Cool tool for blogging

Yesterday, I had my assistant sign me up for CoComment, a site that allows me to track comments and conversations from over 150,000 web sites.

I found their offering useful because lately I have been leaving a few postings at sites that I will seldom visit. CoComment allows me to be part of selected conversations by keep track of the discussions that interest me.

I recommend this as another cool Web 2. 0 tool that will help you blog sucessfully.

So what's this blogging thing anyway?

Blogs are a trendy way to publish on line, connect with your audience and build your brand architecture. While it is a frequent aspect of the techno savvy’ style, few small business owners, even if they internet users, really know what blogs are. But here are some startling statistics that should make all entrepreneurs take their heads out from the sand.

According to Technocratti, a firm devoted to tracking more than 22.9 million blogs, with one being added in cyberspace every second. Surprised? Don’t be. The rise of blogs have an almost direct correlation with the fall in the public’s trust of major institutions: think Enron.

But even on a less grand scale, employees and consumers have been demanding a level of engagement from institutions which before now had been limited. Regarded as they new influencers, these groups now use the web to publish their opinions, and have engaged like-minded individuals in the conversation.

Bloggers, then are using the Internet and are conveying their own experiences and views on a continuous basis. Many seek to be experts in their own domain, engaging with and learning from the broadest possible audience of peers who are willing to improve the content as part of the conversation.

There are many types of bloggers. The best ones operate in a style that is very similar to the top media personnel. They speak at public events, they attract thousands of readers to their blogs per month and they get loads of citations. They difference is that they are not always linked to a brand or a corporation. There are also the corporate bloggers: the CEO who uses his /her blog to share information about the company’s strategic moves or opine about the company’s products and policies. Finally there are others who simply want to create a community just to share their interests and combine their own knowledge

Communication World (CW) Tests The Virtual Waters

I was excited to receive May- June issue of CW, IABC’s magazine for communications management. Executive editor Natasha Nicholson got it spot on, the potential phenomena of Second Life, the realities of the collaborative discussions taking place in virtual world has changed the way we communicate. Revolutionised it really.

I found Slivia Cambie interview with Malaysian born writer Yang–May Ooi particularly relevant. In the article, A Novel Approach, Ooi discusses how she moved from the solitary process of writing two novels to the interactive world of daily blogging, an activity that opened up a whole new set of relationships and created new opportunities . “On line communications has led to real world connections,” says Ooi, “I speak at book events in Malaysia. I’ve been commissioned to write articles for the UK writer’s journal … and contribute to a book of essays on Malaysia…”

Her comments tacked back to questions that both my friend Karel Mc Intosh and my assistant Jamila Bannister asked me this week about the purpose of this blog (I am in the process of transitioning to a hosted, better designed blog). For me the success of this blog comed with the relationships that I build and the views that I help to change.

Like Ooi, writing is a fluid process. I channel my thoughts and I get to find a new way of reflecting on topics that are buried deep inside. Call it excavation. But writing has always done that for me. Blogging is just adding a new medium. If it helps the site to win top billings with some search engine. Great! But I am more concerned with a more fundamental principle: did I connect