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features as a professional category in several formal listings. The relevance of
this new metier is increasing to such an extent that several companies, including
those in luxury, regularly draw insights and inspiration from bloggers for bet-
ter business strategies. Even politicians and presidents have been caught on the
blogging bandwagon, including US President Barack Obama, whose campaign
and current presidency is actively boosted by his 'Organizing for America' blog;
and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who made his first live blog post in
April 2009 on LiveJournal.com, Russia's most popular blogging and social net-
working website with 19.2 million subscribers worldwide.
Bloggers themselves are basically citizen journalists who, although mostly
informally trained in writing, have become expert in engaging conversations
and technology. Blogs such as Luxist, Luxury Business and Le Blog Luxe,
which are centrally themed around luxury, are written and moderated by pas-
sionate citizen journalists and constantly draw commentary from equally
passionate readers. These bloggers generally enjoy a high level of credibility
as a result of their passion and dedication, while blogs that are written by
those seeking an outlet for baseless discussions or some attention often add
limited real value to the readers and therefore are unable to draw a large and
dedicated audience. However, most blogs have a certain degree of influence
on consumers whatever their theme and this has consequences for compa-
nies, particularly those in the luxury sector.
Figure 3.2
Blogs such as Mrs O, which is dedicated to following the fashion
style of America's First Lady Michelle Obama including the luxury brands that
she endorses by donning their products, have a powerful influence on both
luxury clients and the public. When Mrs Obama recently attended an official
dinner wearing a dress by Azzedine Alaïa, the cyberspace went into a frenzy of
online discussions and information search on the designer. Many were surprised
to discover that the brand doesn't have an official website
