The Beauty of Blogs

Well-written and maintained blogs have proven to be an important part of supply market research. Traditionally, in the life cycle of a news event, the most authoritative writing is published during the later phase, when scholars and experts have had time to read, digest, and analyze the event and its subsequent ramifications. The format is usually an annual report, scholarly journal, or book. The very first phase of a news event may start out with a twitter feed, or other social media channel, and then progresses to the daily news articles of content provider websites, such as newspapers, trade journals, and market analyst firms. Print publications will cover the news event with a one-week or one-month view of the event, with possibly some analysis. Blogs, particularly the ones written by the analysts and experts that follow a certain market, service, or product, combine the news reporting phase of the life cycle with the important later phase of analysis, thus providing enriched intelligence in a compressed timeframe.