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Lately I’ve found a few interesting articles and resources about weblogs offered by businesses. Here’s a quick roundup.

Consider this an update to my earlier article (the all-time most popular article on CONTENTIOUS), “Persuading Bosses to Allow Weblogs.” I’ll be expanding this list later.

• UPDATE APRIL 1: It’s A Blog World After All, by Jena McGregor FastCompany, April 2004. I wrote a bit about this article here.

• I mentioned this resource in my earlier article on business blogging, but it’s worth repeating here: If you considering starting a blog for your company or organization, please read and heed this advice from Robert Scoble: The Corporate Weblog Manifesto.

• Example: On March 29, 2004, Six Apart (makers of popular blogging software Movable Type) unveiled a new weblog, Mena’s Corner, authored by CEO Mena Trott. In her inaugural entry, Trott acknowledges that Six Apart wants and needs to do a better job of communicating – which indicates how a business blog is more flexible, and thus potentially more powerful and credible, than traditional PR.

• On the fun side, Robert Paterson recently noted that explaining blogging to most corporate executives can be like explaining sex to a six-year-old.
  — He then points to Judith Meskill’s Social Software Weblog, where on March 29, 2004 she announced a competition to invent The ‘Perfect’ Corporate Weblogging ‘Elevator Pitch’. (I’ll be writing more about this shortly, and I’ll definitely be entering this contest.)

• Panel: Blogging for Business, conference notes by Nick Finck, posted March 19, 2004.
  — This is a pretty decent summary of a panel session from the 2004 South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Conference. It covers a few basic issues and questions. A good backgrounder for relative beginners.

• Marketing Directly To Clients With Weblogs, by Larry Bodine, March 12, 2004.
  — Although this article is targeted toward how attorneys can leverage blogs for marketing, the advice Bodine offers could apply to any type of independent professional (or group practice).

• Internal Corporate Blogging, by New Zealander Richard MacManus, Jan. 29, 2004
  — McManus explores the versatile potential of how business can use weblogs. It’s not just about external marketing; it also can be about internal knowledge management. Plus, blogging can play a role in corporate intranets. He notes, “Using weblog tools as an easy-to-use and adaptable Content Management System is one way to introduce blogging into corporations.” (More corporate blogging articles by MacManus)

• The Corporate Blog Tipping Point, by John Pocaro (a marketing manager at Microsoft), Jan. 29, 2004.
  — Take-away point: Business blogging is about having conversations with customers. (Actually, I’d expand that to say that business blogging is about having public, searchable conversations with customers or anyone else who care to read and participate.

• Putting Execs on Blogging Steroids, Unbound Spiral, July 17, 2003
  — A pretty good primer on how to be a blogging evangelist in a corporate setting.

• The Corporate Blog is Catching On, by Thom Weidlich, New York Times, June 22, 2003
  — You have to buy this article from the Times online archive now, but it’s a pretty good overview as of nearly a year ago.

• Book: WeBlog: Publishing Online with Weblogs, Chapter 8: Using Blogs in Business, by Paul Bausch, Matthew Haughey, Meg Hourihan. 2002
  — This free sample chapter is a very good introduction to the field of business blogging, although it is a bit dated by now. (This field moves fast!)

• Corporate weblogs, Aug. 14, 2002 entry from the Loosely Coupled Weblog.
  — This overview of corporate blogging, although now somewhat dated, does offer some useful observations. Its interesting to follow the links in this article and check up on the progress and evolution (or lack there of) for the examples cited in this article.