Corporate Blogging in the Slow Lane

After the recent BlogOn 2005 conference in New York City, Burson-Marsteller's Lisa Poulson bemoaned the suspicion that bloggers have for corporations. "My overall impression is that the gap between where the blogosphere veterans are and where corporations are not only vast but also actually harmful," she told PR Week. "The blogosphere says it wants corporations to come to the party, but they have so little understanding of the responsibilities and legitimate concerns that corporations have that they wind up alienating them instead," she complained. Poulson believes that bloggers have unrealistic expectations of how fast Fortune 500 companies can embrace the new medium. "I think bloggers are all yelling 'to the barricades' and looking for a glorious and dramatic revolution. It isn't going to happen," she said.