Blogging is dead.

Wired Magazine said so.

They make the point that if you start a blog you’re almost guaranteed not to have it seriously adopted or indexed up to the top of a search engine.  There’s too much noise.  And now the professionals have caught on.  Most new blogs are corporate.  And corporate blogs are bad.  All shill, no beef.

-

-

By the time Dilbert’s management is getting into the act, it’s game over.  

And that was a year ago when Dilbert was making the point that corporate blogs are not always what they seem and the person’s voice they portray is often ghost written.

Says Wired, go to places where the tail isn’t so long.  ”Twitter, Flickr, Facebook make blogs look so 2004.”

We’ve been toying around with a blog for a bit - tinkering here and there and are now up and running with it.  So why did we start one now at Eliza, or more importantly, why should your company start one, or start another one, even though it’s so passe?

Well, it’s not about getting indexed in the search engines — it’s about finding your voice, rediscovering what you have to say.  And most importantly it’s about baring your soul.

Who are you as a company?  What does your face look like?  What do you have to say?  What do you care about?  

If you ever want to having a meaningful conversation with your users — soul to soul — you have got to lay yours bare and invite them to do the same - earn their trust to have a shot.

So your blog helps you find your voice.  What you have to say.  To others — to yourselves.

Most importantly it’s an opportunity to lay your soul bare.

That’s really important if your schtick is about having a soul.

For instance, at Eliza we say we’re all about knowing people, talking to them, knowing how to engage them.  We’re real people that can have real discussions, not corporate wonks.  Well if that’s the case, we better show it.

Of course that’s not easy, to show that you’re real.  How much do you bare?  What if it’s too much?  What if people get nervous?  What if it blows up?

All totally valid.  All that will probably happen.  If you do this you’ll stub your toes.  You’ll stumble.  You’ll fall.  And you’ll have to get back up.

And you’ll be better for it.

-

-

Please hold us accountable.  When (not if) you see something that’s painfully stupid or feels too scripted or hi-fi rather than authentic and low-res, call us out on it.