Italian manufacturer, Vespa in the USA has an interesting approach to blogs. It plans to get Vespa owners to run the site.  Why a blog? Here is what the site says:

One reason is that U.S. scooter buyers are heavy online users. According to internal Piaggio USA research, a full 65% of prospective motor scooter buyers visited the Vespa USA Web site, while 56% visited other sites when conducting research prior to purchase.

Steve Rubel of CooperKatz & Company is the contact person for anyone who wants to be a part of the blog.

Corporate blogging is finally catching on. Two years ago, when Macromedia began exploring the value of blogs, a web log was hardly spoken of in marketing circles. I still see eyes glaze when I talk about a blog at meetings. Check this explanation by Hugh Macleod who throws in a diagram as to why organizations need to create a ‘porous membrane’ so that those conversations that take place outside, and those ‘managed’ ones inside, can flow back and forth. In a nutshell it’s this:

Two people sharing ideas via blogs is a lot more permanent, viral and useful for the company than two people sharing the same information over by the watercooler.

The latest news about IBM moving to make blogging a corporate exercise, is good news –unless, of course you work within the ‘inner membrane’ of your firm. Neville Hobson makes an interesting point that some of the smart companies may be encouraging and starting up blogs under the radar.