Blogging: 'A lot of fuss about nothing'

Despite huge growth in the blog phenomenon and high profile stories about companies undone by blogging staff there is still a 'why all the fuss?' mindset among IT professionals.

According to a recent silicon.com poll, 36.3 per cent of respondents see the whole blogging trend as being lost on them. A further 17.2 per cent of respondents believe blogs are merely the domain of the egotistical, where individuals can write about themselves, irrespective of whether or not anybody else cares.

A further 10.6 per cent of respondents said they weren't even familiar with the blogging concept while 5.6 per cent warned the contents of the average blogs are quite likely to be libellous.

Certainly the rise of the blog hasn't been without controversy. Earlier this year a Waterstone's employee was sacked by the bookstore for airing some his workplace grievances in his blog.

Delta Airlines and more recently Google have also taken similar action.

But while the majority were less than enthused there does appear to be growing interest in the medium – with 5.6 per cent respondents calling blogs the future of web publishing and 24.6 per cent of respondents saying they are a source of independent comment.

Amazon.com this morning also announced its intention to get involved with the blog phenomenon with an investment in 43 Things.

Plus: See silicon.com's new Cheat Sheet on blogging.