TechGazing

“Biz Blogging — WORKS. It is of — MONUMENTAL IMPORTANCE.” — Tom Peters, author of ‘In Search of Excellence’

How does a CEO engage with over 1,200 employees across 10 countries every working day? By writing to them daily. And the one person who has done this remarkably well is Rudy Karsan, chairman and CEO of Kenexa, a leading provider of employee hiring and retention solutions. And his mediums of communication are internal and external newsletters, and blogs.

Besides this, executives need to engage with their other stakeholders too. Read on who these are, how blogs help and some rules to keep in mind when doing so. [Click here to read this article published on Rediff.com. It has been reproduced here too]. Continue Reading

Journalists and Communications have always had a close relationship; with the recognition of Blogs as an important form of media in society, the time has come to connect news sources and these independent publishers too.

PR and Corporate Communications have had a close working relationship with traditional journalists and media companies for a long time now. However, the media landscape is undergoing a change with the emergence of blogging as a new and independent form of media.

Being early days, PR and Bloggers have not yet got a total handle on how to engage with one another. For instance, bloggers are in the need of news and information which may be different from the what a newspaper would seek, but not always. This means PR has to send releases drafted differently, and arrange interaction with people who may not be the spokespersons in the traditional sense. The CEO or Marketing Head may not satisfy the blogger as much as the Product Manager who is more hands-on and will speak with greater passion and authority than even those higher up in the organization. Continue reading about this unique service

Blogs, wikis and in-house social networks are the new ways companies are communicating internally. Interactivity and collaboration being the key to these forms of open conversations, the quarterly newsletter may just be passé.

Want to win five hundred rupees? Predict the television rating of the next test match between India and Australia. The qualifier: You need to be on the media planning team at Lintas to have access to the internal blog this contest is run on.

This is just one example of what you may call ‘Internal Communications 2.0’ – the tools of new media are now being employed by companies to enable its people to converse openly and freely. These work for start-ups and big companies alike and in situations where the workforce is under one roof or spread across many locations.

There are many platforms one can do these on, four of them being most commonplace for their respective advantages. Continue reading »

The first ever Blog Camp is being organized in New Delhi by the IBNMS, or the Indian Blog and New Media Society. It is open to all to attend (for free) as well as deliver presentations and talks; it follows the unconference style of Bar Camps.

To know more about the event and to sign up for it, visit the wiki.

Some of the sessions that have been already listed are:

• Beating the Spam on blogosphere- Looking beyond Akismet
• The 4Ps of Marketing Your Blog
• Open Access - What it is and why it is required for scholarly community?
• Corporate Blogging Strategy - Abhishek Kant
• Blog Branding - Turning Blog into Business
• How to monetize a blog effectively? How to enhance earnings from a Blog?
• Setting up a new blog and various tech options

The Indian Blog and New Media Society (IBNMS), in the making for many months, is finally a fully functional body. And is now inviting everyone concerned to take up membership (free) of the same.

The IBNMS is a not-for-profit grouping of all stakeholders in the blog and new media space from India – but open to membership from all over the world. These include those related to blogs, podcasts, internet TV and radio, online news and entertainment, on-demand videos, photosharing, social media, internet art, user generated content, PR 2.0, digital advertising and marketing and more. You could be publisher or consumer of these media to be a member.

The basic idea behind bringing this grouping together is to enable all stakeholders to collaborate and learn from one another, growing together by creating greater relevancy for new media forms and in the process gaining greater visibility to be able to make these publishing platforms more impactful in the Indian and global context.

If interested, visit the IBNMS site and sign up now.

The Indian blogging and new media landscape has been highly fragmented so far, with little information available on who is doing what. In an effort to bring this community under one roof, the recently floated Delhi Blog and New Media Society is organizing a meeting of all stakeholders in New Delhi on Saturday, January 12, 2008. The event is sponsored and supported by 20:20 Media and Microsoft.

The expected audience will include professional/part time/fun bloggers, fringe/yet-to-start bloggers, PR/corp communication professionals, blog/ new media/ social media consultants and service providers and mainstream media. The event is open to all, and there is no registration fee. Click here for more details

If you publish a blog, or any other form of online media, you would know the effort is takes to churn out quality content on a regular basis. Getting content from other sources can be an option, but it costs money. Now imagine having access to high quality syndicated content from sources like The Associated Press, Getty Images and Hearst Magazines – and this is not only free, but it comes with an opportunity to earn money.

Sounds too good to be true? Check out exactly such an offering from Mochila. Continue reading »

With blogs and social networking sites becoming a part of our daily lives almost as much as emails, it may be tempting to be an active participant on these. For professionals, it may be both interesting and rewarding to seek out conversations related to their work. And why not? It is a sure way to network and expose oneself to new ideas and thoughts. But is your company management open to you engaging in the same?

Yes, a few companies are quite liberal in their outlook but most continue to keep a tight leash on what and where their employees talk. Not only in India, but all over the world including the US and UK, the two most mature Web 2.0 societies. Are the companies right in playing it safe, or are they losing out on benefits and opportunities in the process?

[This article was written by me and published on Rediff and can be accessed here.] Or continue reading the full article here

How does a CEO engage with over 1200 employees across 10 countries every working day? By writing to them daily. And the one person who has done this remarkably well is Rudy Karsan, chairman and CEO of Kenexa, a leading provider of employee hiring and retention solutions. Here’s all about communicating in his own words as told to TechGazing: Continue reading »

Blogs and new media are all set to walk down the offline aisle at the first BlogWorld and New Media Expo at Las Vegas, USA from November 8-9, 2007. It may well be a truly insightful and educational event. Interested? Read on.