The real value of blogs

Old news really, but some bright spark has been fiddling with the Technorati API to calculate a dollar value for blogs. It’s based on the same $-per-link ratio as AOL’s recent purchase of Weblogs Inc. Cynics of course point out that AOL are great at spending pretend internet money.
Anyway, down to hard cash. This blog is worth $560, and my personal blog is worth $1,700. Not bad for blogs that as yet have no ambitions of mass readership. I’m having an eBay clearout at the moment – anyone want to buy the rights? A film deal maybe? I think Jude Law would be great for the lead role.

Now the serious bit. Blogs are a classic example of an intangible asset, a central theme of knowledge management (something that, for instance Karl-Eric Sveiby is very interested in). Some blogs are deep-freeze knowledge, thoughts and ideas encapsulated. Some present huge brand value, for instance Robert Scoble's. How much is his blog worth to Microsoft? $2m, says the tool. Personally, I’d put a higher price on it. Particularly for a company like Microsoft whose standing in the geek fraternity is not good, it’s a positive example of how blogs can present a uniquely human face.

Browse through the readers' comments to see what I mean. Some are positive, some are hostile, but all give Microsoft (through Robert) a chance to reply directly in a language customers understand. Surely that's what all enlightened companies should be seeking to do in this increasingly demanding market?