Corporate Communications and Blogging -- Oxymoron?

A couple of weeks ago I had an in depth conversation with Adii, which is short for Adriaan Pieneer. He blogs about freelancing, Web 2.0, business strategy and WordPress and lives in South Africa, a place I've learned to appreciate thanks to a colleague from Johannesburg.

If you have a little time, in it I discuss how I view corporate communications -- expanding on

When thinking about corporate communications I see my role as one of business negotiator and information broker.

The value I see in self publishing -- building to

Imagine having a gigantic focus group where the interactions with your product and service generates all this data. I can measure what people are interested in, what they respond to and how they do it, etc.

The difference between how I think of conversation and how some have taken to conversational marketing. And the value of blogs as internal communications tools.

See why I think that blogs will not replace traditional media and my last thought to share --

Wherever the future of work will be, one thing remains clear — it is imperative that we teach children how to read. On screen, off screen, it doesn’t matter where. To succeed, we need to be able to decode these symbols, translate their meaning, and transmit our own signal.

Comments

[Adii]

Thanks for the awesome interview Valeria! :) And by the way - I'm a guy... :)

[Becky Carroll]

Valeria, great interview. I always find your thinking both clear and thought-provoking!

I especially like your final comments about reading. I notice with my children that reading online is very different from reading a chapter book. Reading online is instant gratification, immediate conversation, and quick facts.

Reading a book is a longer pursuit which requires attention, perseverance, and passion. It takes us on our own thinking journey. Of course, best is to share those thoughts with others after we have read the book, but the first step is the reading. Let's hope it does not become a lost art!

[Valeria Maltoni]

Adii -- Duh! Your questions were so intuitive and expansive that I assumed... thank you again for the time and effort. Your questions pointed me in the right direction.

Becky -- great distinction on what we read online vs. what we read in paper. That's why I do not think (and hope) that any medium will ever completely replace the preceding. There is no substitute for the experience of holding a book and savoring the content. I will say that it would be best if we taught children to read visually vs. verbally, which mixes two competences (input, visual with output, verbal) and slows comprehension.