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Blogging Becomes A Corporate Job

In its short lifespan, blogging has largely been a freewheeling exercise in online self-expression. Now it is also becoming a corporate job.

A small but growing number of businesses are hiring people to write blogs, otherwise known as Web logs, or frequently updated online journals. Companies are looking for candidates who can write in a conversational style about timely topics that would appeal to customers, clients and potential recruits.

Via: Wall Street Journal

Blogging as a job has emerged as companies of all stripes increasingly see the Web as an important communications venue. Blogs allow firms to assume a natural tone rather than the public-relations speak typical of some static Web pages, and readers are often invited to post comments. While some companies are hiring full-time bloggers, others are adding blogging duties to existing marketing or Web-editing positions.

Currently only 4% of major U.S. corporations have blogs available to the public, according to a recent survey by eMarketer, a New York research company. But ads for blogging jobs are popping up on online job boards in recent months. "Blogging jobs are growing in popularity," says Jennifer Sullivan, spokeswoman for CareerBuilder Inc.'s CareerBuilder.com, based in Chicago. She notes that in March she recruited a communications specialist whose job includes writing CareerBuilder's blog.

Journalism, The Blogosphere, and an upcoming conference

The newest edition of The Convergence Newsletter is out, this month focusing on a variety of helpful places to look regarding issues of convergence and particularly in ways that the convergence discussion impacts professional and community journalism.

Melissa McGill, the new editor of the newsletter, has compiled a particularly helpful list of blogs, with the help of University of South Carolina journalism instructor Doug Fisher.

At the top of the list (and we're honored) is the C3 blog and Henry Jenkins' blog. I was elated, until I realized the list was in alphabetical order. Still, we're honored to make the newsletter's list. But there are a few other intriguing sites as well that may be of interest of some of our readers here, including The Cornate Media Hub, MediaShift, and Media in Transition by Vincent Maher, among several others.

The blogosphere is certainly an important part of blogging and citizen journalism, an issue we've been writing about a lot lately, such as here and here and here. However, I appreciate Melissa's helpful tools in finding some of the cutting-edge voices in those debates and highlighting their work.

As an aside, there's also a piece promoting the Convergence and Society Conference at the University of South Carolina that will be taking place October 19-21. The conference looks to be worth paying attention to, whether you are actually able to attend or not, especially if you are interested in how convergence is affecting news outlets and expanding the reach of citizen journalism.

The conference's tag line is "Ethics, Religion, and New Media Conference." The blurb for the conference states, "Since September 11, 2001, ethics and religion have emerged as important topics in the study of new media. At this conference, the moral implications of emerging media are addressed at the levels of society, culture, and the media professions. It is a forum for scholars, media professionals and theologians to discuss converging media from the standpoint of competing values.
Via: http://www.convergenceculture.org/weblog/2006/10/journalism_the_blogosphere_and.html

[Forrester] Corporate Blog Design Is Broken

As blogs become a staple of online culture, more and more companies are using them to humanize their organizations and build personal relationships with their customers. But most corporate blogs are fraught with usability problems — like confusing terminology and poor navigation — that hinder mainstream user adoption and regular readership. In order to tap the power of blogs, firms must understand their target users and the design shortcomings that currently make corporate blogs difficult to use.
Via: http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=40389