But everyone can get a piece of his mind. Lukačovič writes a blog.

Two or three times a week, the entrepreneur, who started Seznam in 1996 and has since built it into a multimillion crown business, tells the world through his online "personal" diary what he thinks about the endless winter that has hit Prague this year, his shopping habits and, maybe most importantly, the new products Seznam is preparing to launch.

Lukačovič asks readers to comment on the last category, in a sly bit of online marketing.

"It has brought us a lot of new ideas and comments from our users," Lukačovič said in an e-mail, adding that he is only writing the blog "to share his views with others."

When Lukačovič started the blog in January 2005, he was still one of a few Czech entrepreneurs who realized that a Web diary is an opportunity for companies to directly communicate with customers and business partners. He is also one of the few who is doing it right.

Written in a personal, gossipy tone, Lukačovič's blog has nothing in common with the dry language of official corporate public relations writing.

It provokes response, and experts say that more and more local companies are looking to do the same.

Corporate blogging — interactive online communication between businesses, their partners and customers that gives companies two-way communication with the public — is catching on here. Companies such as Seznam, software developer AllPeers and online marketing firm Advertures all have blogs, and more are expected.

"Companies are starting to realize that blogging is an important communication channel that should be part of their overall communication strategy," said Jiří Malý, strategy consultant and co-owner of online marketing firm Advertures.

Communicating with customers

Blogs first emerged as online diaries featuring little more than personal confessions. They were later taken up by journalists and other influential people who wanted to give the public an inside look at their lives and views.

"Blogs really appeal to people because they give them a slant," said Kendall Beaudry, who writes a blog for Prague-based travel media company Avant-Guide. She added that people expected blogs to have a personal, gossipy tone.

Corporate blogging is still largely a U.S. phenomenon. In the Czech Republic, company-related blogs started appearing about two years ago and are still the domain of what's called new economy businesses, which is economic jargon for information technology and telecommunications companies.

Experts tout blogs as a powerful tool that allows companies to better communicate with customers, suppliers and business partners by presenting information and knowledge simply, flexibly and quickly.

They say, however, that companies should understand that running a blog carries some risk, namely that the business will have to give up some control over the information on their Web site because customers and others can post to the site.

Sincere promotion

Corporate blogs are usually written by top management and marketing people, which might work together. Experienced bloggers point out, however, that having a PR person write a blog using traditional corporate communication language is not the way to go.

Matthew Gertner, chief technology officer at AllPeers, said a successful blog should have a sincere, "human" tone.

If a corporate blog is full of jargon and PR language, "readers sense immediately that they are not getting real insight, and it just makes the company look bad," Gertner said. "To appeal to people you have to be honest."

Communication experts agree, saying companies should realize that a blog is not a one-way communication channel.

"It is not just another old-school communication channel like PR articles or advertising," Malý said.

AllPeers started its blog about a year and half after launching the company, in 2003. Gertner contributes to tell customers about new, upcoming products. Now more people are visiting AllPeers' blog than its official Web site.

"The goal is to promote the company," Gertner said. "It makes the company seem alive, moving. It makes it much more transparent and real."