Blogs, by their nature, are community online tools, very similar to forums in that they allow easy interaction and communication between online users. Although forums are typically closed communities where discussion takes place within the community, blogs are more open; conversation takes place both on the blog and between websites. Members run the best forums, in that the editorial control of a forum is best left to the members of the forum. Blogs, on the other hand, allow a company to control the editorial content of the website. Yet, similar to email and forums, a company can use an informal conversational style of writing.

Although forums can provide some of the best information on customer ideas and feedback, a successfully run blogger relations campaign has some advantages over a forum. When a blogger focuses on the ideas of a customer for products, a blogger can receive ideas, more links, and higher sales and turn customers into evangelists. Blogs give companies the ability to interact, link, and receive links to other blogs, unlike the relatively closed world of a forum, where conversation happens within the forum, not between websites. Blogs give companies many tools of interaction, such as commenting and trackbacks. By setting up a company blog, a company declares that the company is open to conduct an online dialogue between bloggers and an audience. A company blogger is free to comment and trackback on blogs in the community, and other bloggers are free to comment on the company blog. If your company can run a successful blogging operation, you will gain links and the opportunity to have a dialogue with many other blog readers from the blogs that refer to your blog posts. Blog writing encourages linking, as authority and credibility come in part from stating evidence and other blogger posts. As a result, blogging has a culture of linking to other blogs. Linking is important for search engine rankings and online marketing, in general, in terms of higher search engine traffic and direct traffic.

Corporate blogs allow more interaction between other blogs and websites than forums. That flexibility to interact in the wider online customer community means that blogs can give companies additional benefits in the areas of higher search engine rankings and exposure to new audiences beyond forums. Forums and blogs play a vital role in the online design tools for interaction with customers, and although the total amount of content in blogs may be less, it is the open nature of blogging that allows interaction between individual bloggers that gives blogs their special role in the world of product development, marketing, search engine optimization, and public relations.