Right on. I sometimes hear, "You're not one of t h o s e, are you?" Obviouly still a lot of educating left to do.

Your last 2 paragraphs say it all in answering the question....in the year 2000 a book called Bowling Alone talked about the decline in social capital; that people were withdrawing from social connections and community participation and that corporate downsizing was severing the connection that people had with the workplace. With the web, blogs and online social networks people are talking to each other again...but faster, further, and more frequently. Its a small town bowling league again with global reach and one of the bowlers might just be your customer....blogging about the great service or the bad service he/she just got at your business. And that's why we need to know and care who these people are....not to get "all cluetrain" or anything!
Marianne

I love it, the blogosphere as a small town. I have been comparing it to high school as of late, but a small town is a more apt description.

Blogging is very much a small town atmosphere. From the perspective of those living in the town, the happenings and talk of the town are passed very quickly from one person to another. Everyone knows everyone's business, and everyone is talking about a lot of the same topics. The "big city" underestimates and often ignores the small town, because they are viewed as somehow inferior to the big city.

The inferior part is where we have the problem. It happens whenever there is change or something new, especially in the field of technology. The problem isn't that blogging is an inferior medium; the problem is that people feel inferior when initially dealing with blogging. I think that Andrea has it right when she says that it's all about education. When people see the benefits, you can't ignore the positive impact it can and does have on the industry.

Blogging really is a small community. What a great way to think about it. I like how you compared blogging to a small town. I agree that PR practitioners should open their eyes to blogging. It is becoming more and more popular these days and it is something practitioners need to consider.

It's true that people can be skeptical of what companies put out about themselves. I know that I consider what other people buy and what they think about a product lots of times before making a purchase. It is a good idea for companies to humanize themselves by paying attention to blogs or even having their own company blog.

I agree with Andrea and Courtney. More educational measures need to be taken. People fear what they don't understand. If they become more educated about blogging, maybe it won't be such a scary thing.

I will admit that my first thought about bloggers was, "Who are these people and why should I care?" I think you hit the nail on the head, however, when you pointed out that most who make the above comment are naive about exactly blogging is and what it can accomplish. The more I learned about not only who is blogging, but how important the conversations between bloggers could be the more my perception of the practice changed. It is simply a fact of life that there are people out there who will dislike what they do not know. Businesses should care who the people blogging about their company are and what they have to say. Blogging can be the best method of audience feedback, therefore companies should be listening, carefully.

It would be beneficial if those critics of blogging would look at it the way that I do, as a student who is hoping to learn something. Anytime that you venture into unfamiliar territory, that is exactly what you become, a student. A student realizes that he or she does not know everything and therefore does not know enough to criticize. While it is true that I forced into blogging because my grade, and therefore my graduation from college, depended on it, I also do not have as much to lose by not blogging as a major corporation would.

You do not necessarily have to become one of "these people" to make a difference, but you do have to respect and care about what "these people" have to say.

It is sad that people can be so shortsighted. I think your previous experience with Crispers shows enough why companies should care. After you posted about why you don’t like to eat at Crispers anymore, it was the second most common link that showed up at Google. Someone just looking for restaurant locations for Crispers searching Google would see their site, but then also see "Why I no longer eat at Crispers." If they don't think that that brought them some negative attention then they are crazy. And if other companies don't take the time to pay attention to those kinds of postings, then they could suffer from some similar negative attention. Well the good news is that I think Crispers DID notice and care, and other companies do too. I just recently posted a compliment to a program Orvis is running on their site, and I received a comment back from the Communications and Conservations Manager at the company. (This was very exciting for a rooky like me). This shows that he was really out there looking at what people are saying about them, and he had to be really looking because needless to say, as a rooky, mine was NOT second on the search results for Orvis.... not even in the top 20.

As for the other companies that don't pay attention to it now, well they will, or possibly certain parts of their customer satisfaction and consequently their business will suffer for it.

I come from a small town and know all about the concept of the word traveling fast. In a small community anything and everything about a person, place, thing, etc., is spread about like wildfire. The same with the blogging community. Yes, blogging as of right now is small to most people, but is quickly becoming a growing community, and everyone in this small community are reading and listening to what others are saying. It is always more credible to hear first hand experience from someone.
As we bloggers know if you link a website in your post, everyone can go and visit it and that website will know someone is blogging about them. Businesses, people, anyone should care if someone is blogging about them because other bloggers will take note and listen to what that person is saying. And the internet is a wonderful world where people can type in a few simple words into a search engine and boom! anything and everything written about the subject pops up. People should care what bloggers are saying because soon blogging will take over the world, and a blog will be at the top of the found list on the google site!