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Blogs are a great source for ideas, according to Dorai Thodla, author of Dorai's LearnBlog. So why not use them as part of your environmental scanning process, as you look for new trends and ideas?
"Some of the bloggers are the smartest people I know. They comment about products. They track trends. They predict future products. They compare and categorize. And they share it all free."
Here are some of Dorai's tips for mining blogs for ideas:
- Identify the experts in your industry or profession
- Subscribe to or track their blogs (RSS feeders or a service like InfoMinder are excellent tools to enable this!)
- Analyze the blogs they read (i.e., their "blogrolls") for other potential sources of inspiration and ideas
- Find product managers who blog in your areas of interest (they're likely to share insights into what they're working on, or the challenges their customers are having)
- Locate product reviewers' blogs (another rich source for "what's going on" in your area of interest)
- Don't overlook blog comments - sometimes they contain great insights, or build upon the ideas of the blog author in some fascinating ways
I've been doing this informally for a number of years, but Dorai's "blinding flash of the obvious" is a great reminder that I need to be more alert for ideas, trends and insights as I read my favorite blogs! |
