I was working till recently for a startup that is in a supposedly "hot" area (technically, that is). A couple of things I learned: >>A-list bloggers can drive l

I was working till recently for a startup that is in a supposedly "hot" area (technically, that is). A couple of things I learned: >>A-list bloggers can drive lots of traffic towards the company's website. >>Companies place ads on friendly blogs, even critical ones . >>There are bloggers that companies will wine and dine to get some good press. Contrary to popular belief,that BigCo's don't understand blogging, they go out of their way to make these A-list bloggers happy. I am not taking about folks like Scoble who are generalists. These are bloggers who specialize in specific technologies. >>Unfortunate Fact - there is astroturfing going on in tech support and discussion forums.There are some slime balls who are very good at it, and get paid to do it.Companies use these shady characters both to plug their products and downplay their competition. >>If the customer puts your product through a genuine technical evaluation, no amount of plugging by A-list bloggers can save you, unless your product is good. But, then, there is shady enterprise style "high-touch" sales, that bypasses the end-user.