This is the year blogs turn the ripe old age of 10. That’s right, a whole decade of online opinion, rumor, scandal and scorn. And a growth rate of about 1.6 million new blogs daily.

From those first words typed out on Jorn Barger’s inaugural Robot Wisdom “Weblog” in 1997, the blogosphere has come a long way -- arguably spawning everything from social networking to consumer generated media to wikis to citizen journalism.

And in the process blogs have flipped the art and craft of communication on its head, permanently placing power in the hands of consumers and creating today’s buzz culture.

For brands the world over, what a long, strange decade it’s been. Blogs have moved from a techie fringe medium for geeks and freaks that could be dismissed by PR to an activist forum that should be feared, capable of bringing down a brand, to a core element of consumer communication that can be embraced and leveraged by PR.

Notice I said *leveraged* rather than *exploited.* That means truth, transparency and the same kind respect afforded mainstream media in the old days.

So as the blogosphere turns 10 and finds itself all grown up, consider the following questions for yourself, your company or your client.

Let’s call it the Blog Self-Help Test:

1) Do you read a blog more than three times a week?
2) Have you ever written a blog?
3) Is Blogger Relations as important as Media or Analyst Relations in your PR mix?
4) Do you consistently measure blog-based opinion on your brand and industry?
5) Is your company/client’s web site RSS enabled?
6) Do your executives blog?
7) Does your website offer blogging opps for employees to chat directly with customers?
8) Are your employees trained on the rights and wrongs of blogging?
9) Does your corporate code of conduct call out truth and transparency in blog- and buzz-based comms?
10) Would you fire someone for creating a fake blog, or flog?

OK, if you answered YES to eight or more of these questions, then you’ve clearly been paying attention the last 10 years. Move to the head of the class and start dabbling on behalf of your brand in next gen developments like social bookmarking.

If you didn’t get to eight, don’t fret. Consider these questions a list of must-haves for any blog-fearing Corp Comm Dept and get cracking on implementing some of the basics. The beauty of the blogosphere is that it’s constantly changing and open to all comers – private and public, consumer and commercial – if you respect and live by its laws.

Look at how much has been achieved in the first decade of blogging. Armed with the knowledge and lessons learned in the first 10 years, comms professionals should have an incredible impact on defining and directing the next 10 years of the blogosphere. In the process we can shape popular communication in ways we’ve never been able to before.

Hopefully that’s a challenge and a responsibility that our profession is equal to.