I enjoyed the BlogOn 2004 conference. The crowd was an interesting mix of journalists and technologists, with a few investor and consulting types thrown in, probably 250-300 people all together. Seems like many had been touring together in some kind of road show for some time, and for those that were, they're disappointed to hear old news.
In some ways, I felt like I was in a time warp, combining the excitement of the 1999 Internet bubble with the "relationships, communication, collaboration and content" mantra of knowledge management conferences. Adding to the warp was the event was held in the "Arthur Andersen Auditorium" at the Haas School of Business. The school would do well to leave the name up as a living lesson in ethics, and a chance to tell the story for decades to come.
I went to the conference to get a look at many players I had not seen before, and to see some of the people behind the companies I've been working with. I wanted to hear what the vision is for where this is going, and understand better how I could embrace the latest concepts in my own consulting practice.
I give the conference a 7 on a scale from 1-10. Some companies have good solutions to real problems (LinkedIn, SixApart, Microsoft's Channel 9 - which isn't a product, but their online forum to interact with Microsoft customers and developers). Others are interesting technologies (I know someday we'll alll collaborate with video online) before their time.
The conference organizers, Chris Shipley of the GuideWire Group, brought lot of solution providers and companies under their "social media" moniker umbrella:
- social networking (e.g., LinkedIn, Spoke, Tribe Networks),
- blogging & RSS (SixApart, Oddpost (acquired by Yahoo), Microsoft's Channel 9 group, Optimal Access),
- consumer & new media tools (Lycos, Craigslist, Nokia's photo sharing site, Buzznet)
- RSS search and tools (PubSub, Technorati, Message Cast)
- Video collaboration (VidiTel, Convoq, UserPlane, First Stream)
- PR (SEO-PR, PR Newswire),
- Media Companies (Knight Ridder Digital, Dan Gillmor, CNET)
- Online companies & traditional technology providers (Yahoo, Google, IBM)
On the flipside, do these companies really have something in common? Are they all about social media?
My quest in the coming months is to embrace these technologies in my own consulting practice. Are these tools appropriate for interacting with people in my target market (software company CEO's)? Personal relationships are probably more important. I think the processes and dialog quality with the community are more important than the tools, but the tools can help faciliate the relationships, and if everyone's on board, possibly make them more efficient. Outside of this blogging community, it doesn't seem like people are on board yet, but clearly the tools will get easier and the population will continue to grow. At the same time, the blogging community seems to be an inspired, smart bunch.
If you are learning about blogging for marketing your business, how could I be of service? What questions do you have? Is it specifics on setting up blogs, choosing tools, how to use blogs to help market, how to get product input, addressing customer support? Just the best blogging books to read? Someone to manage a blog (that probably wouldn't be me - but more of a writer)? Do you want semi-structured processes (e.g., focused on product input, customer service, technical support, alliance relationships)? I'm curious...
Until the next event....to be held at the Enron Auditorium...
