Richard,

In this otherwise accurate and - for those of us trying to educate marketers and communicators about consumer generated media and marketing in the UK - somewhat disheartening analysis of the European blogosphere, you assert that "most blogs in the UK are on technology".

I wouldn't want to generalise, but I'd argue that there are actually more political blogs in the UK than technology ones, a view which would appear to be supported by Britblog.com, the best (only?) topical directory of UK bloggers.

Niall,

Well said
I picked up this comment from one of the speakers and should have challenged it. The bigger challenge as you say is to interest those in UK FR IT SP in blogging.

As for Germany, the market seems to be finally waking up. Journalists/press are discovering the blogging "phenomenon" and growth rates are similar to those seen in the French market ~2 years ago.

Germans don't like new technologies too much ;-)

Heiko,

Thanks for writing
I think that Germany should see substantial growth Tie together good broadband penetration with dissatisfaction with tradtional media and lack of trust in institutions like government and business This was condition in France So I agree

Richard, we are also thinking of how to add and use BLOGs into our media lists, and how to set up a trustful relationship between our clients and accepters.

I am a Chinese PR guy, and found your BLOG online few days ago when I was trying to search for other info. I love the title: 6 AM. In China, it's Yuan Fen. Do you understand YuanFen?

Now, reading what's new on your blog is the first thing I do everyday when I am in office. 9 AM !

Camy,

Thanks for your note. Did you know that I had my honeymoon in China. My wife and I visited Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Guilin and Hangzhou.

I think that China has a very vibrant blog scene. You should definitely be establishing relationships with those bloggers. All the best

I've just been pointed to this piece by another blogger (Influx) and I find it very interesting.

Back in July I wrote a piece on my blog, PSFK, about 'British Bloggers Won't Get It' - criticizing the British Marketing folk's poor attitude toward the blogosphere - and by reading your piece there seems to be the same state of affairs.

http://www.psfk.com/2005/07/british_markete.html

Richard,

There are several major reasons why blogging uptake in the UK has apparently been so slow.

1) The failure of digital media agencies to blog and therefore demonstrate its value to corporate clients. I looked at the sites of the top 15 agencies in June and found that not one appeared to have a blog.

2) The unwillingness of media owners to provide blogging tools to people because this could make the media owners liable for libel under UK law. This may well change once News Corp completes its purchase of MySpace and its newspapers and BSkyB can promote blogging there without any direct liability.

3) UK bloggers are often invisible as members of the largely American-dominated Anglophone communities of MySpace and LiveJournal.

Mr. Richard Edelman,

Fisrt of all, let me introduce myself. I am PR, responsible for internal communication of an important Brazilian IT company and engaging post-graduation in one of the main Brazilian Communication College. The theme of my research is about Corporate Blogs, more concerned regarding CEOs doing it on web.

One of the references I receveid have been yours. So I would kindly ask you to share your opinion about this issue.

I really appreciate in advanced your help and I'll glad if you can reply to me.

Best regards

Juliana Rodrigues

1. What was your purpose when you have decided to create this blog?
2. What are the main achievements you have realized since you have started?
3. What are the inconveniences around blogging?
4. Why do you think CEOs should start blogging?
5. What are your suggestions for those who are thinking about to start blogging?

Richard,

You are right in observing that blogs and declining readership of traditional newspapers signify the increasing importance of public relations. However, the internet poses a practical and theoretic problem for PR.

The rapid growth of the internet (blogs)places real limits on its efficiency as a communication tool. The growth of information on-line is exponential over time. Theoretically the internet will never be organized as long as capacity expands and population grows.

I suspect that professional and interpersonal networks are critical factors with respect to influential blogs. Like Carny Ma, I stumbled across your blog while reading some pr students blogs. I read about theiir site in PR Tactics and was preparing to talk about new technologies in one of my classes.

I do enjoy your blog.

Vince Hazleton

VH agree that the web is disorganized
but i believe in the free market principle
that there will be migration to excellence
and that certain bloggers will prove themselves to be excellent
that is why we are focused on the most linked to blogs

Juliana,

Hello from Chicago
Corporate blogs fall into multiple categories
First is CEO or executive level example is Jon Schwartz blog from Sun Microsystems
Second is employee blogs example is scobleizer by Robt Scoble of Microsoft or the site Minimicrosoft which is a more dissenting blog voice Third is a marketing blog like Fast Lane from GM written by chief designer Bob Lutz I believe fundamentally in corporate sector participating in the blogosphere Check my earlier blogs on this

Piers,

I think that Brits may be more satisfied with their daily newspaper ritual than most other countries--you do have an almost unmatched diversity of opinion and approach in newspapers But blogs are coming....

Colin,
All of these are plausible explanations. I thought it particularly interesting that the FT does not make it easy for its journalists to blog (note Pretzlik's remarks) in part because comments are not immediately posted. I do believe your newspaper sector is more vibrant than in most countries--has crowded out potential blog competition but not forever.