Bruce Lowry of Novell foresees blogs “completely replacing press releases within 10 years.�

Short answer “yes with a but,� long answer “no with an and.�

The argument goes like this: The Net has promoted transparency. Your press releases don’t just go to a targeted segment of the press; they also get posted to Yahoo! and other sites. Since everybody sees all releases, companies need to be more consistent in their messages. So as long as companies are saying the same thing to everybody, why not just move from press releases to blogs?

Simply stated, blogs are an up and coming technology which is changing the way companies are communicating their message to the public, to their investors, to their employees and to the press. So the short answer is yes it might, but the capabilities of the blog will need to transcend from the early adopters (it’s current state) to the general masses.

Looking at the long answer: no because people still like traditional means of receiving information and until the blog transcends from the early adopters (it’s current state) to the general masses, it cannot replace the press release.

Opening a channel of communcation between an organization’s leadership and key external audiences is one of the best business uses of blogs. But it doesn’t eliminate the need for press releases any more than the introduction of e-mail eliminated the need for telephones and faxes.

The bottom line in all of this is the blog is still relatively new and it’s still being shaped. The blog is the next generation of the internet and it has tremendous potential for pushing communication channels. At this point to say it will replace anything is still a bit premature, but I’m rooting for the blog – not because I do it for a living, but because of the way it can extend your sphere of influence.

If you’re interested in how a blog can shape the way your company communicates with its customers, then contact Nebo Group to get started today.

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