Preparing For the First Meeting
The purpose of this post is to tell you how to prepare for our January 27 meeting.
Read chapter 1 of The Corporate Blogging Book, by Debbie Weil. You don’t need to get the book in order to do this, since the chapter is available for free download at the book’s web site. First, what are your comments on the chapter itself? Second, what is the author trying to achieve with her web site(s)? To what extent is she succeeding?
Skim the Business Week article, Blogs Will Change Your Business. This was the cover story almost two years ago. How does it read now?
Read the recent posts from at least two business-related blogs. At least one of them should be a corporate blog (by Debbie Weil’s definition). Each of the sites to which I’ve already sent you provides many links. Come to class prepared to describe and evaluate the blogs you read.
Subscribe to these blogs, and to this (course) blog, using a service such as BlogLines or Google Reader. How important are such services to readers and writers of blogs?
You are Time magazine’s person of the year! Or if you aren’t already, you will be once you start blogging. The article to which I’ve linked describes blogging as part of Web 2.0. How does it describe Web 2.0? How is Web 2.0 described elsewhere? In what ways, and to what extent, is the term useful?
How important blogging is for business? We’ll discuss this question at some point in the first class meeting, probably toward the start. Think of arguments on as many sides of this question as you can.
What would you like to do for a final assignment for this course? I have some ideas, and am interested to hear yours.
Finally, who are you, and why are you taking this course? Or, if you’re not taking this course, why have you read this far down? Please let us know with a comment on this post.
January 22, 2007 @ 1:24 pm
So am I going to get an invitation to be a guest speaker?! Sounds like a great course and look forward to hearing from your group how I can improve the blog that accompanies my book: http://www.TheCorporateBloggingBook.com. To make things confusing, the book blog is part of my mega site: http://www.debbieweil.com
January 22, 2007 @ 7:35 pm
I work for P&G and I am taking this class as an elective. This class sounded very interesting and on the cutting edge of technology and business. I am really interested in seeing how blogs work with business and how they are used. I took a class while persuing my undergraduate degree with this professor and know this class would be very useful.
January 22, 2007 @ 8:08 pm
Sounds like a great class!
January 22, 2007 @ 10:00 pm
Ilirjana, I recognized your name from the Strategy class a few years ago… glad you’re in this class.
JD, thanks… glad you could drop by.
Debbie, I’ll email or call you to see what we can work out.
Interesting that, although I emailed the ~30 students enrolled for the course, two of the first three commenters were not among those emailed… word travels fast on the web…
January 23, 2007 @ 2:52 pm
I look forward to learning about this growing trend- it sounds like it’s going to be an interesting class.
January 23, 2007 @ 3:20 pm
Primarily I am taking this course as a 1 credit elective towards my part-time MBA degree. However, when viewing the list of 1 credit courses available this semester, this class sounded the most timely and relevant. I want to gain a better appreciation of how blogs are used and can be effectively used in business.
January 23, 2007 @ 4:05 pm
I’m a full time MBA student finishing up this semester. I am interested in learning about different technologies because I see their continued importance in business and hope to learn new things that will be useful in my post-grad plans (which may include involvement in a “computer-service” start up).
I’m looking forward to the class.
Also, is the syllabus posted here? Did I miss it?
January 23, 2007 @ 4:19 pm
Hi, I’m Laurie Larocque. I put my comment under the section where it says “Hello World” so please look there for what I had to say.
January 23, 2007 @ 4:29 pm
Brian, in a comment that hasn’t shown up here yet, asked about the syllabus. This post is the first part of it. Other syllabus posts will describe what’s due between the first and second meetings, how to prepare for the second meeting, and the post-second meeting assignment. Much of this depends on student input here and in the first meeting.
January 23, 2007 @ 4:43 pm
I’m looking forward to taking this class; This course will count as an elective for me and I was attracted to it because it seems very innovative. Although it is short, I feel it will be valuable because we are learning an imporant application. I am in the process of designing a web site for my department and am also going to be taking a course in electronic marketing this summer, so I thought this class would go along nicely with these projects.
January 23, 2007 @ 4:50 pm
Just wanted to drop in quickly and say hello. I am looking forward to class this week. I think the material is much more interesting than our average workload and becoming more and more relevant to our respective industries. See you all Saturday.
January 23, 2007 @ 5:40 pm
I feel like a dinosaur when people mention blogging. I was a surprised dinosaur when I learned from Debbie Weil that all businesses should consider creating a blog. I work in the financial services industry, so this corporate blogging thing is a mystery. I’m very excited to learn more…
January 23, 2007 @ 6:02 pm
The one credit courses provide me an opportunity to learn about a topic that I really have no idea about – that is why this course sounded so interesting to me. I hear about blogging often in the news, and am looking forward to seeing its impact in business.
January 23, 2007 @ 10:28 pm
I am taking this course as it sounds interesting. I don’t particulary scan any blogs or subscribe to any. It’s interesting to know how companies can use such technology to expand further.
I have heard about blogging but have not spent enough time knowing it. Hopefully, this course will offer me more info. on the meaning of “blogging”
January 23, 2007 @ 10:35 pm
Hi everyone – I’m looking forward to learning more about how business, specifically product companies, are using blogging done by consumers on their products. See you Saturday!
January 24, 2007 @ 11:06 am
I am taking this course as a 1 credit elective. I have been hearing a great deal about Blogging lately but it is foreign to me at this point. I am very much looking forward to learning about blogging on Sat and its growing importance in business.
January 24, 2007 @ 1:12 pm
I am taking this course because I read non-business related blogs quite often and I had not considered blogs as a corporate tool. I find Mike Reiss’ Patriots blog very helpful for the informal day to day activities of our hometown team. Learning methods to utilize this tool for my small company of 20 employees to gain more intimate knowledge of our large institutional investors as well as individual investors will be a useful skill. Until reading Chapter 1 of the Corporate Blogging Book, I was unaware of the number of corporations who were using Web Logs.
January 24, 2007 @ 1:19 pm
As part of my part-time MBA program, I have opted to take some 1-credit courses. My profession allows me to be exposed to the online interactive space and I am always learning about new innovations with Web 2.0. However, I am not very well-informed about blogging and its capabilities and felt this would be a great course to continue my knowledge.
January 24, 2007 @ 1:26 pm
I look forward to getting the inside scoop on the power of the blog. I work in publishing and I know many authors find much marketing success by blogging-it makes their fans so happy that they have access to an author they wouldn’t otherwise normally be able to hear from.
The main reason why I want to take this class is because I want to learn more on how to use the blog as a business tool instead of just an online diary type tool.
Looking forward to it!
Cheers
Beth
January 24, 2007 @ 6:34 pm
I’m in the part time MBA program at NU and taking this as an elective. I work at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and have been reading a few healthcare blogs and have learned a lot of industry things I wouldn’t have picked up otherwise. So I wanted to find out more -looking forward to it…John
January 24, 2007 @ 8:03 pm
I am in the part-time MBA program and work for P&G. I am taking this class because I am interested in the topic and have a very limited knowledge of blogging. This is honestly this first blog I have ever read and would like to know how businesses can leverage blogging. My previous assumption on blogs was they were only used for recreational purposes.
January 24, 2007 @ 8:57 pm
I am taking this course to investigate the potential for blogging in a “non-computer/tech/internet/email” savvy industry such as construction & waste transportaion – which are the industries I work in.
January 24, 2007 @ 9:15 pm
Looking forward to taking this class becasue I have no clue about blogs and have to say this is the first one I have ever went to. This was the main reason why I decided to take this class. Look forward to meeting everyone.
January 24, 2007 @ 10:10 pm
Hello! I am taking this class because it sounded interesting. I think blogs are a great way to communicate and create a sense of community. I am interested in learning how this applies to the business world.
January 25, 2007 @ 12:48 am
Hi! I’m taking this course as an elective towards my MSF degree. I have worked as a content writer for dell.com, and know how effective blogs can be. We had a pricing team which used to refer to a blog where people would discuss the prices of electronic items. They would then use this information to make suggestions to competitively price Dell’s products.
Unfortunately, that’s all I know! I am very curious about corporate blogs and how they’re used by investors.
Looking forward to it.
January 25, 2007 @ 5:18 pm
Hello!
I am a part-time MBA student and work in financial services. I am very interested in learning more about how businesses can use blogs as an effective marketing tool given the lack of control they seem to create. I would love to get my company to use one for our intermediary community.
See you all Saturday! Christine
January 26, 2007 @ 7:45 am
Confession time, I knew nothing about blogs until I read chapter one of The Corporate Blogging Book, by Debbie Weil. The reading really made me think about how my company could benefit. I don’t know specifically if anyone from my work blogs, although with over 8K employees, I guess it’s a safe bet.
I’m looking forward to a few interesting hours on Saturday.
JB
January 26, 2007 @ 11:54 am
I have limited experience with Blogs and am taking the course to better understand the whole concept of social media and where blogs fit in. Looking forward to it…
January 27, 2007 @ 12:52 am
Im a part time mba evening student working full time at Boston Scientific. I am new to the blogging community but have tons of friends who blog on a daily basis. I must admit that Ive always found excuses not to create a blog so this would be an ideal time. The web has expanded in so many facets of my every day life that I cant imagine not having YouTube to access some of my favorite music videos. Websites such as YouTube are powerful outlefts that keep me connected to whats going on around the world. I am curious about Corporate Blogging and would be interested to know if Boston Scientific is headed in that direction.
January 27, 2007 @ 7:21 am
Hi. I’m taking this class because I realized I knew relatively little about blogs, especially as they relate to business. I am looking forward to getting a better understanding of this phenomenon.
January 27, 2007 @ 7:21 am
I currently work for a mobile marketing startup company. My co-workers are all up on the current technology, and most of them have blogs of there own. I am interested in learning more about blogging and would like to learn how to create my own!
January 27, 2007 @ 9:54 pm
I enjoyed class today and learned a lot about blogs as prior to the class I really was not familiar with what was considered a blog nor how influential and prevalent they are and or can be. I work for Children’s Hospital as a clinical analyst and am in the part time mba program.