What is a blog? How would you define an industry analyst blog? What separates blogs from the other online destinations and channels published by the ICT analyst community? Is a blog still a blog without an RSS feed? comments? Is an analyst blog tied to his or her expertise? Yesterday, I asked ten or so analysts and consultants in the US and UK to share their thoughts on what is a blog. They responded with free-range thinking on that and beyond: what is an analyst blog, why do analysts blog, and why does anyone care. Good stuff. Here’s a rough cut of my notes.

Background

My intent is to overhaul the criteria for the Tekrati analyst blogs directory. Already, the conversation offers a rich perspective on grounds for deciding which blogs are listed and why they might be tossed out down the road.

I queried analysts and consultants that are successful bloggers: each has a track record as an individual blogger, and has earned credibility as a thought leader within a professional community of practice.

The analysts are: Carl Howe of Blackfriars Communications, Mike Gotta of Burton Group, Alan Pelz-Sharpe of CMS Watch, Charlene Li or Josh Bernoff (Josh responded) of Forrester Research, Dale Vile of Freeform Dynamics, James Governor of RedMonk, John Blossom of Shore Communications, and Stowe Boyd of The Brannan Street Irregulars.

The consultants are: Jen McClure of the Society for New Communications Research, Jonny Bentwood of Edelman, and Erik SR of Tech for PR.

Again, what follows is a rough cut of the discussion threads. I’m pulling excerpts out of the conversational flow, to make for faster reading. More, and perhaps a little more polished, next week.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Tech for PR blog offers an insightful tip for leveraging Tekrati Industry Analyst Reporter for storylines — particularly for PR professionals with tech industry clients. This is a solid “how to” on using research findings as a launchpad, whether as a hook in pitching a story idea or the basis for an entire article. While freelance writers and editors visit Tekrati on a regular basis with this in mind, I suspect that many public relations professionals feel that they don’t have time to explore these avenues. Erik shows the process can be fast and easy.

In fact, he illustrates that creative pitching can leverage a single Gartner press release or whitepaper for several different articles. This is much more mileage than citing a statistic in a press release.

Naturally, it’s imperative to follow the citation policies of each research company when preparing the final submission.

Check out the complete post, “Use Tekrati to come up with ideas for bylines”, and browse more tips while you’re there.