For newcomers to the world of blogging and feeds, the BBS might lead to more questions than answers when it comes to understanding these technologies. Should I offer partial or full feeds? Should I be concerned with design? What blogging platform or news reader is the right or best one for me?
Where does that leave those who want to take advantage of these “New Internet” technologies?
My answer in some ways reiterates a point DL Bryon made about “how a company should blog” – do what works for your company or organization. But I would like to provide an important addendum to that point ? in the blogging arena there is no magical all-encompassing technology solution.
There are a lot of ways to implement a blog. There are a lot of ways to keep up with your feeds. As seen by the BBS presenters, each have different technology preferences for creating their content or monitoring the blogosphere.
The commonalities that each presenter have shared is not the technology they have utilized but rather their approach – publish frequently, link frequently, and comment frequently. The success of these presenters relates to the expertise they bring to the table, the quality of the content they produce, and their interaction within their respective communities.
By now, hopefully most BBS attendees have figured out that when it comes to blogging and feeds, there are no clear technology winners. With the extraordinary number of software tools and platforms that are out there, the first step should be for your business or organization to try them out (those that cost money are often freely available for a trial period). See what works best for you, what best fits the level of your technical expertise, and most importantly, what fits your budgetary needs.
