Sun’s business blogging efforts get a nice spotlight piece in the Technology Review that just landed in the mailbox, which was penned by Wade Roush. Blogging and customers…whyzit matter? Here’s why:
“Sun’s Simon Phipps, whose job title is chief technology evangelist, says that researchers and developers can swap more ideas, build better software, and meet customers’ needs faster if they are active in online communities, where blogs play the dual role of soap- and suggestion-box. ‘In a world where you must speak with an authentic voice,’ says Phipps, ‘the obvious way is to let the people you most trust—your employees—speak directly to the -people you most want to appeal to—your customers.'”
and
“…not only do Sun’s blogs show customers that the company is paying attention to their concerns, but they have also become a major channel for communicating with programmers outside the company who write crucial third-party applications that run on Sun’s hardware and operating systems.”
and one more for good measure
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Consumercustomer-oriented (ed. – sorry…had to do that) companies that abjure the blogosphere are missing out on opportunities to generate buzz, monitor customer concerns, and—perhaps most importantly—show their human side.”