Article on Brand Republic on the recently launched 2Talkabout network. Its a network of company sponsored blogs that aim to give consumers a platform on which to talk about the brand.

From the piece:

"The motor company [Honda] is the first brand to associate itself with the network, 2TalkAbout.com, which lets audiences publish their views as well as respond to others in the community.

The Honda-sponsored blog, called 2TalkAboutHonda is aimed at anyone with an interest in Honda cars, especially the newly launched Honda Civic."

Its obvious why 2Talk have used a blogging platform - syndicated connectivity and a fresh look and feel - not to mention everyone knows blogs are cool. The main problem is that the concept better suits a forum platform which is about open dialogue among many posters. Successful blogs have a defined personality which comes from the copy. We read the blogs we do because we enjoy the tonality as well as the content. This can't be achieved with a free-for-all.

So why not go forum? Well, although hugely influential (see Big Board membership stats), they are hardly newsworthy, cool or particularly fresh. There's a real need for bulletin board software suppliers to start innovating. RSS, trackback pings and all those nice wizzy blog capabilities are just not being accommodated on bulletin boards. Yes, the platform is slightly different but with the explosion of consumer generated media, don't board producers even want to acknowledge that the world exists outside of their HTML? Searchable syndicated content feeds, interconnection to other media sources, design and publishing enhancements is where the next board software needs to head to - and head to fast.