ABSTRACT
Organizations use blogs to communicate with individuals who seek the less formal, more personal relationships that successful blogs can build. A blog—or even better, a collection of blogs—can help give a human face to an organization. Blogs actively invite written responses, offering a Comments button to allow readers to agree, disagree or extend the discussion. Successful blogs generally address different aspects of a broad topic, such as politics, product development or the stock market. Increasingly, the primary audience for blogs is customers and potential customers. Social Media Examiner reports that almost 70 percent of organizations use blogs in their social media marketing—and two-thirds of the organizations intend to increase their efforts in that area. When bloggers represent an organization, they must fully disclose both who they are and the nature of their relationship with the organization. Good blogs are informative, informal and frequently updated.
