First, a thread on James Fee’s blog generates further lively debate on what Google’s mapping ventures mean to ESRI. Later, he highlights a new database of mapping servers, mapdex.org, which looks set to become a major resource for users of clients such as Google Earth, especially as formats become more interchangeable and the user base explodes.
In the meantime, he exhorts ESRI to start blogging properly. But straight corporate blogs are dry and PR-ish. Microsoft has a much better example of what works. It’s obvious what needs to happen: ESRI needs to make James Fee their Robert Scoble.
Actually there are currenty very little PR blogs at ESRI. Most of the people blogging are actually on the development team or ArcWeb Services Team.
To clarify, I wasn’t saying that ESRI bloggers are being PR-ish (quite the opposite). But Adobe and many other current “proper” corporate blogs are, because they are afflicted by officialese and the perceived need to be an official corporate record. Microsoft circumvented the entire problem by hiring somebody like Scoble, who has an in with the company but still states his own opinion. It gives him an aura of being an honest broker, yet who still has the ear of management, and who will act as an agent in the company for customers when he need arises. He’s an ombudsman for MSFT, if you like, helping them to be less evil.
We are definetly in agreement on Scoble. Personally, I like Sun’s blogs and their policy.