Blogs: the new information revolution? RIM professionals have an opportunity to provide leadership and guidance in the development of policies to ensure that blogs are managed as records.

Weblogs, or blogs, constitute a significant new development in the information world. They're taking the business world by storm. From the perspective of records and information management (RIM) professionals, they present unprecedented challenges and opportunities. Leadership and policies are needed to shape and make optimal use of this new application. Most blogs are records, so sound records and information management principles must be applied. Other information management issues also must be addressed.

As a relatively new information phenomenon, definitions are unsettled.

* Microsoft defines blogs as frequently updated personal web journals that can dramatically help both small and large companies communicate their product messages They increase people's ability to share ideas and information exponentially, and on a worldwide scale.

* Accenture says blogs are an interactive website that allows the owner to publish ideas and information. Users can read and evaluate material and add new content, creating a conversation that spans time zones and continents.

* Technorati, a blog search engine and measurement firm, calls blogs a personal journal on the web and says the power of weblogs is that they allow millions of people to easily publish their ideas and millions more to comment on them. The firm further describes blogs as a fluid, dynamic medium, more akin to a "conversation" than to a library.

* Harvard Law School weighs in with a definition of blogs as a hierarchy of text, images, media objects, and data, arranged chronologically, that can be viewed in an HTML browser. The center of the hierarchy is a sequence of weblog posts each with a title, link, and description. The school's Internet policy states that a weblog gives one a publication where ideas can stand without interference.

Blogs vary from recitation of individual opinions and analysis to "aggregators" that mainly point readers to other blogs, websites, and other sources. Some are straightforward narrative; others allow visitors to add comments to the original content. Some are internal, i.e., accessible only within a company; others are posted on public web sites for anyone to see and, in fact, aim to reach and influence a broad readership. Some are sponsored and include ads to defray costs or help turn a profit. Blogs are related to but not the same as wikis, collaborative websites comprising the continually updated work of many people. Wikis allow collaborators to edit, modify, or even delete work of previous authors.

The earliest blogs date from the late 1990s, and many were casually established by individuals to share personal information. A 2003 survey by Perseus Development Corp. revealed that more than 60 percent of blogs on the Internet were inactive or abandoned. But interest has skyrocketed in the past few years. A January 2005 survey by Pew Internet and American Life Project reported that 7 percent of the 120 million U.S. adults who use the Internet say they have created a blog or web-based diary, and 27 percent of Internet users say they read blogs, which represents a 58 percent jump over survey results of less than a year earlier. The interactive features of many blogs are also catching on with 12 percent of Internet users reporting they have posted comments or other materials on blogs. Technorati estimated that there were more than 9.7 million blogs by early 2005, up 100,000 from two years earlier, with about 38,000 more being created every day!

A number of chief executive officers (CEOs) are taking up blogging themselves. A Fortune cover story entitled "Why There's No Escaping the Blog" described how blogs build customer relationships, take the pulse of consumer trends, expose shoddy products (e.g., Kryptonite was forced to announce a program to exchange defective locks after a swarm of bloggers revealed a Bic pen could open them), and support creativity. "Blogs will change your business," said a Business Week cover story "Blogs will Change Your Business," which also announced the debut of the magazine's own blog. The article called blogs ".... the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself," capable of serving as internal information sharing and collaboration devices, conveying information about business practices and trends, and worth monitoring because they "evolve with every posting.... [through tracking, a company] gets a heat map about what a growing part of the world is thinking about, minute by minute."

The Power of Blogs

Blogs derive their power from several sources. They require relatively inexpensive and easy-to-use software and are relatively easy to set up and maintain, particularly for organizations that already have websites and computer expertise. They provide a means of collecting and organizing fresh insights and opinions and thereby reinforce organizational objectives of fostering knowledge and information sharing as a way of enhancing productivity They are unedited and unfiltered, which appeals to readers who may not fully trust official corporate pronouncements or traditional mainstream media. Blogs can be used to share information instantaneously and serve to spark creativity and cooperation. They may include links to other blogs and websites, providing readers with quick, easy means of pursuing additional information, and have the capacity to "swarm" by sharing and spreading information quickly. Their numbers are huge, but that issue can be addressed in part by selecting a small number of particular interest or by using "rich site summaries aggregators" that gather material from designated websites and blogs and bring new information from those sites to the individual.

The impact of blogs was demonstrated last year as bloggers undermined some of U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry's claims as a Vietnam War hero and exposed as frauds documents about President Bush's National Guard service as reported by CBS News. Microsoft, IBM, Verizon, Boeing, Hewlett-Packard, and other businesses provided further visibility and credibility by beginning their own blogs. Adding to the bandwagon effect, business journals and other press reported that influential leaders were getting more and more of their ideas from reading blogs.

Blogs are difficult to classify but in general fall into five categories. All should be of interest to RIM professionals. The last three are of most direct consequence; they constitute organizational information and therefore need information and records management policies.

* Individuals' personal news and views. These are personal journals set up by individuals to share news about their lives, families, and personal developments and for personal expression. They are particularly popular with teenagers.

* News/commentary/journalism. These blogs report the news, provide interpretation and commentary, and in some cases confront and upstage mainstream media.

* Advertising/promotion/marketing/customer service. Some blogs promote products and services or communicate with potential customers.

* Business/professional issue commentary and insight. The most influential blogs in the business world fall into this category. They may include commentary by CEOs, views of professionals and other employees, trial balloon ideas, results of research projects, and interpretations of the events and trends in the field. Some are devoted to particular topic areas such as law or education.

* Internal information sharing/knowledge management applications. These applications are new, and descriptions are just beginning to make their way into the literature. CEOs are using blogs to share perspectives and policies with employees. Project managers use them to direct and coordinate complex projects, e.g., giving direction but at the same time inviting updates and commentary. Technical experts use them as convenient records of engineering or design projects. They are being used as inexpensive content management and knowledge management systems. The advantages include versatility, ability to make information instantly available, and ease of retrieval. They can also be used to continually update clients, boards of directors, and other stakeholders.

Convenience and ease of use are major factors in increasing blog development. "... many organizational teams are finding that a blog is easier to manage and more fun to write and read than a set of intranet pages or endless email threads," says David M. Scott in his E-Content article "Big Business Blogging."

Trolling in the Blogosphere

Blogs may include a mixture of personal observations and official views, vague speculations and solid insights, commonsense musings and innovative perspectives, flip comments and profound opinions. Here are a few examples, selected to show variety and versatility, from the blogosphere--a new term coined by bloggers to convey a sense of the vastness and interconnectedness of blogs.

* Accenture blogs. www.accenture.com

Several Accenture staff writers--Gary Boone, Kelly Dempski, Ed Gottsman, and others--have blogs, defined as "an online, semi-personal journal offering the opinion and commentary of the author on conversations and stories that appear elsewhere on the web, along with links to relevant websites and articles." As is the case with many business bloggers, there is a disclaimer that the bloggers' views do not necessarily reflect official Accenture positions.

* Boing Boing. www.boingboing.net