I saw this from Caroline McCarthy at Cnet today and agree with this study. In the many years of research in online advertising and web 2.0 it is very clear that one of the roles a blogger plays in their area of coverage is one of newsmaker and analyst.
I did a speech at MIT in 2006 called “The Blogosphere: New Navigators.” – in this speech I predicted that certain blogger would asend to the highest trust level in communities to earn a place of trust. Why? Because to be an effective blogger you have to know about the sector your covering. To capture news, get scoops, provide content value, you need to know what you’re talking about. Bloggers provide a real time service for users. Often bloggers make mistakes, but more importantly to users they provide links to other sources that delivers on the real time alerting or redirection of attention and interest (this is what normal users are looking for). Of course bloggers self correct or get corrected from their audiences. This content cycle is two way and very effective in content development, story development, fact development, and opinion development. This makes them valuable to users. (side datapoint: the best analysts of top firms have become bloggers – why?? ..Point made)
I am shocked to see marketing people pass on sponsorship of the top influencial blogs in their sector. Yet pay 100k for an analyst firm to do some survey. Blog advertising and sponsorship is the best game in town for marketing executives. Here I posted about the Future of Blogging last week.
Of course I’m biased but do see direct results everyday. Tell me if you agree?
Silicon Valley Technology Blog - John Furrier 