By Lisa Alcalay Klug
In his self-named “craigblog,” CEO Craig estimate, there are about 2. 5 million blogs on from the serious, from discussing politics, to
Newmark discusses everything from new the Net today. the mundane, the everyday, like my fondness
novels to pioneering political donors. His As their popularity grows (it’s relatively of playing with dogs in my neighborhood,”
comments about the television series The easy to create and update one; see box), more Newmark says. His blog also gives him
West Wing and support for presidential and more businesses are blogging. Corpora- an opportunity to “refine policy on the
contender John Kerry stand alongside goofy tions, particularly in the Silicon Valley, have [ CraigsList.org] site and help me explain why
photos of the author eating dried mango or embraced blogs as an efficient and new way we do things the way we do.”
rubbing his cat’s belly. to interact with their customers. Costco member Dave Pell, who invests in
CNewmark.com is a Web log, more com- Some blogs supplement more traditional real estate and Internet start-ups, writes several
monly known as a blog, which provides New- forms of public relations. For instance, the blogs about politics and social issues. The most
mark with an “open mike” on the Internet. In chairman and CEO of Jupitermedia, Alan popular is Electablog.com. For several years,
his day job, Newmark is the CEO of one of Meckler, writes “Internet Media Comment- he has written “ Davenetics.com,” in which he
the Web’s most popular sites, CraigsList.org, ary,” also known as “Thoughts from the CEO,” covers pop culture, the media and Web news.
which lists ads for jobs, rental properties and Pell identifies three main benefits from
much more. “ blogs: “It has forced me to keep up with the “Since CraigsList is not about me, I make Press people, competitors news related to the Internet and investment
those comments on my personal site,” says and stockholders read realms. Second, it gave me a simple way to Costco member Newmark, who founded sharemy thoughtson the Netand business with
CraigsList.org in 1995 to post jobs in the San [our blog]. It’s a good way colleagues and people who worked at the com-Francisco Bay Area. The site has grown to post panies in which I invested. And third, it helped
many other listings, with enormous popularity to get out our message and me to develop a reputation among my peers.”
in Los Angeles, New York and other locations. ” To launch a blog, Newmark suggests CraigsList generates tremendous online get PR for our company. experimenting with a blogging service such
traffic that drives visitors to Newmark’s blog, as Blogger.com. Remember, it doesn’t need
which records about 100,000 page views a —Alan Meckler, to be a major time investment.
month. “People are curious about our site and Chairman and CEO of Jupitermedia “No entry takes more than 10 minutes, no
about me personally,” Newmark says, “and more than 300 words,” says CEO Meckler,
sometimes I have something I feel like saying on his blog at http://weblogs.jupitermedia. who typically writes three entries weekly to
about living in my neighborhood or about com/meckler. “Press people, competitors and keep readers coming back for more. C
politics.” On the blog, visitors are also invited stockholders read it,” Meckler says. “It’s a
to vote on CraigsList business policies, such good way to get out our message and get PR Lisa Alcalay Klug writes frequently for The
as introducing fees for job listings in New for our company.” Connection on technology and business issues.
York and Los Angeles. Blogs are relatively new to marketing.
This is just one example of the countless Gawker Media, which reports about 10 million
uses for Web logs—essentially online diaries blog page views monthly, recently designed a
that have been the rage among techies for the blog microsite to promote Nike’s Art of Speed
past three or four years. Blogs enable people to film project at
www.gawker.com/artofspeed.
express political views, make social commen- This short film series portrays 15 digital To learn how to set up your blog, see:
tary or rant or rave about popular topics. artists’interpretations of the concept of speed. •
www.blogger.com
CONNECTING
Wonkette, Gizmodo, Gawker and Defamer, Another recent example is Google’s blog, •
www.livejournal.com
corporate blogs owned by Gawker Media,
www.google.com/googleblog. •
http://weblogs.about.com/cs/blogcreate
dish up commentary on politics, the media, The tone of blogs varies widely. “The tools/a/ beginblog.htm
society gossip and more. According to one only thing unusual about my blog is that I go
