In his post, Carl brings up an interesting point: ” I feel that if we are not careful it will just be one more thing that the goverment’s and leaders of the corporate world will try to control and censor.” A student in another class wrote, “If companies get involved in blogging, I think they will control the comments. They have more time and money than the average person and can eventually take over and use blogging to their advantage. There are no rules. What’s going to stop them?”

One of the points in “Social Media Will Change Your Business,” however, is that virtually anyone, not just corporations, is “a potential publisher.” Because of this, the article calls the world of bloggers and blogs “a digital hinderland” in which companies, which once controlled the shape and delivery of their messages, are now “losing control of it.”

If companies are in fact “losing control” of their messages (i.e., if potential customers can research and learn independent and individual evaluations of a product, not just the companies’ claims and promotions), what’s to say that companies won’t lose control altogether? In other words, why do you think companies will be able to “beat” the average person who is posting evaluations and reviews? Wouldn’t other consumers be more likely to trust the opinion of a person who has owned and used a product they are considering purchasing over a company’s marketing propaganda?

I would like for any of you to continue to explore the effect individual bloggers might have on any given company’s bottom line sales.

Maybe you can give me your opinion since this is what you do. I really do not know what a blog is but it is the discussion question Im trying to learn about, so any help you can give me I welcome. Thank You Carl the 40 non-blogger!!!

[...] After Blog World, I came back feeling energized and excited about social media and its future as an industry. Although still young, a conference like Blog World shed light on what COULD be a promising future. [...]

[...] shortly.  I was so glad to get to meet many people in our blogging industry, (yes we are now our own industry) and actually meet in the flesh those that I feel I have known as colleagues and friends online for [...]

[...] Is Blogging really an Industry? “I told the Bricabox founders I would adopt if they could allow me to have an ASP version for my domain, I could create sub-databases, and a few other things. Interesting hybrid product, it’s on my radar for further evaluation.” (tags: bricabox testimonials jowyang webstrategist) [...]

[...] Another person I had fun hanging out with was Frank Gruber, from Somewhat Frank (Gabe calls it “Simply Frank” to — very effectively — piss him off). Frank and I tried to connect back in October, when our mutual friend Tracy Sheridan used the Introductions app on Facebook to connect us, while both traveling in San Francisco. Now in Vegas, we had time to hang out after the Weblogs Awards in the Hard Rock Cafe. In fact, it was Frank who seridipdously pulled me into the Full Access lounge, where I met Jeremiah (someone I have to write about later, but who’s already expressed enthusiasm for BricaBox). [...]

And, does this take into account what happens when the bubble pops?

We’ll be be getting all that out in the January release of BricaBox. Very pumped you liked what you saw so far… It was fun to launch at Blog World Expo.

Nate

It was good seeing you at BlogWorld. I thought your question to Mark was appropriate. He kept talking about his Dancing with Stars promo and didn’t really allude to whether his massive, manual Facebook strategy actually worked – until you asked him.

Sorry that we didn’t get a chance to formally meet, the Cuban thing went so late, I just bailed afterward.

-Lena

It’s not the package, it’s the components that make it whole.

It’s not the conference that are the indicators, it’s all the various constituents that have come together that result in an eco-system.

Yes I told the Bricabox founders I would adopt if they could allow me to have an ASP version for my domain, I could create sub-databases, and a few other things. Interesting hybrid product, it’s on my radar for further evaluation.

Thanks for the bricabox.com pointer. Interesting stuff.

[...] my recent post, I write about how our industry is starting to solidify and come together. This conference, blog world expo in Vegas is more like a trade show, and we’re seeing [...]