One element of industry structure analysis is the leverage that buyers can exert on firms. Is technology changing the balance of power between customers and companies? If so, how should business respond?

Blogs offer a mechanism for consumers to share their experiences—good or bad—regarding different companies. Bloggers first emerged in the late 1990s, and today the Technorati search engine currently monitors roughly 100 million blogs. With the wealth of this “citizen media” available, what are the implications for consumer power? One of the most famous cases of a blogger drawing attention to a company was Jeff Jarvis of the Web site http://www.buzzmachine.com. Jarvis, who writes on media topics, was having problems with his Dell computer, and shared his experiences on the Web. Literally thousands of other people recounted similar experiences, and the phenomena became known as “Dell hell.” Eventually, Dell created its own corporate blog in an effort to deflect this wave of consumer criticism. What are the implications of the rapid growth in blogs? Work in a group on the following exercise.

Part One

Visit a corporate blog. Only a small percentage of large firms maintain a blog presence on the Internet. Multiple wikis online provide lists of such companies. A Web search using the term fortune 500 blogs will turn up several options. Review the content of the firm’s blog. Was it updated regularly or not? Multiple contributors or just one? What was the writing style? Did it read like a marketing brochure, or something more informal? Did the blog allow viewer comments, or post replies to consumer questions?

Part Two

Based on the information you collected in the blog review, answer the following questions:

• Have you ever used blogs to help make decisions about something that you are considering purchasing? If so, how did the blog material affect your decision? What factors would make you more (or less) likely to rely on a blog in making your decision? 
• How did the content of corporate blog affect your perception of that company and its good and services? Did it make you more or less likely to view the company favorably, or have no effect at all? 
• Why do so few large companies maintain blogs?