Very interesting academic study on blogging conducted by Dr Nora Barnes, who is a professor of marketing at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Dr Barnes wanted to find out how businesses can survive in the blogsphere.

Her study found:

• Blogs take time and commitment, with many bloggers underestimating quite how much time is involved.
• Blogs must be part of a plan, so decide on a focus, and define your measures of success. Don’t just do it because everyone else is doing it.
• A blog is a conversation – strange how many people miss this point, because the biggest value is in the reader-writer relationship, imho.
• Authenticity is good, bland is bad.
• Consumers have gone willingly in search of more meaningful relationships, because most business communication is impersonal and one way
• It is the humanity of the blogsphere that makes it an enormous threat to business as usual

There’s a lot in the study, and to my knowledge, one of the first academic studies of its’ kind. Well worth a read if you’re considering starting blogging, or those who haven’t quite got their blog where they want it to be.

The study concludes:

“Blogging takes time, commitment and honesty. In return, connections are made that are personal and strong….blogs act as a huge, ongoing focus group providing feedback and ideas”.

Well put. That’s the truth.

Hat-Tip: PatrickWeb