Marketing and blogs
Two years ago, I was trying to teach a friend about blogs, and since she works in marketing, the obvious way was to peddle this kind of activity under the "it-will-be-good-for-your-work" marquee.
At that moment blogs were not so known around here, and she disregarded my advice. Nobody is a prophet in their own land, I know.
So, it is with great pleasure that I see and article on the Wall Street Journal about blogs being used by marketers to identify trends and attitudes from consumers regarding products:
It is obvious that the study of the emergent dynamics present in a diverse and heterogeneous population of bloggers will lead to insights and allow to identify trends and motivations. The challenge right now is to sift through the noise and positively pinpoint the reliable blogs, as well as incorporating those results into corporate actions.
The blogosphere is still shaping itself, and like any other system, it will develop opportunistic and parasitic agents coexisting with others - the ones that provide content. Since it is highly distributed, there are no leaders, just a-listers that have a great influence, but even then theirs is limited. This structure makes for an excellent tool for finding trends and ideas, and getting a pulse on most markets.
The one thing that comes to mind regarding the blogosphere is its immediacy.