Naked ConversationsCh. 4,5,6,7

Team FRNAntoine Woods Darrell BoydRyne Joyner Jason Griffin

Chapter 4: Direct Access

• Chapter four discusses the blogging techniques of:

• Bob Lutz• Jonathan Schwartz• Mark Cuban• Dave Winer and• Companies using private blogs

Bob Lutz• Bob Lutz, a GM executive has used blogs as a way to

engage the public regarding products and services

• He created the FastLane

• He also uses blogs as an equalizing force when dealing with media criticism.

• Bob feels direct access is a larger issue than just bypassing unsupportive reporters. His blog has shinned a new light on GM through his willingness to listen to everyday people.

Jonathan Schwartz• Jonathan Schwartz, is president of Sun Microsystems. He

began blogging in 2004. • Schwartz encouraged blogging at Sun, and in less than a

year more than 1,000 employees were blogging on a daily basis.

• He felt that by his employees blogging it made a major turn

around in developer relations.

• He feels that companies are in a global war for talent and blogging plays a big part in getting the best talent to your company.

Mark Cuban • Internet billionaire and owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks • BlogMaverick allows him to just to express his opinion • He feels executives should blog only if they have a vision that they

are trying to communicate to others or if they are in the visible eye of the media.

• Cuban does all interviews through email, so his words can never be

twisted by the media.

• His blog is very interesting due to him expressing his mind

Dave Winer • former corporate CEO is known as the pioneer of

blogging and RSS syndication • He began with a newsletters called DaveNet in the

early 1990’s.

• He created a website that was called Scripting News, which was basically the first blog.

• While tinkering with XML he ended up creating RSS

(really simple syndication)

Dave Winer Continued

• He began the “subscribe” phase of blogging by allowing his posts to be sent to peoples emails when added.

• He collaborated with Netscape to create RSS 2.0

• He feels blogs should represent “ the unedited voice of an individual’s”

Companies and private blogs• Intel CEO Paul Otellini blogs to listen to 86,000 employees

worldwide. His blog is only seen within the walls of Intel

• The only problem is the newsletters began to be leaked.

• Private blogging makes a significant portion of business enviroment.

• Companies Six Apart and IBM also use private blogs to

connect with their employees and get feedback on ideas.

Ch. 5 Little Companies, Long Reach

“A small key opens big doors”

• For those who have businesses that are less globally monolithic, blogging is ideal

The Man Makes the Clothes

Two men, Thomas Mahon and Hugh Macleod were in a pub drinking and conversing. Macleod was an ex-advertising executive. He was a well known blogger, well-known for his Gapingvoid blog. www.gapingvoid.com

The man makes the clothes cont.

Mahon was a Savile Row tailor.After a few drinks Macloed convinced Mahon that blogging would be great for business, the two formed a partnership. www.englishcut.com

The Results• When Mahon made his usual trip to New York, if he sells

two suits, his sales pay for his trip, three suits, he eats and gets to pay rent, A five suit trip is a bonanza. When Mahon was in New York December 2004, he only sold two. When he returned 10 weeks after starting a blog, he sold 20 suits and 8 sport coats, more than he had sold in an entire year.

• Also through blogging Mahon and Macleod was able to get a PR director, David Parmet, another blogger. www.parmet.net

• It also resulted in a CNN story and also a Sunday article in the New York Times.

The Connection King• ActiveWords CEO Buzz Bruggeman keeps an ongoing

email dialogue with scores, each influential and in need of favor.

• Buzz Bruggman-former lawyer and “Connection King”• If you want to know what’s going on in the PC industry

he is the “go to guy” • CEO of ActiveWorlds- a software utility company that

reports over 100,000 downloads on a 6 year budget of less than $15,000

• Bruggman realized that he didn’t have money for PR and marketing, therefore he founded his business blog, Buzzmodo. www.buzzmodo.typepad.com

Blogging Into Power• In April 2002:• Bruggeman leeched off of a blog started by well-known bloggers Doc Searl and Dan Gilmore. Their

business blog was about Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio who was reported complaining about not being able to generate revenue. Nacchio was also a VIP at an upcoming technology forum. Bruggeman linked a Yahoo Finance web page showing that Nacchio cashed in more than $200 million in stock even as his company’s stock price headed downhill under his stewardship. Nacchio who was already in trouble with his job, found an edgier, more hostile press after the exploitation by Bruggeman. His Blogging power was then realized.

• Later that year: ``````Bruggeman teamed up with author-blogger JD Lasica to cover a different tech conference called

PopTech. Both had ulterior motives. Lasica was interested in interviewing speakers for his book Darknet: Hollywood’s War Against the Digital Generation, Bruggeman wanted to get a free pass into the conference. By blogging about this conference, the two extended the reach and participation of the conference.

• Today in the technology sector, bloggers are invited to attend conferences over journalists.

Separation of Business and Politics

• Bruggeman also learned to keep his oil and water separate

• At first he mixed his business commentary with impassioned political views. One day someone wrote “I love your product. I hate your politics and I will pray for you.” A result of this sprung a new blog called Buzznovation. www.buzzmodo.typepad.com/buzznovation

Fellowship ChurchFellowship ChurchFounded in 1990 Dallas, TexasEach weekend attracts about 20,000 people to worship Brian Bailey is the church’s Internet managerFellowship’s success is based on blogging, “it gets people out of their comfort zones” www.leaveitbehind.com Blogs have impacted Fellowship in three areas: • Internal: This is where the most dramatic change has occurred. Blogging has improved

multiple communications levels. The vision has added transparency to how ideas develop.• Personal: Bailey feels that his blog has made him wiser by exposing him to new ideas. He

has become better known and, by writing every day, more articulate. Like others, he has learned to listen better to people with opposing views.

• Community: The increased openness has given people a closer sense of connection with the church, whether they are members, curious seekers, or leaders of other churches with whom ideas and advice are shared.

Other Companies Mentioned

• Other companies mentioned in this Chapter:• Palm

http://software.treonauts.com • Clip-N-Sealhttp://clip-n-seal.com• Stoneyfield Farm www.stoneyfield .com

Being Successful

Tips for successful business blogging: • Talk don’t sell

• Post often and be interesting • Write on issues you care about

• Blogging saves money but costs time • You get smarter by listening to what people tell you

Chapter 6

Consultants Who Get It

What Are Consultants?

• Consultants- technology enablers who evangelize new solutions into established institutions.

Why are Consultants important to Blogging?

• Consultants who blog are building reputations that make them category leaders, whether that category is defined by geography or niche. Their opinions are becoming more important in influencing markets.

• Consulting expertise has started to evangelize and deliver blogging into businesses. They are now seeding blogging into corporate strategies the way they previously germinated PCs and web sites. We believe they will play key roles in the phase of blog adoption that has started to occur.

Reasons For Starting Blogs

• While some consultants may plan to start a blog for fame and fortune, people like Blake Ross and Joe Hewitt at Firefox, they just started something because they had passion and talent and they wanted to share it with friends.

Personal DiaryCollaborating with CompetitorsCustomer Evangelism Business Venture

Ernest and OpenAttorney Ernest Svenson is better known as Ernie the Attorney.

Doesn’t try to market himself but speaks of simpler things in a wry, self effacing voice

More than 1000 people visit his site daily, invited to speak at conferences and joined a group of lawyers with a new blog called Between Lawyers

Collaborating With Competitors • Attorneys Stephen M. Nipper, Douglas Sorocco, and J.Matthew

Buchannan are all patent lawyers with a particular interest in blogging impact on intellectual property issues.

• Each started blogs within three weeks of each other and then discovered each other through blogs.

• Found themselves trusted colleagues, exchanging emails, talking on the phone, starting wikis and launching a podcast.

• Created “ReThink” a collaborative blog began before the three actually met in real life.

Hallow Thy Customer

Chapter 6 Synopsis

• Blogging changes marketing more than marketing changes blogging. Not everyone starts blogs to market themselves, some start blog because they have a passion and talent for it. People today are depending more on blogging as a tool to express themselves to the company and in turn get feedback from the company.