Inspired!

A loyal (and considerate, might I add) reader pointed me to this article in Business 2.0 earlier today. Fred Wilson, Managing Partner of Union Square Ventures writes about how blogging has become a critical piece of businesses:

"Blogs need to be real and personal. Reading it should be like hanging out with you. I play music for my readers. I show them videos I like. I tell them what I did over the weekend. And I tell them what is happening in the technology, Internet, and VC markets.

And it works. About 50,000 people come to my blog every month. The site brings in about $30,000 a year now in ad revenue, and I donate it all to charity. Most important, I'm getting to know entrepreneurs of all kinds - in India, Australia, England, China, and Silicon Valley. They read my blog, correct me when I'm wrong, pound the table when they agree with me. I get to know them, and they get to know me. When it comes time for them to raise money, they know who to ask. And for me, the blog acts as an amplifier and a filter. I see many more opportunities, but they are also way more relevant. It makes me a better investor."

I think blogs play an equally important role in research as much as they do in practice. I was recently reading an article in the Academy of Management journal (a leading academic journal in strategy) that the relational foundation of research, i.e. the set of interaction partners whom one encounters during the course of doing research, is an oft unappreciated dimension. Truth. The quality of relational interactions is key to developing and sustaining interesting research. I speak from my own blogging experience. My research on outsourcing has benefited a lot in the recent past from opinions, insights and feedback from my blog readers.

And it is my objective to increase the frequency of my posts and overall commitment levels to BPO Journal. Inspired by Wilson. After all, the blog does make me a better researcher.