Today’s Friday Five indulges in a bit of navel-gazing, tossing out five links about blogs and bloggers, by bloggers, on their blogs.
- Data-mine your blogs for reusable content. A recent post by Kyle James (aka dot-edu guru) of Wofford College (which has a slew of blogs) suggests that colleges and universities dig into their institutional blogs to find content that could be used elsewhere on the institution’s website. Good idea, Kyle. Maybe we should call it content mining.
- Why no Apple blog? Unlike Dell, Google or Microsoft, Apple has never felt the need to have a corporate blog. I’ve always thought this weird. So does Business Blogwire‘s Easton Ellsworth, who speculates that an official Apple blog might make the company more accessible to “the masses who find Apple snobby and elitist.”
- Speaking of official corporate blogs … The best of them — like Google’s — offer valuable services and tips, and in so doing they add value and build their reputations. Case in point: Google’s announcement on Thursday of an upcoming free cross-product webinar for webmasters.
Three of our most useful products for website owners are Google Webmaster Tools, Google Analytics, and Google Website Optimizer. On July 8, we’re joining forces to bring you a free webinar about all of them so you can learn more about how they can boost your website when used together.
Nice touch, Google. Nothing snobby or elitist there.
- An admissions dean who gets it. A few weeks ago, I found out about “Dean J,” an admissions administrator who blogs, by reading this article about her (article via Academic Impressions’ e-newsletter). Dean J is the nom de blog of Jeannine Lalonde, the assistant dean of admissions at the University of Virginia. As the C-Ville article points out, Dean J has an “easygoing Web personality.” It’s refreshing to find such a voice in a world of recruitment spin. No wonder readers of her blog “quickly latched on to a source of much-needed information about the admissions process at UVA.” Nice going, Dean J.
- The most powerful persuasive element of blogging. It doesn’t take a psych degree to figure it our, according to Copyblogger. Blogging allows people to like you, and people like to do business with people they like.
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Higher Ed Marketing 
Apple doesn’t blog because they want to control all aspects of their brand conversation. Blogging indicates a measure of transparency that Apple has never gone with. They NEVER talk about future products, software, plans, marketing ideas, any of that. They engage customers when they’re good and ready and when the products are ready to ship and be sold.
Thanks to the iPod and now iPhone, I would say Apple’s plenty accessible to the masses, and they don’t find them “snobby”
Mike – Thanks for commenting. Your point about Apple’s tight control of their brand is right on. Ellsworth references that in his post, too, although he seems to think that if someone influential enough calls out Apple about it, then the corporation will open up a bit. I’m skeptical. Apple doesn’t really need to — they have plenty of evangelists blogging and networking on their behalf — but it would be nice if they did.
As for the second part of your post, I’m one of the masses who still considers Apple elitist, snobby, condescending and contradictory. Apple brands itself as this edgy company but they’ve become as rigid, inflexible and controlling as any staid hierarchical corporation. Its lack of blogs reflects that corporate control.
Furthermore, Apple’s approach to its iTunes music store is an extension of that old-school command-and-control approach. iTunes didn’t start offering DRM-free music downloads until 2007, and at $1.29 a pop! iTunes’ DRM policy is one reason I have never subscribed to their service and have never purchased an iPod (nor plan to). I get all the tunes I need via eMusic, Amazon and even the occasional music store (when I can find them).
OK, I’d better stop before I go on an anti-Apple rant. ;)
It’s great to see an institution of UVA’s caliber embracing admission blogging. As you note, the admission process can be stressful and somewhat mystifying, and this is a great way to humanize the process. Good luck to them!
Thanks for giving my blog a little of your time! When I started my blog, the number of admission officers blogging was small and most blog were limited to “newsletter” type posts that didn’t encourage much interaction. In three short years, the number of admission blogs has grown considerably. Here’s hoping a process and a group of people that was once steeped in mystery can be more accessible because of these blogs.