Wow, no comments at all. Is SixApart so uninteresting these days?

I was wondering the same thing myself, although readers interested in enterprise software tend to leave comments here less than others.

Personally, I just fail to see the importance of “enterprise” blogging. I feel there are probably much better ways to move information across an enterprise environment than everyone having their own blog. But I may be missing the main uses or the point altogether.

Problem:
“I feel there are probably much better ways to move information across an enterprise environment than everyone having their own blog.”

Solutions:
blogs + wiki + social networking + videocasting + IM + photo sharing services + social bookmarks + podcasting + simulations like Second Life = Enterprise Communications 2.0

I am not sure I understand what Six Apart is trying to do here? I buy that enterprise blogging is a big deal and that the blogs are going more and more mainstream (http://karmaweb.wordpress.com/2006/09/29/identity-in-the-blogosphere/) but the driving force behind the blogosphere is really that blogs are more personal and are not typically encumbered with extensive enterprise controls. Enabling enterprise level controls for blogging is gonna make them sound like enterprise press releases which is just not going to be popular…

Jitendra, you raise an issue that commonly comes up, but that I don’t necessarily think is a valid concern. You see, offering better management tools for administrators to do things like create blogs more efficiently, or assign permissions and roles more easily, doesn’t inherently compromise the human voice or expressiveness of blogs. We think that giving IT managers better blogs tools makes it easier for them to get out of the way and let users express themselves in a human voice.

Make sense?

Thanks for the update. I am curious to know if anyone has any data on the enterprise blogging tools/systems market size and growth rate? Namely, how much money is being spent by companies on blogging tools/systems, such as MT Enterprise and others. What is the size of the market today, and what are the projections for the next 3 to 5 years. I know MT didn’t provide numbers, and it is unclear what 75% of the Fortune 500 with blogs actually amounts to.

Any information from any readers would be greatly appreciated.

Marshall - We at Kalivo are taking a novel approach to enabling companies to pursue a holistic customer engagement process on the web, which includes blogging. I would greatly appreciate any opportunity to review our Hub and Listener offerings with you at some point. You can see one running our own website at http://www.kalivo.com. Feel free to contact me directly.

Thanks.

– brian

Anil,

Thanks for your response.

The issue that worries me with the Six Apart direction is the central control of the blogging infrastrucutre at the enterprise level. To me blogging is essentially an individualistic endeavor where you have an opportunity to connect with your audience at a more personal level. From re-reading Six Apart’s positioning for enterprise blogging, it seems like you guys are trying to make blogging more of a collaboration tool. This might be benefitial to certian companies but its not clear how its different from Wikis in such situations?

Thanks,
Jitendra

Those who doubt there is a market for focused Enterprise Blogging software miss the point that light-weight yet enterprise “point solutions” are exactly what blogging initiatives require.

More on this in our recent article: “Blogging the Enterprise with Six Apart” (http://www.cmswire.com/tgo/?p=000798).

Jitendra - Blogging is what you want it to be. On the web, it *tends* to be individualistic. In the enterprise, our customer base tends towards using the medium for anything from every day status reporting to more wiki-like uses such as writing requirements (a process which may involve one person editing their own content, or a group). More on this in my recent post about beta bloggers:

http://traction.tractionsoftwa.....nk/Blog272