Are Spanish companies listen to the conversation that is taking place in the blogosphere?  I must say yes.

Are they doing it professionally and on a daily basis like with press clippings and using this knowledge in one significant way for the brand?  I have to say no.

Individual employees know the importance of "listen to what the internet is saying", but it is hard for them to make the whole company asume that what is going on in the internet is crucial to the brand.

The reaction of many people -even PR practitioners- with blogs is: "Just another bubble that will  burst".

But there are people from major Spanish companies that are trying to learn more about blogs and are doing their best to figure out how can they use them for different purposes. 

Big companies -both national and multinational- like Telefónica, Vodafone, Paradores de España, Siemens, Repsolypf or Sanitas count with these employees... but some of the companies don't even know it.

Again, I believe it is a matter of time. 

Don't want to be unfair with all, but the majority of the Spanish marketing managers are more concerned about GRPs and massive advertising campaigns, than with the reputation of the company in the internet.

I think they are going to see it more clearly when a huge crisis burst and it will be too late then.

Octavio Rojas will launch his book "Public Relations: The effectiveness of the influence" in Spain. There is a microsite available of the book (in Spanish).  http://octaviorojas.com/librorrppini.html

He is looking for an editor to publish it in English and/or French.  Volunteers? ;)

He has a personal Web site: http://www.octaviorojas.com and a blog: http://octaviorojas.blogspot.com in which he offers articles and news about communication, media and PR on a daily basis.

He is member of the Media Bloggers Association and of Bitacoras.org, the most influential blogging organizations in the USA and in the Spanish speaking countries.