I’d love to sit and blog more today, but the skies are clouding over, rain is coming, and it’s a perfect day to go fishing.

So I’m going fishing. But I’ll leave you with this…

In the wake of the YouTube acquisition, the thoughtful-but-wordy Communities Dominate Brands (CDB) blog wrestles with the concept of building an online community versus buying one.

Of course, buying a community is currently an option for only the biggest organizations. Or is it?

As the idea of online community filters down the business food chain, it’s possible we’ll see individual blog communities being acquired by companies looking to jump start the blogging process.

A nearby example would be my Trout Underground Fly Fishing blog. It’s a classic “passion” blog and one of the top content blogs in the industry.

And it’s possible that an outdoor company that’s lagging in the online arms race would someday want to acquire it - with its community, goodwill and “voice” intact - as opposed to building their own.

CDB’s Take? Don’t Do It.

The CDB blog comes down against acquisition with a couple of thoughtful statements:

The question is however, can you buy communities? And I believe that in fact many companies can build their future, not by buying, but by building.

And:

What we should be saying is - This is who we are, this is what we do, how can we create something that will ATTRACT our stakeholders, our audiences, that creates genuine value that we can develop over time.

The gist of their argument is this: just because a online community exists doesn’t mean the goals and values of the community align with the company’s.

As a copywriter, I’m just as happy with a “build instead of buy” concept. Somebody’s going to build those communities (whether blog or other format). It might as well be forward-thinking copywriters.

I still believe blogs (or whatever they morph into) will represent an enormous opportunity for copywriters willing to pitch the entire project to clients (instead of providing content at $10 a post), though most businesses are taking a “wait and see” approach.

Still, make a list. Sharpen your pitch. And see what happens.

Technorati Tags: communities dominate brands, blog, business blog, business blogging, corporate blog, community