Blogs are all the rage, and I encourage their use as part of the external – and internal – communications process. Unlike press releases, which tend to read as if they’d been composed by the mating of a computer and lawyer, good blogs have a distinctly human voice. They are conversational almost by definition.

But the key word here is “conversation” – and the first rule is that you have to listen. That’s why companies should encourage comments from those various constituencies, publicly and privately, as part of the conversation, even when they make insiders cringe. The people at the edges of the communications and social networks can be harsh and effective critics. But they can also be fervent, valuable allies, offering ideas to each other and to the newsmaker. —Dan Gillmor —PR: It’s a New World (Bayosphere)