What to contribute: Thoughts of a blogger

A formal Thank You is in order for putting me on a list of highly influential bloggers!  Mark Fidelman put together a very cute chart and included some of the blogs that are well-worth reading if you are interested in Enterprise 2.0.

There are other bloggers out there who write great stuff too — some less frequently, some are obscure writers.  But I find there is a wealth of insight out there in the Blogosphere.

And yet I’d like to share two observations.

1. Companies reach out to me on a fairly regular basis to help them understand it all (Social Media, Enterprise 2.0, Intranets, Collaboration, Knowledge Management, etc.) and put it into to terms that relate to them.  This means that despite all the free content out there, there is a business model for consultants who can take all that content and turn it into something valuable and understandable  – and to capture the essence of the business need and opportunity quickly.

Consulting firms run a variety of business models.  I’m not sure that the big-firm model is working as well as it used to (based on the consolidation of the analyst companies), but I’ll hold back on commenting about this topic, as I used to work at one of those companies.  I thought that the mid-sized firm model should work better — but many of those are being acquired.  So the smaller boutique consultancy seems to be the way to go these days. [Added 1/9/10 Note: I'm glad to see that ReadWriteWeb agrees with me in this article on the topic of Analyst firms.  I think the smaller boutiques like the Altimeter Group, many of whom are former Forresterites like me - are a mix between analyst firms and consultancies -- which I think is also a growing trend by former analysts.  We do both.  (The truth is, we did both in the analyst firms too, but the mix and pay model was different.)] My pipeline activity provides me with an indication that 2010 will be a busy year.  I invite you to help make this a reality.

2. At times bloggers take on certain behaviors that might work well on the public internet, but do not work as well when blogging internally within a business environment.  Internal bloggers have to use a different voice and different patterns of behavior.  I find that some bloggers “blog at each other” — throwing missives and running blog-fights about topics they care about.  These are fun to watch and generate lots of attention.  Moreover, they eventually result in clarity.  But internal bloggers cannot behave in that way.  It is career-limiting.  External bloggers also share their opinions with a degree of certainty.  In many cases we are privy to information about vendors or products.  Internal bloggers have to fit in with the tone of their company.  It’s like deciding which tie to wear to work, or if you should wear a tie at all.

Putting it in polemic terms:  In the workplace you need to fit in.  In the Blogosphere you need to stand out.  Blogging helps you either way.  But you have to use the right kind of blog to achieve the right results.

Most important to me is that my readers find this blog to be helpful.  Being included on Mark’s list tells me that it is (at least in a quantifiable way).  I do a bit of consulting on blogging specifically and I share what I think works. I came across this presentation today that made tremendous sense to me and I think you’ll find it valuable too.  It presents the ideas of how to be a good blogger and on-line contributor in a beautiful and clear way.  Flip though and use this advice in your blog — whether internal or externally facing.

The idea is simple — contribute, engage, and relate.  The best bloggers I know don’t blog to broadcast.  They blog in order to connect.  And I think this is the secret sauce to a great blog.

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Tagged as: behaviors, collaboration, Enterprise 2.0, expert, personal branding, presentation, social media, tip