HW 13: Blogging Impacts Business's

The question we’re asked is which is more important in our view, the impact of blogging on business, or the impact of blogging on communication that is not business or profit-related? In my opinion I believe that both options can be damaging. Maybe it’s the consequences of blogging that may impact one more than the other. In this case, I feel I would have to side with the impact of blogging on business. After reading, “Blogs Will Change Your Business” by Stephen Baker and Heather Green (Kline and Burstein), there were many examples of how a business may be affected/impacted when it’s blogged about. For example people who work for big corporations/business’s, have very strict guidelines so that everything stays confidential. This must mean that blogging must be on the down low. Now back to the original question, what about the impact of blogging on communication that is not business or profit-related, but rather for creative expression and/or social/political ideas? Yes I believe that blogging on communication may have a huge impact on people who are being blogged about and/or the people who are blogging. The outcome of those people who are being blogged about may be a big deal for a while, as Baker and Green state, “Blog posts linger on the web forever”. Here’s the catch though, when people are talked about in blogs the hot gossip only stays around for a few weeks. People get sick of hearing about people, like Brittany Spears, Linsday Lohan, and Paris Hilton. Business’s on the other hand… the “talk” that goes around about them on the World Wide Web, never goes away. Ultimately what is at stake here is business’s power to stay in business. Blogs “represent power” (Baker, Green 224) and there’s nothing worse than these powerful blogs putting your business OUT of business! Many business’s/companies are secretive (Baker, Green 224), like Google. Baker and Green explained how Google fired one of their employees due to blogging about his first days of work and how, “Google’s Health plan was less generous than his former employer’s” (Baker, Green 225). Blogging on business matters and is important to be careful about what you’re blogging about. I believe blogging impacts them more because they can receive a bad reputation, or even be put out of business. They are trying to protect themselves, and this is why they have such strict guidelines as to what is allowed to get out in the media.