Bloggety Blogs

So I attended a workshop on blogs a few weeks ago (http://www.beyondblogging2006.com/). It was packed and the speakers were excellent. Yvonne of Lip-Sticking Blog (http://www.lipsticking.com/) was phenomenal. She spoke about woman's empowerment and how woman are the true communicators and that blogging was a natural for our gender. She gave examples of blogs by women in third-world countries and how being online improved their lives. I'm not sure how the men in the audience felt, but she sure stirred my pot up and got me motivated! I was a bit disappointed though in the audience members - most of whom did NOT blog and seemed pretty behind the curb to me. They were mostly corporate PR/Marketing folks either looking for another way to reach and sell to customers. Does blogging really translate into sales? No one there addressed that question. Much talk was focused on getting to the 'influencers' -- those opinion-leaders who can make or break your product. They also talked about keeping up with other blogs to say what people are saying about your company -- good or bad -- and working with them. But the big questions was never asked nor discussed. My take? A blog is a great concept and certainly good for building customer relationships, but as far as actual (ROI) -- return-on-investment, I'd say it is close to zero. Even if that is the case, I still believe in blogs just as a valuable communication tool that has yet to reach its zenith.