple’s ITunes

– IPodder

– IPodderX

– Supports news, audio and now video

Blogcasts

Audio and video files available from a blog

Derived from “Blogging” and “webcast”

Demos of technology – slides optional

Anyone can create and deliver

–Community led and viral

Podcast and Blogcast communities

www.windowsitpro.com/podcast

www.itconversations.com

www.podcaststudio.net

www.theblogcastrepository.com

http://www.microsoft.com/communities/blogs/PortalHome.mspx

Demo

Communities

Agenda

What is blogging

Aggregation

Blogging communities

Corporate blogging

How Blogging Sells

Relationship networks

Amplification of message

Advertises proficiency and passion

Aggregates new stuff

What to include

Resources

News

Links to other interesting stuff

Your own opinions

Anything that demonstrates your passion and authority

Corporate blogging

Corporate culture

Staying out of trouble

–Policies / guidelines / FAQ

Competitor linking

Listening to the Blogosphere

Do you know what people are saying?

Would you know if there was a hot trend?

Would you be able to participate in the conversation or, gasp, influence it?

Resources:

– Technorati http://www.technorati.com

– Feedster http://www.feedster.com

– Pubsub http://www.pubsub.com

Starting your blog

Tools

Voice

Frequency

Corporate Weblogger Manifesto http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2003/02/26.html

Trackbacks, Permalinks, Referrer logs, Blogrolls, Comments

Getting Over Your Fears

What’s the ROI?

I’m scared of getting fired

Talking about competitors

If I write for free, why would they hire me?

Dealing with trolls

“I don’t have anything to say!”

Crisis Management

The bloggers are flaming, what do you do?

Acknowledge

Link

Be humble

Say you’re sorry

Building Momentum

Readership Techniques

Getting them to talk about you

Using other people’s comments

Using your referrer log

– finding people who want to engage with you

Demo

http://blogs.technet.com

–Community Server

Q and A

Questions anyone?

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/technet