Finished reading Chapter 6 of Naked Conversations

Finally finished reading Chapter 6 of the Naked Conversations book. It's been taking a while, I haven't been reading it on a regular basis. I seem to start reading and then I'll be busy with something else, like my paper writing and my research, which will interrupt my flow. I'm so busy with so many things besides research, like planning the wedding, having to take care of family things, helping out my sister with her homework, going to learn Mandarin, going to bible study, that I just haven't found the time to read the book. But today, since I vowed to take a break from the paper writing on Friday, I decided to read the book, and I finished reading Chapter 6.

The book I've found so far, is not a heavy read, in fact it's very light reading compared to papers that I read for my research. Which, in essence, is a nice change. In fact, I don't like it when the papers that I read are so hard to read. It's like a whole new language. The papers should be clearly written and organized such that I don't have to decipher what the authors are trying to say.

Here's my notes and comments from Chapter 6.

The chapter basically talks about how consultants use blogs as part of their business and in fact how blogs have helped them with their business or even start their business. A lot of consultants get speaking engagements and have got publishers noticed them to write a book, because of their blog. People reading the blog then turn to their blogs as sources for expert knowledge. Consultants who blog, are open, they don't market their products or services, so what they speak is just as if they were to have a conversation with you or me. Their tone of language is down to earth, so people can relate to them on a personal and business level. Blogging is all about being yourself and not selling yourself like being a PR spokesperson. Just speak the truth, and no BS. Don't cover up yourself, be honest. People will appreciate much better your honesty, than if you try to pretend to sound good or try to be someone that you're not. This explains why Robert Scoble's blog get so many hits and blog readers, even though he works at Microsoft. He acknowledges Microsoft's problems and he talks from himself, not putting the hat of Microsoft. So people can relate to him, he doesn't try to show off his Microsoft identity.