When he left Microsoft the best quote I heard about his blog was “he was the open port through Microsoft’s firewall” (that was Adam Curry) and I think that’s a great observation, His blog was like getting right into the guts of the business, the products and the people who deliver them. That’s what I was getting at by “blog smart” – I think he managed it; sometimes he sailed pretty close to edge, but always knew where to draw the line.

“For corporate blogging to work there has to be a balance – the message to be delivered has to be understood by the people doing the blogging. They have to learn to “blog smart”.”

True, but doesn’t that hold true for any channel of corp. communications, whether it’s a blog or anything else? I doubt that Pat Dunn would have done so well in an interview recently – if you screw up like that it should be hard to keep face, whether it’s in your blog or on the street.

“[...] if I’m taking the time to read your blog, it’s because I care about your product/service which I’m spending my money/time on.”

Or because I care about your views (which can of course be related to your product/service). People don’t read Scoble just because he blogs about tech (quite a few people do that I hear). They read him because they like the way he writes. A gifted narrator can get people interested in your company in ways that a brochure can’t. Does that means you’ll sell more? Hard to say. But it certainly scratches an itch, meets a need, makes connections possible. Sorry to be so frank but “jeans day” my ass – Mr. Evans is simply unaware that up to now companies didn’t know what consumers wanted and consumers had no way of telling them.