Blogging becomes a corporate job; Digital 'Handshake'

Wall street Journal
Sarah Needleman
Aug. 7 2005, B1

Businesses are hiring people to write blogs, people who 'can write in a conversational style about timely topics that would appeal to customers, clients and potential recruits' . Stonyfield Farm Inc. Recruited a freelance writer to four blogs including a blog about healthy foods in schools. The job entails researching, linking to new and providing personal insight. Microsoft has the staffing programs manager to write about recruiting, write about what it is like to work at the company and hiring trends. Dale & Thomas Popcorn, a gourmet popcorn company is seeking an online-marketing coordinator to create and maintain a company blog on the love of popcorn, as well as boost the company websites search-engine rankings. The position offers a salary between $40,000 to $55,000, and has received about 100 applications.

"Blogging as a job has emerged as companies of all stripes increasingly see the web as an important communications venue. Blogs allow firms to assume a natural tone rather than the public-relations speak typical of some static web pages, and readers are often invited to post comments. ... Currently only 4% of major U.S. corporations have blogs available to the public, according to a recent survey by eMarketer, a New York research company."

Ads for blogging jobs are popping up on online job boards in recent months.