Dell has launched a company blog called one2one. Unfortunately for Dell, instead of talking about things the customers want to hear about through such a interactive medium, they have chosen to use it to wave the corporate flag. Product launches and back-patting seem the order of the day. That is not what a blog is about - you can have those as nice features on your company site. Blogs are about revealing the people behind the company and maybe the behind-the-scenes work they do, the reasons the company does what it does.
For a company a large as Dell a blog is a golden opportunity to connect with their customers, find out what they want or what is causing them concern - much more so than any number of feedback questionnaires would. In a blog you can go back and ask for clarification and also be seen to be acting. Dell should be addressing customer support issues which seem to be the main complaint about them. Also they need to ensure their customers can find them - I could see no links to the blog from the main Dell site, even after using their search tool.
Don’t get me wrong, I think it is a huge thing that Dell have decided to start blogging, but I hope they manage to keep it away from the in-your-face marketing people. This could do more for their reputation than their marketing dept could imagine if done right.