Every new technology does what you need, at first. Then slowly more and more learn secrets, and by time herd has caught on it's too late. Technologies have changed, everything has slowed way down, or search engines have decided that it's become another form of spamming search engines and stop weighing it so heavily. Sometimes they even ban technology from their databases, remember doorway pages and multiple sites?

So where is blogging along this curve today? The early adoptors have been doing it for last couple of years, and leading internet marketers started coming into it over last year, many are still just getting started with it. So you're at perfect time, most of expensive development time is done, bulk of bugs are out of whole RSS and Atom feed systems, and engines like Yahoo, MSN and Google are embracing technology and waiting to greet your Blog with open arms. So dont ignore this whole Blogging idea, embrace it you just might see your sales soar through roof!

Next, we need a process for gathering, managing, and storing information we gather. What sorts of sources? How will we get them? What will we do with material? How will we store it?

Once we've listened and gathered our information, we need to manage it. All those mounds of paper and electronic files must be boiled down into chunks of information that others can use easily.

This part of process might involve selection of excerpts or it might involve writing summaries. It might require an argument or simply a statement of facts that allows others to draw their own conclusions.

The final step in strategic listening chain is to provide feedback to those who provided raw information, and to get feedback from those who used processed information (or intelligence) we provided.

Giving feedback to those who provided raw information could be considered a courtesy, and a way of encouraging them to keep supplying us. Gathering feedback from those who used processed information will help us determine whether or not we met objectives that got us started.

In summary, one important form of listening is strategic; that is, informally gathering and processing information that helps us stay on top of issues that affect our organizations. The four key steps in this process are: setting objectives, developing processes, managing information, and gathering and getting feedback.