Bloggers: - re-defining the rules

I speak with many PR professionals at industry events and Factiva's events, and it's fascinating to see what the general level of awareness of blogs in the PR and broader business community is. It's also interesting to see whether people consider blogs a threat (or an opportunity), or if they view blogs as "merely a bunch of geeks having a whinge".

At the International PR Summit in London earlier this month, Mark Adams, the Head of Communications for the World Economic Forum, raised the issue of blogs in a panel discussion about global communications trends, challenges and opportunites. He said that companies who ignored blogs did so at their own peril.

It's hard not to agree when you see headlines like: "Bloggers Break Sony", which appeared in an Information Week article yesterday.

It's yet another example of how consumers are using virtual voice power to force companies (in a very public way) to listen.

As Alan Scott, Factiva's Chief Marketing Officer said in the article, "There's a whole new set of rules that people have to live by. Whether it's blogs or user groups or NGOs, it's all about honesty and authenticity. This is just the latest painful example of a major company finding that the old tools and the old actions don't work."