Where are the business bloggers?

The most proactive firms in terms of blogging are, perhaps not surprisingly, in the high tech sector. They are Microsoft , Sun Microsystems, and IBM. They are characterised by an 'open' policy to blogging, meaning essentially that they encourage employees to blog using internal systems and within blogging guidelines.

The second most active sector is public relations, the most active being Edelman and Hill and Knowlton.

Beyond these sectors blogging is sprinkled lightly on the ground and there is no particular general pattern to take-up, apart from the passion and enthusiasm of certain individuals.

CEO Blogs

Jonathan Schwartz, CEO Sun. A pioneer of CEO blogging. Rating: 8/10.

Richard Edelman, CEO of PR firm Edelman - he blogs inspiringly, he podcasts, but he doesn't link much and he doesn't have a blogroll or post more than twice weekly. Rating: 7/10.

Bob Lutz - General Motors Vice Chairman Lutz was one of the first corporate bloggers. His blog is in fact co-hosted by other senior GM staffers. Rating: 8/10

David McMillan Consulting - A hotels consultant uses a blog to good effect to show thought leadership within a niche community. I particularly like his 'list of people I have met'. Rating: 9/10

Energy Matters - by Mark Todd, co-founder EnergyHotline.com. A typical blog promoting a business service but informative nevertheless. Rating: 6/10.

Shiny Media CEO - a textbook example of how to blog about current developments as a complement to press relations activity, but sadly not a frequent blog. Rating: 6/10.

English Cut - a Saville Row tailor turned his business around by become a blogging convert. You can see why. Rating: 9/10.

The Secret Pocket - A  New York dressmaker reaches out to clients in an educational and personal way. Rating: 9/10.

Industry blogs

Platts 'The Barrel' - An oil industry blog. A good example of how a blog can be used to supplement a news service. It's short bite-sized news served up with attitude.

Group Bloggers

Southwest Airlines - Now this is what I call the democracy of blogging. Intriguing insights from staff of all ranks. Rating: 9/10

Ogilvie Blog - Telecoms services firm provides friendly, chatty informative style. Rating: 7/10

Innocent Drinks - they don't even call it a blog, but rather 'daily thoughts'. Very folksy; very photographic. Rating: 8/10

Xansa - The Indian outsourcing firm gets a lead on its competitors with a friendly event-based approach. Rating: 7/10.

CapGemini's CTO blog - Four CTO experts blog informatively on all matters tech. No links. No comments and all a bit technospeak. Rating 6/10

Johnson King blog - a lively and thought-provoking blog from a well-known UK PR firm.

Lewis360 - an excellent exponent of the group blog ethic from Lewis PR.

Hill and Knowlton's Collective Community - a group blog on a mission.

Bite PR - an inside peek into the thoughts of the Bite staffers.

Business Bloggging Gurus

The Otter Group - US-based 'Enterprise 2.0' gurus - whatever that means. Rating 8/10

PR Bloggers

Blogging may not be journalism as we know it, but savvy PR firms are learning as much as they can about blogging and 'social networking' in a bid to gain increased (positive) coverage for their clients by influencing blogs and even by becoming part of the blogosphere themselves. Here are a few leading UK PR bloggers:

Drew Benvie, Lewis PR - a leading figure in the PR New Media scene. A great blog to boot.

PRblogger.com - by Stephen Davies, formerly an online guru at Edelman but now off to pastures new. Blogging for two years. Stephen is highly immersed in new media.

James Warren - driving the digital debate at Weber Shandwick

Naill Cook - Hill and Knowlton's head of online communications unit (Netcoms)

Event-based Business Blogging

Microsoft hired a blogger to cover a recent conference. It shows how bloggers can be used to create a unique record of an event for internal and external consumption.

Product-based blogging

Mobile phone firm 3 has a blog to promote its X-Series range of phones.

Useful Links

Corporate Bloggers by country

Business Blogwire - a site dedicated to exploring the issues around business blogging.

Blogging Pioneers

BoingBoing - Quirky blog celebrating the ordinary and extraordinary. Millions of readers.

Seth Godin - A marketeer reaches his audience (and promotes his books)