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Stripped Speech: a blog post about a summary of a book about blogs

Posted on June 22, 2007 by Sarah Eaton.

In case you missed last Friday's post, here's an update: We'll be doing a review/summary of a new Executive Book Summary each week, in keeping with our quest to continually increase BeTuitive's collective knowledge.  This week, we take a look at "Naked Conversations: How Blogs Are Changing the Way Businesses Talk With Customers" by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel.

Jeff Sanchez

After reading the summary of “Naked Conversations,” I think anyone would want to dive headfirst into the “blogosphere.”  Blogs are transforming stodgy and stiff corporate America into something that is personable and actually relatable to the public.

The summary touched on how the development of Microsoft’s blog warmed up their icy public image and allowed consumers and execs to develop a relationship that would be otherwise unheard of in any other media.  Blogs have become such a common thread now in our daily lives, whether business related or personal, and the summary projects the ultimate value blogs now possess that cannot be ignored by any marketer.

Scoble and Israel describe blogs through a “word of mouth on steroids” analogy that is right on. Blogs are increasing the credibility of businesses because the previous monotonous expert insight is suddenly softening through this informal platform.

Blogs are ridding big businesses of “intangibility” and connecting smaller businesses to a consumer base that may have been formerly unavailable to them. The summary ends with blog to-dos and don’ts that encourage transparent and authentic blogging and steer away from anything that may seem forced and of course, dull.

Kathryn Regina

Unless you know nothing about blogs, you can skip this summary. While the author gives a good overview of corporate blogging, I don’t think I read anything that I haven’t heard before.  The “Doing it Right” tips might be helpful to someone starting a new blog. And I appreciated the warning about forced blogging: “Busy professionals who had full plates before a company higher-up told them to blog often compose in a style that feels hurried and forced…’Forced blogging comes across as such, and cannot be disguised. You know it when you see it.’”

Brian Pinkley

“Naked Conversations” offered some terrific insight into the evolving world of blogs.  I would most definitely agree with the author’s perspective of the unyielding and transformative power of blogs in society today.  I also agree with the notion of businesses using blogs as a tool to reach and interact with their customer base.  The conversation between bloggers and their readers make for a more accurate kind of feedback and personal touch. 

However, if businesses don’t avoid a few pitfalls of blogging, it can have a detrimental effect on their reputation.  The authors mention that blogs were never set up to sell, but rather have constructive conversation among the users. 

Kevin Grant

I thought this summary was pretty spot-on in identifying a blog’s purpose and what is needed for any blog to be a success.  I like how it identified the fundamentals of managing a blog: Make it authentic, be open to responses and responding back, be transparent.  All are true and not to be taken lightly.

I enjoyed reading the examples of company success stories and failures when managing a blog.  They were concrete and interesting to read.  I did, however, think that many of the points were a bit repetitive.  The review featured the “top 11 techniques and guidelines for successful bloggers” along with “Five Success Tips,” while much of the review was structured in the same list of successful strategies.

Bottom line: It was a helpful review that identified all of the necessary tips in cultivating a successful blog, but all of the major points were covered in the first six pages.

Vanessa Day

Almost everyone has an opportunity to create a personal blog to post opinions, stories, and thoughts that stir curiosity and interest in the dedicated blogging audience. So it should be no surprise that the blog trend has found its way into the business world and it has every intention of establishing a permanent position.

This is what Robert Scoble and Shel Israel discuss in “Naked Conversations.”  To tell you the truth, I have never been a big blogger; I'm more of the face-to-face type. So this book was actually very helpful for a beginner like me. Not only does it tell you what not to do with blogs, but provides great tips to transform your blog into a successful resource for clients and other businesses.

What I found to be the most helpful hint from the book was the simple phrase: "be real." Scoble and Israel make the apt points that not only are people interested in the company but also with the individuals who run it. If you're yourself, people are less inclined to be skeptical, and they become more trusting of the industry.

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June 22, 2007 in Brand enhancement, Building Customer Intuition, Corporate newsletter, Educating Clients, email tracking, Freelance newsletter, how to publish and promote online, how to write a newsletter, Interactive Marketing, Newsletter complete outsourcing, newsletter layout, Newsletter ROI, Newsletter solution, outsource magazine, prospect newsletter, sample newsletter, self publish, Thought leadership newsletter, writing magazine | Permalink

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