I agree that it is important to monitor what blogs are saying about your organization. No question. Blogs are an increasingly important information source and, in some cases, your customers may not discern between information they receive from a blog post versus a more "traditional" media outlet. Setting up regular, real-time Google blog alerts is a great way to accomplish this.

However, I disagree with the notion that all blogs should be engaged in response to a negative post about your company. There are instances where a blanket policy toward blogs simply doesn't make sense.

There are blogs out there that exist for the sole purpose of stirring up "dirt" about organizations and individuals. These blogs need to be approached carefully with an understanding of how they work (Is the author likely to re-post an email verbatim? What is community of commenters like? Has the author ever corrected a story in the past? etc.) More often than not, you are better off not engaging a blog like this and letting the story run its course.

I've seen many instances in which a company's response has resulted in a larger, more negative story which inadvertently extends the shelf life and turns it into a much bigger issue than it would have been otherwise.

It's not by any means a simple issue. I just wanted to clarify my quote in the above story. Best of luck!