Tekrati Special Report: Industry Analysts on Blogs and RSS: Research Links

This sampling of industry analyst research and commentary on blogs and RSS supplements Tekrati’s special report on analyst blogs, and the launch of our directory of analyst blogs.

JupiterResearch

“The Blog Litmus – Using Blog Software to Understand Real Content Management Needs”, by Matthew Berk, Janis Kim and David Schatsky. “At first blush, blog software, designed for personal Web publishing, provides a limited subset of Web content management functionality. A look under the hood suggests blog software can help site operators understand the true scope of their content publishing needs, a prerequisite for effective vendor selection.” Concept Report, May 22, 2003

“Weblog Best Practices – Seizing Business Benefits”, by Melissa Stock, Matthew Berk and Michael Gartenberg. “Weblog readers currently comprise only four percent of the online community, and Weblog creators, only two percent. Although the Weblog audience is small, several businesses including Groove Networks, Jupitermedia, and BizNetTravel have taken the opportunity to capture this audience’s attention through business Weblogs. As Weblog consumption grows, business Weblog creators must identify to which audience, and by which means, Weblogs will be most beneficial.” Concept Report, July 17, 2003

“Weblog Software Applications – Overcoming Enterprises’ Hesitations”, by Melissa Stock, Matthew Berk, Michael Gartenberg and Janis Kim. “With growing attention to Weblogs, Weblog creators unexpectedly make up only two percent of the online population. Weblog application developers must take note of the low adoption rate and encourage enterprises to embrace the technology.” Concept Report, July 28, 2003.

Shared Spaces

“Collaboration Software Clients: Email, IM, Presence, RSS & Collaborative Workspaces Should Be Integrated for Business Communication”, by Michael Sampson. “a free white paper from Shared Spaces Research & Consulting. The paper was written as an independent publication, without sponsorship from any vendor, so as to give a totally unbiased view of the needs of users from a collaboration software client.” Free, 2-page Shared Spaces Report in pdf, August 23, 2004

META Group

“Social Computing: Getting Ahead of the Blog”, by Mike Gotta. “Buoyed by media hype, popularity of Internet startups, and some interesting success stories, Weblogs (more commonly referred to as “blogs”) are burgeoning across the Internet as a means to improve social conversation and networking. Strategists should assess business, organizational, and technological implications of “blogging” (and social computing in general) before chasing another tool under the allure of improved information/expertise sharing, collaboration, and community building.” META Group Practice Summary, 2188, March 29, 2004. Also see META Trend at ZDNet

“Blogging Makes a Slogging”, by John Brand. Definition/introduction to weblogs. Free METAbit, August 6, 2004

Berlecon Research

“Weblogs in Marketing and PR – Concept, Potential and Challenge”, by Berlecon analysts. In German language; contact the firm for information on translations. This short study helps enterprises determine whether and how to use weblogs for marketing and PR. The study includes current spending on and use of weblogs in Germany. 27 slides, best practices advisory

Shore Communications

“Weblobs – here to s(t)ay”, by John Blossom for the SIIA magazine, Upgrade, June/July 2004 issue. Contact Shore for reprints. “There is something about weblogging that appeals out to a world that has had carefully crafted content from the media, employers and every other would-be authority figure shoved down its throat by the bucketful year after year. To these authorities and to anyone else who cares to listen, webloggers seem to say, ‘Hey, I can do this too, you know. Do you want to know what I really think?’ Content in this environment can be quite powerful –or quite dangerous, depending on your point of view.”

Wohl Associates

“The Effects of Blogs”, by Amy Wohl. An introduction to blogs, touching on money-making possibilities, a way to look at different categories of blogs, and links to a few blogs that Amy finds of interest. Amy Wohl’s Opinions newsletter, January 28 edition

Editors Note

This sampling is far from exhaustive. Future coverage at Tekrati will include focus pieces on firms deeply engaged in analyzing, if not predicting, blogging and other forms of social media.

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Reprinted from Tekrati