Edelmann (.pdf):
In a very short time, the blogging phenomenon has drastically altered the landscape and challenged traditional tenets about the control of messaging by corporations, the media, the government, marketers and company stakeholders.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
According to Edelman“s 2005 Trust Survey, peoples“ trust has shifted from authority figures to „average people, like you.“? In fact, 56% of Americans trust only the opinions of physicians and academicians more than they trust the opinions of people like themselves. What does this mean? The average person does not want canned, neatly packaged messages; the average person wants to engage and be engaged in conversations. And blogs“short for Web logs“have rapidly emerged as one of the newest technologies driving this shift…This white paper is an initial look at the dynamics of the Blogosphere. It“s intended to inform marketing and communications professionals about the who, what, where and how-to of blogging. If this paper has done justice to the subject of blogging, it also should sound a huge wake-up call. Blogging is not a passing fad“¦but any brand, business or organization that fails to grasp the fact may very well be.
via vowe
