Blogging for Business

Business Week Online
By Olga Kharif
Monday, August 09, 2004
KM NewsAll News
KM News Home


Jonathan Schwartz, president and chief operating officer of server maker Sun Microsystems (SUNW), first suspected that his blog was a success when his salespeople began reporting that customers were reading his posts and sealing deals faster. Then, the blog started getting a surge of traffic from users with e-mail addresses ending in "ibm.com" and "dell.com" -- folks who work for Sun's rivals. Schwartz saw that as irrefutable proof that his blog, started on June 28, was a gold mine (see BW Online, 8/4/04, "Don't Quote My Blog on That").

Some six weeks later, he's a firm believer that a blog -- which generally consists of diary-like entries that are posted to the Web -- is a must-have tool for every executive. "It'll be no more mandatory that they have blogs than that they have a phone and an e-mail account," Schwartz says. "If they don't, they're going to look foolish."

NO INTERFERENCE. Blogs, until recently almost exclusively the domain of geeks, alternative media, and celebrities, are turning into the cyber equivalent of the corner office. On July 7, Michael Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, started one, discussing the extent to which the government should regulate telecommunications. His initial post drew more than 30,000 readers in its first week. Microsoft (MSFT) Chairman Bill Gates is considering starting a blog, says a company spokesperson. Filmmaker Michael Moore began a blog on July 4 to promote his controversial new movie, Fahrenheit 9/11.

While celeb blogs typically revolve . . .