A blog with comments is much easier to manage than a free-for-all user forum–it seems like a very practical way for a large company to get some qualitative understanding of their audience outside of structured focus groups and surveys.

Larger companies have so many restrictions on what employees are and are not allowed to say. If they allowed people to discuss their opinion’s openly they could create a more positive impression of the company.

A blog IS a vehicle for total self expression and promotion… and while it shouldn’t be “buy my product, buy my service” it should demonstrate expertise in your field and provide free educational tools if you are writing a blog on behalf of your business. I thought corporate folks are smart enough to do that, and who cares if they aren’t writing with “emotion”. His points about the political nature of blogs and how it will get watered down due to corp politics is so true, but you need to have someone write that is like the corporate rebel… who doesn’t care… and there are always a few within even big companies.