Recently in Information Value Chain Category

I had a chat with Andy Seidl of MyST Technology Partners today. Andy has a web service called blogsite. This is a package deal for marketers that allows them to tap into syndicated searches and blog content, blog themselves, and syndicate their own content. Further, Andy provides read-outs on technical quality (broken links, etc.) and whether you are blogging frequently enough. All of the syndication features are available for the do-it-yourselfer in various web services such as technorati, pubsub, feedster, and findory. They can be tied together using feedreaders and blog posting software. A lot of work for the neophyte. Further, neophytes have a hard time maintaining blog frequency.

The nearest competitor I can find to this type of service is the new sponsored content blogging service recently announced by Paul Short. He wants to blog for marketers to the tune of $20–25K per month. Is this a blogging replay of “Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel” (the children's classic of man vs. machine)?

I think this phrase is going to be sticking with me for a while. I'm currently helping a client, Leaders Connect, try to launch into the world of blogging. It was all based on some rosy predictions about how we could do things along the lines of the BIT320 Blogosphere, a blogging community composed of participants in a class I taught in fall, 2004. Boy, did that turn out not to be the case.

This post marks the launch of The Community Engine. The Community Engine is dedicated to helping companies create thriving online business communities for increased sales and lower costs. The online communities may be internal to the company, external to the company, or a combination of both.

So if the real issue in creating a blogosphere is creating a community, what is the role of technology? I think you have to consider two things:

1. Technologies that help connect people.
2. Technologies that help people get “information” value out of the blogosphere.

The two overlap, but they are not the same. Believe it or not, it's possible to get adequate solutions for both components for free or almost free, but you have to do some work. I think of this as the make side of the technology make or buy decision.