Just because it's a "clog" doesn't mean it clogs the blogosphere
The WSJ has a curious item today about retailers in the fashion space covering their trade on blogs in a way to drum up interest. Quoted is Bob Cox, who heads up the Media Bloggers Association, a group I'm a member of. Cox calls these sites "clogs," or corporate blogs, which is an unfortunate moniker, although it's true in some (if not many) cases. Unfortunately, I think that Cox misses the mark by giving that negative connotation, as pretty much any blog, whether for a non-for-profit or a township, has a "marketing or public relations mission." In fact, I'd make the serious argument that the MBA's own blog on the site does exactly that. My personal blog isn't a "clog" by this definition, but that doesn't make it "better" than one that might be put together by an executive at a company.
I think Cox would be better served by discussing whether or not the blogs that were written were done so for a purpose that serves the community it intends to reach. Sure, Neiman Marcus is intending to "sell" product by getting people to read its blog on fashion, but it does two other things. One, it gives some access to Ken Downing, the company's fashion director, and shows his commentaries on product that the store isn't necessarily selling, and can show the perspective of why the store holds the products it does. Second, it puts the retailer in the odd position, that journalist Vanessa O'Connell wisely points out, to be "in the awkward position of reviewing their own suppliers." Her following words are absolutely spot on, about how the blogs are there to "boost sales rather than offer impartial critique," but if the blogs are completely annoying and don't appear to have any serious creedence to them, they will be weeded out by the communities they are trying to embrace (or at least be embraced by). All you do by saying "oh, those are corporate blogs" is continue to drive yet another wedge of "us and them" that so plagued bloggers when the whole "bloggers vs. journalists" thing was the only thing that people were talking about every day. Sure, you don't like certain corporate blogs? I don't have a problem with that, and it's the reason why it isn't something I'm cranking out for every single client I represent. But that doesn't mean there isn't a place for it, and a valuable one at that.
