First off, I agree with KD Paine’s assertion that to some companies blog-monitoring/measurement is completely unnecessary.  The problem I have is with how revolutionary some people think her statement is.  It’s as if she’s attacking some sacred principle or shouting that the emporer does not in fact have clothes.

The decision to monitor a media or sub-set of media is one that a company needs to make based on their own needs.  I don’t care whether you’re talking about blogs, daily newspapers or technology magazines.  If you or your client are in an industry where blogs are given a lot of weight then monitoring them should be an essential part of the mix.  If the company you’re working for is not a big topic in the blogosphere then don’t worry about it.

But don’t make the mistake of thinking that blog-monitoring is some sort of sacrosanct issue.  This is the same sort of decision making process a company should go through for any type of media.  If you’ve determined weekly newspapers add nothing to your intelligence gathering then ignore them.  Or if you do monitor them then assign them a lesser value in your analysis than you would more important types of outlets.  Paine really isn’t saying anything new.  It just seems like she is because she’s talking about the all-powerful bloggers.

–Chris

Published by Chris Thilk

Chris Thilk is a freelance writer and content strategist with over 15 years of experience in online strategy and content marketing. He lives in the Chicago suburbs.

One thought on “The value of measuring blogs”

  1. There is a case for monitoring all sorts of corporate assets. The old saw says :What you can’t measure, you can’t manage.
    If an organisation wants to monitor and measure mediated content such as news, fine. And for monitoring and measuring un-mediated comment… well blogs is just one way (but don’t forget Usenet and discussion lists as well).
    Kate is an ex journo. Her interest is towards communication outputs and out takes. Management, even in PR is something else.
    For a recent research paper, I found 40 different domains of PR practice. All of them will need a form of monitoring and measurement to manage their practice and many of them are not in the slightest bit interested in new comment or blogs nor need to know.
    Me, I like to monitor and measure relationships. But my interest is in PR in its broadest sense.

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