Corporate Blogging
I've been kind of jaded, I guess, when it comes to blogging and bloggers. It seemed natural to me that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban should start a blog, even though on reflection, it's quite a remarkable thing. Corporate chieftains with products to sell usually have layers of lawyers and marketing people, not to mention PR firms and advertising between them and the public. Tonight I came across the Fastlane Blog, which will feature top GM execs blowing off steam and flogging products, starting with GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz:
After years of reading and reacting to the automotive press, I finally get to put the shoe on the other foot. In the age of the Internet, anybody can be a �journalist.� This is the first of many commentaries I will make on this forum, and I�d like to begin with, surprise, some product talk � specifically, Saturn products.
Not a daring debut by any means, but it does impress me that such a behemoth as GM is 'getting it.' The Democrats this past cycle jumped on blogs early, and the Bush campaign wasn't far behind with what turned out to be a pretty effective effort. There is a paradigm shift in communications happening every bit as important as the printing press. I think the debate about whether or not blogs will replace mainstream media and other high falutin' ideas are silly, just as TV didn't kill the radio, video didn't kill the movies, and computers haven't killed books. But things have shifted around a bit to make room for the new media, which is what blogs are.
The silly part of the debate, as usual, is framed in the zero sum argument, as are most silly arguments. It reminds me of the endless complaints about capitalism in general, that if such and such a company introduces a new product it will take away from existing products, and if person A makes this much more, there is that much less for person B. The response in some quarters of the major media to attack bloggers and blogging in general as something less, misses the point that this is something different. Blogging is a classic capitalist endeavor, individuals fighting for 'market share' based on product and service. The 'creative destruction' of capitalism will out the weak links in the major media, and they will have to adapt or die, but as the major media is also part of the capitalist game, the strong will survive, and become better for it.
The internet is in the process also of changing the music business, albeit kicking and screaming, with much blood spilt; but it will happen, and it will be better for it. Speaking of music and the internet, I just popped in that commie Ken Layne's Fought Down cd tonight on the way to my blog posting post at DV II, and it still kicks ass after oft repeated listenings. Use your computer thingy to get over to his site and buy it. Your new internet masters command it. You can also click on the pretty picture on the right side, right here on this here blog.
