Final Post - Our experience

Before this project for an e-marketing class, we had never blogged before. We did not know the rules or even how it worked. When told to start our very own blog about e-marketing from our experiences and news stories, we started off slow. If so many people are doing it, it can't be that hard.

We jumped right in and did a little research on how and where to find relevant material. This was one of the major challenges we faced when blogging. We had to ask ourselves what anyone interested in the subject would want to read and comment about. What we have posted so far are just some of the many e-marketing issues and information available. An advantage of blogging is that you have the potential to reach anyone who has access to the internet. Obviously, unless it is really popular, you're not going to be able to do that. This brings us to another challenge - getting people to read our posts. The only way we know that we have readers is through the comments we have received. This would be an example of the merits of people commenting on what we have said. Whether it adds to the conversation or generates criticism, the internet public can be involved in any blogging community. Anonymity is also an advantage of commenting. Sometimes you want to say something important, but you don't want to outright be quoted for it. When we were blogging, we felt somewhat involved in what we were commenting about. It felt like our voice was being heard and then people could converse back with us to get more information or comment back. We can imagine that most people felt the same way when they commented on others' blogs.

Blogging has some uses in the corporate setting. It would let customers and potential consumers get a better look of what the company is all about. Rather than using an impersonal way of advertising to the public, blogging would make it seem more personal. The blog could be used as a middle-man between consumers and the business - kind of like a public e-mail.

We would encourage managers to blog in their professional capacities because of the possible advantages it has. As a manager, you could reach new markets and create new business relationships through blogging about their business/product/service. Of course, as a manager, you would have to be very professional and careful about what you say. You could upset or hurt a group of people and by word of mouth destroy what you were achieving to do in the first place. It is also apparent to me that the idea of blogging isn't that mainstream yet. Getting ahead of the competitors would be very beneficial as a manager.

With blogging being one of the major components of Web 2.0, this final paper was definitely a learning experience. We are glad to have done something out of the ordinary. This could benefit us with our jobs or even aid us in doing this in the future. Whether it be informal or professional, blogging isn't as bad as we thought and will continue to grow in popularity as time goes by. We had fun doing it and we hope that you people enjoyed reading. Thanks!