The Business of Blogging: the Good, Bad and the Wonderful Pranam Kolari Ph.D. Candidate, UMBC CAS Ph.D. Fellow, IBM Toronto Tim Finin, Yelena Yesha, UMBC Kelly Lyons, Stephen Perelgut, Jen Hawkins, IBM Toronto

Blogs have shown astounding growth Source: Technorati State of the Blogosphere Report ( http://www. sifry .com/alerts/archives/000436.html ) 50,000,000 Weblogs (July 2006) Doubling in size every 6 months for the past 3 years

50,000,000 Weblogs (July 2006)

Doubling in size every 6 months for the past 3 years

Blogs are a global phenomenon Source: Technorati State of the Blogosphere Report ( http://www. sifry .com/alerts/archives/000436.html )

Blogs continue to capture user interest

Enterprises – the Good Unlike other forms of communication blog posts are public – and now constitute the ‘influential’ social media So what’s in it for business? Lets take the case of IBM the Good Buzz Monitoring Marketing Feedback Public Relations Monitoring Competitive Intelligence

Unlike other forms of communication blog posts are public – and now constitute the ‘influential’ social media

So what’s in it for business? Lets take the case of IBM

the Good

Buzz Monitoring

Marketing Feedback

Public Relations Monitoring

Competitive Intelligence

Buzz Monitoring – Word Of Mouth IBM Chip Clocks 500 GHz PC celebrates 25 years IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad goes in flames PHP Integration Kit for J2EE WAS “ Name” mentions guide branding strategies Product mentions guide product and feature releases

“ Name” mentions guide branding strategies

Product mentions guide product and feature releases

Opinion Mining

Marketing Feedback BPM/BAM SOA Videos “ Launch” movie IBM launched their SOA campaign in September/October Effectiveness of marketing campaigns through blogs

BPM/BAM

SOA Videos

“ Launch” movie

IBM launched their SOA campaign in September/October

Effectiveness of marketing campaigns through blogs

Marketing Feedback WallstreetTech – “Check out this ‘trailer’ for the launch of SOA from IBM - advertising may never be the same again.” eBizQ – “Check out this fun "movie preview" from IBM about their new SOA product launch next week.” … Monitor blogs that mention IBM and SOA Follow pulse, and tune strategies

WallstreetTech – “Check out this ‘trailer’ for the launch of SOA from IBM - advertising may never be the same again.”

eBizQ – “Check out this fun "movie preview" from IBM about their new SOA product launch next week.”

…

Monitor blogs that mention IBM and SOA

Follow pulse, and tune strategies

Public Relations Management Monitor “direct to consumer” products – like (Lenovo/IBM)ThinkPad, Lotus etc. “ … passersby stared aghast or fled crying terrorist, the ThinkPad (which was quoted to be an IBM, not a Lenovo) apparently had a number of death throes as the fire went through various phases, until eventually ” “ I love my ThinkPad, which I got inexpensively off of IBM's refurb site. ” “ Does Lotus Notes Mean Career Suicide?. ” Monitor initiatives – e.g. IBM academic/university relations “ found some famous companies such as IBM, Intel and Micron in the fair … Good, this means opportunities … this university is really small so not many students in the gathering; I never saw a line except … (for) IBM ”

Monitor “direct to consumer” products – like (Lenovo/IBM)ThinkPad, Lotus etc.

“ … passersby stared aghast or fled crying terrorist, the ThinkPad (which was quoted to be an IBM, not a Lenovo) apparently had a number of death throes as the fire went through various phases, until eventually ”

“ I love my ThinkPad, which I got inexpensively off of IBM's refurb site. ”

“ Does Lotus Notes Mean Career Suicide?. ”

Monitor initiatives – e.g. IBM academic/university relations

“ found some famous companies such as IBM, Intel and Micron in the fair … Good, this means opportunities … this university is really small so not many students in the gathering; I never saw a line except … (for) IBM ”

Competitive Intelligence Analyze what (good, bad) makes your competitor buzzy

Analyze what (good, bad) makes your competitor buzzy

Players in this space

Enterprises – the Bad What’s in it for us? the Bad Public Relation Problems Competitive Intelligence Compulsion to Blog Updating Blogs Computational Issues

What’s in it for us?

the Bad

Public Relation Problems

Competitive Intelligence

Compulsion to Blog

Updating Blogs

Computational Issues

The Dell PR Episode Jeff Jarvis with Dell – Summer of 2005 June 21, 2005 – “ Dell lies. Dell sucks. ” Almost all entries went with – “Is someone at Dell listening…”. Everyone except Dell were listening! Ended with escalation to Chief Marketing Officer, Dell’s PR department now monitors Blogs Listen to your customers.

Jeff Jarvis with Dell – Summer of 2005

June 21, 2005 – “ Dell lies. Dell sucks. ”

Almost all entries went with – “Is someone at Dell listening…”. Everyone except Dell were listening!

Ended with escalation to Chief Marketing Officer, Dell’s PR department now monitors Blogs

Listen to your customers.

Competitive Intelligence Your competitors know why you are good, and bad Be proactive, mine for intelligence

Your competitors know why you are good, and bad

Be proactive, mine for intelligence

Blogger Limitations Blogs do not cover all demographics Mining blogs work best in “direct to consumer” products/services Blogger attrition is high Don’t post on compulsion

Blogs do not cover all demographics

Mining blogs work best in “direct to consumer” products/services

Blogger attrition is high

Don’t post on compulsion

Computational Limitations Tools are not yet mature Visualizations still locked into the inertia of traditional web search engines Sentiment Analysis for automatic opinion extraction still in early research stages Spam Blogs skew blog analytics E.g. navigate through blog search results for “IBM laser printer” on a popular blog search engine

Tools are not yet mature

Visualizations still locked into the inertia of traditional web search engines

Sentiment Analysis for automatic opinion extraction still in early research stages

Spam Blogs skew blog analytics

E.g. navigate through blog search results for “IBM laser printer” on a popular blog search engine

Enterprises – the Wonderful What’s in it for us? the Wonderful Business reaches out to consumer Engage In Conversations Influence Discussions Use Blogs among employees (internally) Identify Thought Leaders

What’s in it for us?

the Wonderful

Business reaches out to consumer

Engage In Conversations

Influence Discussions

Use Blogs among employees (internally)

Identify Thought Leaders

Engage In Conversations People blog to be heard Be the first to address consumer issues Comment and clarify on consumer blog Request personal communication Be the first to acknowledge consumer raves WOMM marketing “Acknowledgement” is important

People blog to be heard

Be the first to address consumer issues

Comment and clarify on consumer blog

Request personal communication

Be the first to acknowledge consumer raves

WOMM marketing

“Acknowledgement” is important

Engage In Conversations My post wasn’t negative, but all subsequent references from me were positive

My post wasn’t negative, but all subsequent references from me were positive

Employee Blogs Generate Buzz Employee Blogs hosted (and endorsed) by the enterprise Product Information and Updates Feature Feedback Typically authored by CEO/CFO, Dept Head, Architects Employee Blogs acknowledged by the enterprise bridge enterprise with the blogosphere

Employee Blogs hosted (and endorsed) by the enterprise

Product Information and Updates

Feature Feedback

Typically authored by CEO/CFO, Dept Head, Architects

Employee Blogs acknowledged by the enterprise

bridge enterprise with the blogosphere

Influence Discussions – Generate Buzz Employee blogs generate interest in IBM’s SOA Launch Video, then picked up by the blogosphere

Employee blogs generate interest in IBM’s SOA Launch Video, then picked up by the blogosphere

Use Internal Blogs Blogs hosted internally by an enterprise Fosters collaboration Identify experts Community dynamics Bottom-up initiatives Project Blogs At IBM “ HackDay” an IBM wide event, developed through initiation on a blog

Blogs hosted internally by an enterprise

Fosters collaboration

Identify experts

Community dynamics

Bottom-up initiatives

Project Blogs

At IBM

“ HackDay” an IBM wide event, developed through initiation on a blog

Internal Blogs – Collaboration IBM has around 2000 active internal blogs Conversations extend across geographies Dialogue leads to collaboration POST COMMENT 16 66 - 22 47 uk 15 - 24 52 uk -- - 8 14 nl - 100 1 4 jp 15 12 100 44 ca 10 4 50 164 us nl jp ca us

IBM has around 2000 active internal blogs

Conversations extend across geographies

Dialogue leads to collaboration

Internal Blogs – Buzz/Experts Rank blog postings by employees Employee concerns Internal Product Feedback Mine tag usage Who are the experts? Screen-shots deleted in this version Screen-shots deleted in this version

Rank blog postings by employees

Employee concerns

Internal Product Feedback

Mine tag usage

Who are the experts?

Internal Blogs - Elsewhere Google, Yahoo, Ask Product releases Microsoft Sun Employee blogs, not well structured Adobe Feature feedback

Google, Yahoo, Ask

Product releases

Microsoft

Sun

Employee blogs, not well structured

Adobe

Feature feedback

Trends for the future Blogs within the Enterprise will only grow New tools for internal blogging Ways of connecting blogs with other collaboration tools External Blogs Bridge blogs will grow in popularity Competitive Intelligence will find mainstream use and be open

Blogs within the Enterprise will only grow

New tools for internal blogging

Ways of connecting blogs with other collaboration tools

External Blogs

Bridge blogs will grow in popularity

Competitive Intelligence will find mainstream use and be open

Thanks!