NYT covers the emergence of brand blogs. Communicating to, evangelizing and even spurring the development of brand blogs should be a key activity for any communicator and marketer. Ken Ross of NetFlix is quoted:

"In addition to viewing blogs as another media channel, it allows us to keep our pulse on the marketplace," said Ken Ross, a vice president of Netflix, the movie rental company based in Los Gatos, Calif. One of the best-known blogs about Netflix, hackingnetflix.com, was started last November by Mike Kaltschnee, who lives in Danbury, Conn.

"I post anything I find interesting, and it turns out 100,000 people a month find it interesting, too," said Mr. Kaltschnee. He also started a blog about Trader Joe’s, the specialty grocery chain based in Monrovia, Calif., at trackingtraderjoes.com/.

When it comes to Netflix service, postings about scratched discs or torn return envelopes generate dozens of comments from readers. "It’s sort of like the unadulterated truth about Netflix," Mr. Kaltschnee said. "We hope that Netflix reads these things and notices trends and fixes them.

All the more reason for branding, marketing and communications to be joined at the hip. More than anything, this points to the emergence of complete brand transparency. Here bloggers are diving deeping into the brand and product than any analyst or journalist could on an ongoing basis. It gets at a deeper trend of brands being evangelized and laid bare.