Sunday, February 07, 2010
My Thoughts on Industry Analysts and Blogging
Carter Lusher of SageCircle shared perspectives on the recent changes at Forrester and how their new blogging policies would prevent analysts from having personal blogs and would aggregate analysts’ posts into Forrester-branded role-based blogs.
I think there is a lot missing from the conversation that is important for those who are consumers of analyst services to understand. my personal take is that Forrester is not interested in limiting employees’ involvement in Social Media or their ability to blog on personal subjects. Analysts are in the business of socialization and effective communication and it would be silly if they did something that was in conflict with this goal. Analysts should be free to explore topics whether personal in nature or even controversial topics such as politics. I am a firm believer that from incite comes insight.
Another portion of the community believes that Forrester's move is really about limiting the ability for analysts to build personal brand. I am of the camp, that if your employer provides each analyst with their own blogging platform and will combine it with driving traffic too it, the analysts will have even more opportunity to build their personal brand while also building the brand of their employer. This equates to a win-win.
I think the challenge is less about Forrester and more about the individual. If I had to give up my personal blog or Twitter account would I be frustrated? Absolutely. This blog has become part of my digital identity and I have invested hundreds of hours into making it successful. I would however say that the future of the platform provided to analysts could make it worthwhile to walk away from one's own blog for something better...
| | View blog reactionsI think there is a lot missing from the conversation that is important for those who are consumers of analyst services to understand. my personal take is that Forrester is not interested in limiting employees’ involvement in Social Media or their ability to blog on personal subjects. Analysts are in the business of socialization and effective communication and it would be silly if they did something that was in conflict with this goal. Analysts should be free to explore topics whether personal in nature or even controversial topics such as politics. I am a firm believer that from incite comes insight.
Another portion of the community believes that Forrester's move is really about limiting the ability for analysts to build personal brand. I am of the camp, that if your employer provides each analyst with their own blogging platform and will combine it with driving traffic too it, the analysts will have even more opportunity to build their personal brand while also building the brand of their employer. This equates to a win-win.
I think the challenge is less about Forrester and more about the individual. If I had to give up my personal blog or Twitter account would I be frustrated? Absolutely. This blog has become part of my digital identity and I have invested hundreds of hours into making it successful. I would however say that the future of the platform provided to analysts could make it worthwhile to walk away from one's own blog for something better...
