Making the Most of the Internet

3. Join the Conversation

The internet enables anyone to publish articles, stories or comments online.

3.1 Blogs forums, and social media sites allow individuals to talk about absolutely anything.

• A blog is like an online diary. Anyone can create one for free using services like Blogger, WordPress or LiveJournal.
• A forum is an online discussion area. Most forums allow anyone to sign up and join the conversation.
• Social media (see 1.1) are usually free to sign up to and enable you to monitor and join conversations as they are happening.

3.2 There are almost certainly forums and blogs relevant to your specific industry.

• To find forums, use a standard search engine. For instance, to find a plumbing forum, you could type 'plumbing forum' into Google.
• Many discussions take place in discussion groups. You may have to join these in order to take part. Try Searching Yahoo! Groups or Google Groups.
• You can use blog search engines like Technorati and Google Blog Search to find relevant blogs.

3.3 You can monitor blogs and most social media platforms for mentions of particular subjects.

• For instance, people may be writing about good or bad experiences with your company.
• You may want to check for mentions of your main competitors.
• allows you to set up saved searches.
• You can also use to set up a saved search for mentions of your company in the news.
• These services will email you each time a new item appears containing the term you entered. Using Twitter search (http://search.twitter.com) enables you to search Twitter for relevant terms in 'real time'.

3.4 Do not be afraid to take part in online discussions.

• You can join most forums for free, though you will probably have to give your email address and other details.
• Most blogs actively encourage comments. If you have something of value to add, use the comment facility.
• However, be wary of overtly promoting your company in this way.
• Most discussion forums include a list of acceptable behaviour. Read this before taking part.
• A good way to promote your company is to answer queries and offer advice on social media and forums. People will come to see you as an authority on that subject.