The weblog is a tool that's being utlized by the masses. You are currently experiencing one right now. Increasingly organizations are relying on them to build credibility, enhance relationships, heighten online visibility and even foster new ideas and collaboration.

I've written previously about Weblogs as Search Hooks in a previous post. I came across a Raleigh interactive marketing company's take on why blogging can be good for the organization.

The core concept seems to be that a blog can be a handy means of expression. Although this is not a new concept by anymeans, its just more contemporary. As information and connectivity continued to pervade every aspect of organizational communication, there's a growing need to structure communications efforts that support an organization's mission, vision and advancement initiatives.

SEO companies love blogs because they enable organizations to publish easily. Overtime, this strengthens their content depth (obviously), but with a long-term plan, can be a very effective way to build 'semantic density' in a defined keyword sphere or space. And if done really effectively, blogs also promote the concept of community building. More and more, web users (and even the public at large) are shifting their attention away from push mechanisms like email, television, newspapers, and preferred pull-oriented communications.
This could account for the decline in newspaper readership, the rise in tools like TiVo, and the rapidly growing nature of RSS. Blogs effective morph into either type and are ideally situated for pull.

The bottom line with blogs seem to be that they appear to be just a new name on old style corporate publishing efforts. They needn't be personal rants or soapboxes, but planned communications channels that can be used to build brand. With foresight and strategy, they can be used as a powerful tool in the new network-centric world we live in.