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January 02, 2006 01:00 AM

Plastics to live high on the blog?

Frank Antosiewicz
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    Blog writers are a slow-growing breed in the plastics and manufacturing arenas.

    A blog is an outgrowth of a personal log or diary, but it is placed on a Web site so that others can read and post responses.

    Writing a blog, according to Len Czuba, is just another way for the Society of Plastics Engineers to provide information for its members.

    ``A blog as I see it: I post whatever is on my mind and I use it to tell members about what is going on,'' said Czuba, president of Brookfield, Conn.-based SPE.

    Czuba said he started the SPE blog Sept. 6 and does one every few weeks. Since he spends a great deal of time on the road visiting with the constituency, Czuba said it is a way to pass on what he sees.

    A look at the blog finds few responses, but Gregory Grudzinski, SPE senior manager of marketing and development, said interest is growing.

    ``We see pretty strong growth. It was a soft launch. We created the blog and it is evolving. As Len visits different places, he talks it up,'' Grudzinski said.

    The effort marks SPE's second venture into blogging; the first was after Hurricane Katrina hit and SPE offered a blog site to try to help Gulf Coast companies. Czuba said many people posted help offers, but he's not sure of the results. However, he said that even if it helped one company, the site would have to be termed a success.

    As for his new blog venture, Czuba said more than 4,000 page views in the first month show that the material is being read.

    He also said he has been getting compliments about the site: ``They like what they are reading and we haven't really promoted it.''

    Pat Cleary, senior vice president of communications for the National Association of Manufacturers, said low response to specific blogs does not indicate a lack of interest. A better gauge, he said, is the number of page hits.

    Cleary said traffic at the Washington-based group's site has been growing significantly each month since he's been doing the blogs after hours. He didn't release numbers, but called the blog a good part of the communications effort.

    ``It's a small universe and we're hoping to be on the cutting edge. It's really a way to direct our message,'' Cleary said.

    He said he spends a few hours in the evening surfing the net for ideas for his blogs so that he can post two to three blogs each day. Cleary pointed to blogs as another medium, like radio or television, to reach readers.

    He sees a big future for blogs and hopes they evolve to spur readers to take action - such as writing or calling elected officials on important issues.

    So, beware: Blogs are the newest craze. They might even become the talk radio of the Internet, Cleary said.

    * * *

    Lowdown on industry blogs

    Here is a list of plastics industry blogs. They are rated from 1-5: 1=poor, 5=good.

    URL: blog.nam.org

    Name: Manufacturers' Daily Blog

    Sponsor: National Association of Manufacturers

    Notes: Search by keyword

    Rating: 1

    Critique: Not much on plastics

    Frequency: Daily

    Author: Pat Cleary, NAM senior vice president of communications

    URL: blog.phthalates.org

    Name: Phthalate Information Center

    Sponsor: American Chemistry Council Inc.

    Notes: Links to articles, personal comments

    Rating: 1

    Critique: Just a few items

    Frequency: Occasional

    Author: Marian Stanley, MBA in chemical/pharmaceutical studies

    URL: blogs.plastics.com

    Name: plastics.com blogs

    Sponsor: National Plastics Center

    Notes: Contributors

    Rating: 3

    Critique: Plastics related

    Frequency: Occasional

    Author: Greg Koski, founder/CEO, WorldWide Web Labs Inc.

    URL: custom-injection-molding.blogspot.com

    Name: blogspot - Blogger by Google

    Sponsor: AB Plastech Inc.

    Notes: Links to articles, personal comments

    Rating: 1

    Critique: Injection molding, business related

    Frequency: Occasional

    Author: Unknown

    URL: www.packagingblog.blogspot.com

    Name: blogspot - Blogger by Google

    Sponsor: Unknown

    Notes: All packaging covered

    Rating: 3

    Critique: News stories, not links

    Frequency: Last posting Oct. 9

    Author: Unknown

    URL: www.4spe.org/blog

    Name: Chat with Czuba

    Sponsor: Society of Plastics Engineers

    Notes: An open discussion with SPE President Len Czuba

    Rating: 2

    Critique: Len Czuba's interests

    Frequency: Occasional

    Author: Len Czuba

    URL: www.4spe.org/katrinablog

    Name: Hurricane Katrina Relief Blog

    Sponsor: Society of Plastics Engineers

    Notes: Katrina-related posts

    Rating: 2

    Critique: No recent postings

    Frequency: See above

    Author: Susan Oderwald

    URL: www.core77.com/materials

    Name: Industrial Design Supersite

    Sponsor: Core77 Inc.

    Notes: Design articles may include plastics

    Rating: 2

    Critique: Interesting articles

    Frequency: Frequently

    Author: Mixed

    URL: www.injection-molds.blogspot.com

    Name: blogspot - Blogger by Google

    Sponsor: Solinc Solutions Inc. (Seoul, South Korea)

    Notes: Personal comments, links to stories

    Rating: 1

    Critique: Solinc marketing tool

    Frequency: Occasional

    Author: ``Steve''

    URL: www.injectionmoldingcentral.info

    Name: Injection Molding Central

    Sponsor: Google/RSS

    Notes: Injection molding news and advertising links

    Rating: 2

    Critique: Interesting news bits

    Frequency: Daily

    Author: Unknown

    URL: www.packagingbusiness.com/discussion.asp

    Name: Welcome to Packaging Business Discussion Groups

    Sponsor: Polysort

    Notes: Classified ad postings with discussion threads

    Rating: 1

    Critique: Mainly ads

    Frequency: Occasional

    Author: Mixed

    URL: www.plasticblog.com

    Name: Plastic Blog

    Sponsor: Douglas M. Bryce and Texas Plastic Technologies

    Notes: Opinion pieces

    Rating: 1

    Critique: Marketing for www.plastictroubleshooter.com

    Frequency: Not dated

    Author: Douglas M. Bryce, Texplas founder

    URL: www.plasticpipe.com.cn/blog/blogger.html

    Name: Blogger by Google

    Sponsor: Sure Union International Ltd.

    Notes: Pipe-related discussions

    Rating: 2

    Critique: Pipe 101

    Frequency: Rarely, with last posting in June

    Author: Screen name: ``Caspar'' (of Guangdong, China)

    URL: www.scienceblog.com

    Name: Science Blog

    Sponsor: Science Blog

    Notes: Search feature yields articles, no blogs

    Rating: 2

    Critique: Keyword searches yield variety of articles

    Frequency: Daily

    Author: Ben Sullivan and a team of science editors, writers and enthusiasts

    Here are some industry publications that have their own bloglike forum sites:

    Injection Molding Magazine

    URL: www.immnet.com

    Click on: Networking Forum

    Notes: Discussion threads

    Rating: 4

    Frequency: Very active

    AutoWeek

    URL: forums.autoweek.com/index.jspa

    Click on: Combustion Chamber Forum

    Notes: Discussion threads, various topics

    Rating: 1

    Critique: You have to hunt for plastics

    Moldmaking Technology Online:

    URL: www.moldmakingtechnology.com/forums

    Click on: Industry Forum

    Notes: Various questions posted, some responses

    Rating: 2

    Critique: You have to hunt for plastics

    Polysort

    URL: www.polysort.com/forum

    Click on: Member Forum (membership required)

    * * *

    Blog Basics

    Below are some basics terms used in the world of blogging:

    Blog (Weblog): An online journal or Web diary, as well as a content management system or an online publishing platform.

    Blogger: A person who owns or writes for a Weblog.

    Blogosphere: The totality of blogs; blogs as a community; blogs as a social network.

    Edu-blog: An education-oriented blog.

    Journal blog: A personal, diarylike blog. Personal-journal blogs are by far the most common type of blog.

    Thread: A series of remarks posted by people in a public comment section of a blog that follow a conversational and topic-related sequence.

    Troll for hits: To post a provocative entry to generate angry responses.

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