On the heels of Om Malik’s departure from Business 2.0 and Robert Scoble’s departure from Microsoft, Business Week’s Stephen Baker questions the monetary value of marquis bloggers to the firms that employs them.
It’s a bit of a paradox. The Internet has brought astounding tools of measurement into countless marketplaces, starting with advertising. And yet, when it comes to measuring the power or effectiveness of an in-house blogger, companies don’t know where to start.
Most corporations and media outlets haven’t figured out yet how to revamp compensation for the new age. Very few journalists, for example, are evaluated for customer relations. That’s almost sacrilege, the province of the advertising or marketing side of the business. But blogging is blurring the line between these domains.