Blogging is on the rise. Here's another article Corporations Entering World of Blogs by Nicole Ziegler Dizon, an Associated Press Writer. This seems to cut to the heart of the matter:

"At the end of the day, the job of any good leader at any corporation is to communicate," Schwartz said. "The hallmark of companies that will find blogs useful is the company that cares about its perception ... and the integrity of its relationship with its customers."

I find most beginning blogging guides useful in some way, even if only to remind me of best practices I already follow. Four blog entries about blogging are already on this site, yet new and interesting information always seems available every time I look for more. Simon World has useful information and links. I hope this will help SoftwareManagers.org members get over the fear of jumping into blogging and to help existing bloggers feel more comfortable in practicing their craft.

I was watching the CNN show named Next in which a statement was made that made me pause to think. Podcasting is now where blogging was five years ago. With this episode of Next was a link to this December 2004 CNN article on Podcasting and another short piece on blogging. Two resources that act as directories of podcasting are podcast.net and Podcast Alley.

Why did this catch my attention? The evolution from licensed amateur radio to radio broadcasting may just be evolving to mp3 files and podcasting. Podcasting is also very analogous to audio blogging. I do like to listen to as many of the podcasts from IT Conversations as I can, so I noticed as I heard the brief story on CNN.

• What is a blog? A blog is an online journal. It is a collection of entries that often contain links and commentary. This information is shared as a web page and in "XML" format, either RSS or Atom. People around the world can read and post comments about the entries.
• How can I read a blog? Most blogs are accessible via a standard web page where they are arranged as a list of entries.
• How does a blog differ from a web page? Blog entries are usually much shorter. While blogs can be read as web pages, they can also be read using other software. Social patterns have also developed in support of and in reaction to blogs.
• How else can I read a blog? A blog can also be read using a special URL and special software that uses a timer to check the blog, usually set to about 60 minutes. This is alternately called a "feed", "syndication". "XML", "RSS" or "Atom". Using desktop software vastly reduces the time and effort needed to consistently keep up to date with new blog entries.
• What blog software should I use? Blog software, also called a desktop news aggregator, is used in place of, or as a companion to, a regular web browser. There are also web sites who provide an aggregator service so you don't need to install any software. Wikipedia has a list of software or a quick search using your favorite search engine for something similar to "RSS aggregator Windows" will provide many choices.

This site is focused on the use of blogging and comments as a means to discuss important issues regarding the business, legal and technical aspects of managing software. While initial postings have had a technical flavor we hope to encourage others to participate. Comments can be posted by any visitor after a free registration. The largest obstacles to participation seems to be educating those most knowledgable about this field about blogging. Those who don't fully undestand blogging may not understand why we have chosen this as the tool site content. Paid members can create new entries for others to comment on and join the private email list.

Browsing the Microsoft's Small Business Center today I found two useful articles by Jeff Wuorio for beginning bloggers. 5 ways blogging can help your business is as an introduction. Jeff interviewed four bloggers for his article.

Blogging for business: 7 tips for getting started mentions a "ruthless persistence toward posting." Good advice. I didn't see a summary of reviews of various publishing platforms on BusinessBlogConsulting but we have covered some of this in the blog section in our own FAQ.