Blogs offer alternative to traditional press releases

Novell’s blog opens up PR to investors, customers

Novell is one of several companies that are using blogs as a complement to PR newswires and individual pitching efforts. The Novell Open PR blog was launched three years ago.

“We found that there was a lot of discussion going on that didn’t necessarily involve a press release—things like customer successes, or issues coming up in the industry,” explains Kerry Adorno, a PR manager at Novell. “We also wanted to open up our PR announcements to people in the IT community, like developers and investors, as well as the press.”

In any given week, the Novell Open PR blog might include news about products and updates on legal settlements, as well as links to mentions of Novell in media outlets and the company’s perspective on issues or controversies kicking around the industry. Some blog posts also call attention to interesting posts on Novell’s other blogs. The entire corporate PR staff contributes to the Novell Open PR blog as needed.