Naked Conversations
Book

Naked Conversations

How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers

Robert Scoble and Shel Israel
Wiley, 2006
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

Successful blogger Robert Scoble and co-author Shel Israel push people in business to get involved with blogging as a means of communication and of staying on top of conversations that affect their companies. The authors summarize blogging’s history and provide examples of how companies have benefited from it, including interviews with high-ranking corporate bloggers. Their easy-to-read and easy-to-understand writing style ensures that even those who know little about blogging can grasp it. The book covers how to blog and how to participate in conversations, rather than always talking and never listening. getAbstract recommends it to businesspeople who blog or are thinking about it, and to executives who want to know why blogging is important and how it can build their companies’ bottom line.

Summary

Microsoft's Story

Customers distrust large companies, a syndrome that has especially affected Microsoft. Some people see Microsoft as a software monopoly or an unfeeling giant, rather than as a company where thousands of people make a living. Microsoft employee Joshua Allen started blogging in 2000 without getting permission from the company. He wanted to reach out and let the public know they could talk to him and, thus, to Microsoft. Lawyers worried about the risks and his boss got e-mails from other employees saying Allen should be fired. But, what mattered most is that customers were happy to be communicating with a Microsoft insider.

Technology evangelist Lenn Pryor joined Microsoft in 1998. When he met people, he got the same message: simply because he worked at Microsoft, they were surprised that he was nice. Pryor realized that Microsoft needed to bring humanity into its public equation. His brainstorm turned into Channel 9, an official Microsoft blog. Author Robert Scoble became Channel 9's online interviewer. He led discussions on the video blog about the company's internal workings. Within six months of the blog's launch, about 2.5 million people had logged...

About the Authors

Robert Scoble started blogging for Microsoft in 2000. He helps run its Channel 9 Web site. Innovation expert Shel Israel helped launch many technology products, such as PowerPoint.

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