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Each week, Bulletproof Blog features exclusive interviews with thought leaders on issues of critical importance to companies and countries. This week, with the industry-leading blog tracking service Technorati having just released its “State of the Blogosphere 2009” report, we interview Technorati CEO Richard Jalichandra on the evolving impacts that blogs have had on business in 2009 – and what we can expect moving forward in 2010 and beyond.

Technorati just released its “2009 State of the Blogosphere Report.” What surprised you most about how the blogosphere has evolved in the last year?

Richard Jalichandra: What struck me most this year was how much the serious bloggers are continuing to raise their game. Three quarters of bloggers said they blogged more this year. They also continue to be the earliest and most prolific users of other social media tools to support their blogs. The percentage of bloggers using Twitter grew from 40% last year to more than 80% this year – and their number one use of Twitter is to promote their blogs. More bloggers than ever are seeking to monetize their efforts: we saw a 68% increase in the blogs with ad tags over last year. And the lines between blogging and traditional media continue to blur: 40% of bloggers have worked within the traditional media and 27% still do. This is in contrast with 1% of the general population.

The blogosphere has become more and more mainstream. Do you believe that companies have come to fully understand the impact that blogs can have? Why or why not?

Richard Jalichandra: Most companies understand that bloggers can have a significant impact on perception of their brand, and on their revenue. When we do see a gap, this is what we see: there are companies who still view bloggers as hobbyists. Today, blogs are professionally run media businesses. They need the same level of attention as traditional media outlets, but a different strategy.

Recently, the Federal Trade Commission instituted new rules that require more disclosure from bloggers who work with brands for product reviews or advocacy. What do you think this will mean to the developing relationship between bloggers and brands?

Richard Jalichandra: It was a very arbitrary decision on the part of the FTC to place a focus on bloggers while completely neglecting other media, particularly print magazines where the most egregious and frequent instances occur. The vast majority of bloggers are already fully disclosing their relationships. The FTC seems to have created more confusion than anything else. It’s too early to tell if there will be a negative impact such as bloggers becoming reluctant to write reviews.

This year, more than any, has seen “online-first” crises. Domino’s, United Airlines, and Amazon.com have all felt the sting of social media. What should other companies learn from these examples?

Richard Jalichandra: You can add Ralph Lauren to that list. If you missed the story, their lawyers sent a cease and desist letter to a very well known blogger that had poked fun at one of their advertisements, and ended up drawing huge attention to the ad as well as to their response. They bungled the situation further, then finally ended up apologizing. We tell our clients all the time: don’t wait for a crisis to get started. Companies that have come through crises well have all addressed the issue head on, right away. But it’s more than talking back. First, give up any illusions that you can control the flow of information. Second, social media presents an unprecedented opportunity to know what people are saying about you, right now, as well as the opportunity to engage. Are you taking advantage of this? You should be. Third, are you just talking back or are you actually using the information you’ve received to drive change?

Many companies are looking for best practices for engaging the social media space. Can you share one or two examples of successful corporate engagements in 2009? What was it that made these specific approaches successful?

Richard Jalichandra: I think a great execution to look at is IBM’s Smarter Planet initiative. Instead of trying to force a conversation around IBM, they enabled a conversation around efficiency, infrastructure, healthcare, resources, and how we will collectively use technology to build a better world. They created content, assembled existing content, and distributed the entire conversation across the blogosphere. Technorati built conversation ads which featured rotating categories of blogosphere and IBM content. We also conducted blogger outreach to get more bloggers involved in writing about these important topics.

Besides the state of the blogosphere report, Technorati has been busy redesigning its homepage and implementing an entirely new authority ranking system. What motivated all these changes and what do they mean to the users – bloggers and blog readers – who rely on Technorati?

Richard Jalichandra: These changes add up to one simple thing: Technorati was founded to help people find blog content. The new Technorati does this better than before. We’ve overhauled Technorati Authority to better reflect the topical and fast changing nature of the blogosphere. For example, we are now looking at who’s linking to you over the past month, rather than the past six months. We’ve also introduced Topical Authority – making it easy to find the top blogs by content category. The overall site and our blog directory have been revamped, and we’ve added original content articles, giving bloggers a chance to reach a much larger audience than they do on their own blogs.

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Dallas Lawrence is Chair of the Social and Digital Media Practice at Levick Strategic Communications, the nation’s top crisis communications firm. He blogs on emerging digital media trends and best practices for social media engagement on BulletProofblog.com Connect with him on Twitter @dallaslawrence.