10 April 2005
What struck me when I first encountered blogs is that if you find a quality blog, relevant to what you are interested in, it is like an info digest you can follow regularly.
I am really not too sure about the editorial “I comment on the news” blog by individual X. There are enough talented journalists doing that for newspapers – also available online by the way. However, I am convinced you can get a lot of insights when the writer shares his thoughts about a topic for which he is qualified (I used to follow evolutions in the Java programming language for instance). It's fascinating to have the point of view of experts or people involved in specific sectors or companies at your fingertip.
Another cliché I don’t like is to see in the blogging movement a challenge to established news and media companies. I don’t believe this is true. Evidence could even show the contrary with the corporate world embracing the trend, as it did ten years ago with the web. In fact, it is interesting to see how the set of technologies and tools associated with blogs is now used by well established media groups. Most blog evangelist thought corporations could benefit from the “easy web publishing” features, but what is of interest to me are the syndication tools.
Every major newspaper nowadays allows to get a RSS feed. Even better, Factiva, a database of articles, has rolled out a few weeks ago a beta RSS service. I have been using it with the latest flavour of Mozilla Thunderbird, my e-mail client, and I now get the "editor's choise" directly in my “News & Blogs” folder. This is truly amazing: keeping up with the business news has never been so easy! And it is true of most subjects.
If I have only one advice to give to an MBA student or candidate, it is: find the most convenient syndication tool for you, get RSS feed URL for your usual source(s) of information (you know, this thing you couldn't manage to read every morning or that you miss occasionally…) and start following the news as a desk-chair potato!
Managers, get used to it. It might look like yet another IT skill to learn but I believe publishing and getting information through blogs is going to be the basis of future corporate information management systems. And people way more qualified than me to say so actually say so.
How does it work? In Thunderbird, you get the title, first lines and direct link to read the article. You can get the full article directly if you prefer. If you don't use your own computer, try Bloglines, a website where you can syndicate RSS feeds. I prefer to get feeds in my email client though – I think it is more relevant and I don't have to log in or have another open window. And if you are a megalomaniac person, you can even imagine CEOs or celebrities are writing to you every morning (so many “people” blogs…).
Of course, you can argue: Ok, this is not the same as reading the Financial Times every morning. And sure, blogging is not just about getting the “same old” news through feeds. But the approach I propose has tremendous advantages, of which are ease of use, speed, almost exhaustive publicly available information (focused or general) and the “I won’t miss it because I’m in a hurry or too lazy this morning” factor. And you can use the time you save to find more blogs. I particularly like to find some relevant to what I’m doing – like this “10 commandments for Entrepreneurs” which I can easily connect to my “Understanding Entrepreneurial Management” elective.
I am really not too sure about the editorial “I comment on the news” blog by individual X. There are enough talented journalists doing that for newspapers – also available online by the way. However, I am convinced you can get a lot of insights when the writer shares his thoughts about a topic for which he is qualified (I used to follow evolutions in the Java programming language for instance). It's fascinating to have the point of view of experts or people involved in specific sectors or companies at your fingertip.
Another cliché I don’t like is to see in the blogging movement a challenge to established news and media companies. I don’t believe this is true. Evidence could even show the contrary with the corporate world embracing the trend, as it did ten years ago with the web. In fact, it is interesting to see how the set of technologies and tools associated with blogs is now used by well established media groups. Most blog evangelist thought corporations could benefit from the “easy web publishing” features, but what is of interest to me are the syndication tools.
Every major newspaper nowadays allows to get a RSS feed. Even better, Factiva, a database of articles, has rolled out a few weeks ago a beta RSS service. I have been using it with the latest flavour of Mozilla Thunderbird, my e-mail client, and I now get the "editor's choise" directly in my “News & Blogs” folder. This is truly amazing: keeping up with the business news has never been so easy! And it is true of most subjects.
If I have only one advice to give to an MBA student or candidate, it is: find the most convenient syndication tool for you, get RSS feed URL for your usual source(s) of information (you know, this thing you couldn't manage to read every morning or that you miss occasionally…) and start following the news as a desk-chair potato!
Managers, get used to it. It might look like yet another IT skill to learn but I believe publishing and getting information through blogs is going to be the basis of future corporate information management systems. And people way more qualified than me to say so actually say so.
How does it work? In Thunderbird, you get the title, first lines and direct link to read the article. You can get the full article directly if you prefer. If you don't use your own computer, try Bloglines, a website where you can syndicate RSS feeds. I prefer to get feeds in my email client though – I think it is more relevant and I don't have to log in or have another open window. And if you are a megalomaniac person, you can even imagine CEOs or celebrities are writing to you every morning (so many “people” blogs…).
Of course, you can argue: Ok, this is not the same as reading the Financial Times every morning. And sure, blogging is not just about getting the “same old” news through feeds. But the approach I propose has tremendous advantages, of which are ease of use, speed, almost exhaustive publicly available information (focused or general) and the “I won’t miss it because I’m in a hurry or too lazy this morning” factor. And you can use the time you save to find more blogs. I particularly like to find some relevant to what I’m doing – like this “10 commandments for Entrepreneurs” which I can easily connect to my “Understanding Entrepreneurial Management” elective.
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