Steve Rubel writes that one of his clients, simplehuman, is using TypePad, a hosted blog publishing tool, as the content management system to handle their press room.

Is this a good idea?

Using blog tools to power corporate sites and their various sections might in fact in many cases prove to be a good choice, since blog tools are essentially very basic content management systems. For example, MovableType can easily power any basic corporate site and allow its editors to easily change its structure, UI and content.

Then, how about using hosted blog tools, such as in the case of simplehuman's press room?

First inspect the URL: http://simplehuman.typepad.com/pressreleases/

Now consider this from the credibility viewpoint. Can a serious company afford to have its brand and online location so directly associated with any kind of "hosting" service that gives a similar impression to what we were seeing a couple of years ago with companies who did not want to spend money for web hosting?

I'm not trying to put TypePad down, it's a great blogging service. But how many people actually know that? What kind of impression is this URL leaving on them? Sadly, this reminds me of the old days where companies were still using Hotmail as their e-mail provider.

Blogs are changing the media landscape, but in the corporate world they will need to adopt at least some basic online branding laws, such as putting your content behind your own brand domain name.

Esentially, even if you are going to use TypePad and similar services to power certain sections of your site, put in the effort of displaying that information behind your domain name.

And then again, how good idea is it really for corporations to granulate their various content management solutions, without full integration?