Prototype for a single-stock corporate/financial blog
Cat Stock Blog represents a two-month experiment to test the prospects of a blog devoted to the stock of a single large corporation.
I chose Caterpillar Inc. because it’s based in my hometown and I have many visceral personal connections to the company and its fate. I reasoned that a blog about Caterpillar could attract a large audience among everybody who has a common interest in the company — employees, competitors, suppliers, customers — and that it’s stock represented a) the one thing in which all parties shared a common interest; and b) a score card of how the company was doing in the marketplace
As fate would have it, other more attractive opportunities made it impossible for me to devote the energy required to develop Cat Stock Blog to its full potential. But I think the idea would work well with any large corporation, particularly one based in Silicon Valley (A Cisco stock blog would be an instant hit, I suspect, with its universe of plugged-in techies who must be tired of Apple and HP getting all the attention).
Thanks to all who joined in the fun and remember: those of a true party spirit always find a way to keep the festivities alive when the host calls “lights out.”