AgWired

It’s the end of a long two weeks of on the road agriblogging. Thanks for hanging around for all the fun from the Cattle Industry Convention and the National Biodiesel Conference. Whether you like my coverage of these events or not I think you have to admire the fact that the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and the National Biodiesel Board have moved way ahead of the pack when it comes to openly and personally communicating with the public and the people who are paying the bills. They just plain “get it.” I’m not even sure if they’re aware of the Cluetrain or not but they’re on it.

I love this line from an email I received about the NBB blog, “While a blog is great, obviously, for reaching their internal audience who knows how to get to it . . .” What? Internal audience who knows how to get to it? Have you ever heard of a search engine? Don’t you know how search engine optimized blogs are? Sure, the “internal audience” has been alerted. But what about the masses who might be searching for this kind of information? Are they sitting in front of the TV or radio hoping that someone will clue them in? No. Of course this comment comes from a MSM person.

Although we’ve created only a few blogs for clients, we noticed today that one of the ones we’ve created shows up higher (and with more results) on Google than their corporate website which has been around for years! Can you say heartburn for the traditional website gurus? Of course I think that the company leadership that hired us is clued in. They outsourced when the insiders refused.

I’ve spoken with several people in the last couple weeks that just aren’t on that cluetrain yet. One guy I spoke with seemed overly concerned that , as he put it, “so many of them (blogs) aren’t edited.” That was a reason given for why this person doesn’t blog and from what I can gather won’t even consider it or recommend it to his clients. He can’t seem to grasp the fact that the “gatekeepers” of information have changed and that the customers are in charge. I feel sorry for him. He, like many others I’ve spoken with in the last year, seem to be afraid of a world in which we pick and choose our own information sources. You can read an interesting piece about the whole “gatekeeper” thing here. That’s from a post on the Doc Searls Weblog.

So what if there’s a lot of blogs out there written by people who have no idea what they’re talking about? Does that mean that you shouldn’t? If you think there’s a lot of mis-information out there wouldn’t that be an even greater reason to start sending out your own “correct” information? This same person was worried about legal issues and libel. Why? Would you post confidential information? Would you libel someone? Would you hire someone who would? Why worry about this? Because he’s still thinking in terms of getting “someone else” to write about him, his company or his client. Not, do it himself! That’s what this is all about folks.

Cindy said she got a call yesterday from someone who is intrigued by the way we’re using blogs and podcasting. They thought these were things some sort of whackos did, not professionals or reporters or “true journalists.” It’s made us realize there’s a lot of mis-information out there about blogging. This isn’t about whining about the democrats or republicans. It’s about using a new form of social communication to communicate with your clients and members.

I keep seeing it referred to as “Consumer Generated Media.” I think that’s a term that’s helping promulgate this belief that professionals don’t blog. The really good bloggers are doing a better job than so many in the MSM. Are they just consumers? I don’t look at Cindy and myself as a couple of consumers who have created “media.” We are professionals who are reporting on the business we’ve been involved with for over 20 years. We’re using new media tools to do it.

What do you call it when we create sites for our clients and train them to begin blogging? Are they just “consumers” burning some corporate communications budget that could be used more effectively on traditional media? I don’t think so.

The blogging and podcasting business is alive and well though and I can’t tell you how excited I am about the future. I love this phrase from a main stream ag media company that’s looking for “energetic journalists with a passion for agriculture and all things “new media.” Maybe they’re not so main stream anymore.