Good, Dave Winer has returned to text format (at least for today) for his morning coffee notes. That means I can link to it. He wrote this morning:
“Every company, not just tech companies, needs to have a presence in the blogging world, someone whose feet are planted both in the network outside the organization as well as inside. […] Only Microsoft and perhaps Yahoo have this. Even Google can’t be accessed over the web, and definitely not Apple.”
It’s Monday morning as I write this and I’ve just had my coffee, so here are my notes on this matter. Microsoft and Yahoo both have a large presence in the blogosphere – indeed over the past year or so I’ve gotten to personally know many people from both companies. I have a particular affinity to Yahoo, perhaps because it’s an excellent mix of New Media and Web Technology. Anyway, my point is that as I’ve gotten to know people from Yahoo and Microsoft, those companies have become much more ‘human’ to me. We have conversations on the Web and offline too. Everybody benefits in some way – e.g. they get ideas and feedback from their users, we get new products that better suit our needs. It’s a very symbiotic relationship.
Compare that to Google. As of this date I don’t know a single person from Google. I hope at least some of them read my blog, but not one has ever emailed me or commented on my blog or linked to me. Ordinarily I wouldn’t expect any of those things, but when you consider how much attention (that word again) I’ve gotten from Yahoo and Microsoft people via my blog – well, one begins to wonder where all the Google bloggers are.
Maybe I can start the conversation with Google folks by extending a simple invitation – ping me at readwriteweb AT gmail.com (see I use your products!). Let me know what’s happening inside Google, what you’re thinking about. I’m sure we have a lot in common. Converse with me – and other bloggers like me. You may be surprised to find that we can help each other.
And lest I be seen to be picking on (or sucking up to) Google, I extend that invitation to ANY and ALL Web 2.0 companies. Join the blogosphere. Talk with your users, find out what makes us tick. Because it works both ways – we also find out what makes YOU tick and so we better understand each other.
Thus endth this sermon from The Father of Web 2.0.
