Social Computing: Getting Ahead of the Blog: Decision makers should begin by understanding the basic capabilities of blogs, determining where success has been achieved (consumer and business), and assessing whether such success can be applied to their own circumstances. To aid in brainstorming around possible solution scenarios, strategists should segment applications into some general groupings. We recommend the following five categories as a starting point:
Internal blogs: Targeted to employees only
External blogs: Focused on the general public, customers, partners, or suppliers
Thematic blogs: Topically linked to a particular event, marketing campaign, or other project
Sponsored blogs: Posted by an employee (or possibly an invited or sponsored guest) that is authorized - but whose content is not necessarily endorsed - by the company
Personal blogs: Individual user blogs residing on one of many hosting services
