Business and Blogging

Blogging Platforms – Part 5: User Types

by Des Walsh on March 14th, 2007

In this fifth part of the Blogging Platforms series we look at the different needs of different types of users, the potential bloggers, and some of the considerations to be taken into account by and for the different types.

Because identifying the type of user is a key element in choosing the right platform.

And it is essential to know who the “real” user is to be. For example, if a large company wants a blog but only the chief executive is going to be involved in blogging for the company, that is a different user profile from that of a similar sized company which decides that anyone in the company who wants to blog officially on the company platform will be encouraged to do so.

In other words, the question “what’s a good blogging platform?” has many answers, not one of which, however objectively you attempt to look at it, is the right answer.

Which is why I find it a real challenge in advising people on business blog options when someone says something along the lines of “my friend who is a real computer expert says the best blogging platform is …..”.

The fact is, just as different people and groups of people have different needs and uses for motor vehicles, from small runabout motor scooters to giant trucks, so different businesses have different needs and uses for blogs.

The other challenge I have in these conversations is when the person has been told that they can have a free blog. Which is of course true, but can be quite misleading from a business point of view.

It’s not that there are free blogs available that bothers me - far from it. What bothers me is that these people are not told that they will be responsible for everything about setting the blog up and making it run. Given the cost of time, including opportunity cost, it is misleading to tell a business owner that they can have what I would call a real business blog for free. Whatever blogging platform you choose, there are costs involved.

That said, there are features of some of the free, open source products that will appeal to some users and a decision to use them will make business sense for those users. But one size - or one platform - does not suit all. Which is why it is sensible to include in the “which blogging platform?” assessment process a consideration of the type of user and that user’s likely needs and expectations.

The basic types of user I’ve listed in the mindmap for this series are:

• personal
• solo business
• small business
• enterprise
• government
• not-for-profit and
• group

There is some obvious crossover. For example, a small business can be a solo business or a corporation. There is no one definition of a “small business” but for the purposes of this exercise a “microbusiness” or “mom and pop” business will probably have different blogging needs from a company with, say eighty or ninety employees.

And I’m using the term “enterprise” comparatively vis-à-vis “small business”, that is as a cipher for “larger businesses up to vast multinational corporations”.

The term “corporate” is not included, even though “corporate blog” is a common enough term in discussions of this type. The reason for its omission here is basically that it can include both “small business” and “enterprise”, and even, in terms of legal structures, some microbusinesses/”mom and pop” businesses and solo businesses.

“Government” is a slippery category too. It could invoke the “whole of government” concept used by people discussing “e-government” issues, or it could refer to a single department of a state government or local government authority. So too with “group”, which couldbe small or very, very large.

So the seven categories listed are porous and permeable, and there is scope for some crossover – for example a government-owned corporation, i.e. a government agency charged with operating in a commercially competitive environment, and which may be focused on an outward-facing, corporate type blog, compared with a central policy unit of government whose needs may be more for an intranet type of blogging setup.

The key point here is that different individuals and different businesses and types of businesses will need different answers to the question “what’s the best blogging platform?”.

Told that one blogging platform is “the best”, the smart business owner will need to recognize that bloggers can sometimes be like sporting enthusiasts, not actually wanting to mislead but possibly one-eyed in support of their favorite sport and favorite team.

It pays to do some brainstorming about the particular business’s blogging needs and some practical research on the available blogging platform options.

By no means the least important of the issues to be considered is that of the kind of support available. That’s the focus of the next post in this Blogging Platforms series.

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POSTED IN: Blogging Platforms, General