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Introduction to Blogs and Blogging Eileen Brown Manager, IT Pro Evangelist team, Microsoft UK

Agenda What is Blogging Aggregation Blogging communities Corporate blogging

Whats a Blog? Web + Log = Blog Online journals Frequently published corporate Web writings – Scanned by journalists Instant feedback opportunity Whatever

Blogging Overview Reverse chronological display Single person or single entity? What makes blogging attractive? Blog search

Why Blog Human face Way to engage with feedback Demonstrates youre listening Builds partnerships Gets PR

Why Blog? Watch news propagate – Microsoft employee bloggers Fast distribution of technical content – (security alert, anyone?) Immediate customer feedback – you post, they can comment Press enquiries – and attention

Good blogs Informative Passionate Credible

Finding blogs Search and find Web page RSS (XML) feed subscription – read in a RSS Reader URL link sent via Media – publish links to blogs as part of a news story

Demo MSN spaces Community Server Bloglines.com

Agenda What is blogging Aggregation Blogging communities Corporate blogging

RSS feeds – The foundation News aggregators – Some are web based – Outlook 12 will have RSS support Work on subscriptions Aggregators vs. Browsing Aggregation

Popular aggregators Sharpreader Newsgator Bloglines Feedreader IntraVnews Start (Web based)

Demo Newsreaders – Sharpreader – Feed Demon – Start.com

Agenda What is blogging Aggregation Blogging communities Corporate blogging

Blogging communities What is a blogging community Why join one?

Blogging communities Geekswithblogs.net Weblogs.asp.net Dotnetjunkies.net Blogs.technet.com Blogs.msdn.com

Communities vs Self hosted Communities Easily discovered Advertisements Maintenance controlled by admin Visitors look for specifics Self hosted Discovery down to you Complete control Self hosted and maintained Visitors look for you specifically

Resources Community Server Source Code and More Info Scott Watermasysks blog Microsoft.com Blog Portal Portal and Smart Components Blog post aspx

Building Relationships scoff at the small audience size – Steve Ballmer reads blogs – Steven Levy from Newsweek – The CEO or CTO of your best customer? Inside a real-life blog relationship How these relationships add up to real business

Podcasts Audio files made available via RSS Derived from Portable Device and Broadcast Synchronised with your audio device Podcast aggregators – Apples ITunes – IPodder – IPodderX – Supports news, audio and now video

Blogcasts Audio and video files available from a blog Derived from Blogging and webcast Demos of technology – slides optional Anyone can create and deliver – Community led and viral

Podcast and Blogcast communities px

Demo Communities

Agenda What is blogging Aggregation Blogging communities Corporate blogging

How Blogging Sells Relationship networks Amplification of message Advertises proficiency and passion Aggregates new stuff

What to include Resources News Links to other interesting stuff Your own opinions Anything that demonstrates your passion and authority

Corporate blogging Corporate culture Staying out of trouble – Policies / guidelines / FAQ Competitor linking

Listening to the Blogosphere Do you know what people are saying? Would you know if there was a hot trend? Would you be able to participate in the conversation or, gasp, influence it? Resources: – Technorati – Feedster – Pubsub

Starting your blog Tools Voice Frequency Corporate Weblogger Manifesto Trackbacks, Permalinks, Referrer logs, Blogrolls, Comments

Getting Over Your Fears Whats the ROI? Im scared of getting fired Talking about competitors If I write for free, why would they hire me? Dealing with trolls I dont have anything to say!

Crisis Management The bloggers are flaming, what do you do? Acknowledge Link Be humble Say youre sorry

Building Momentum Readership Techniques Getting them to talk about you Using other peoples comments Using your referrer log – finding people who want to engage with you

Demo – Community Server

Q and A Questions anyone?