Issues in Corporate Blogging

Online discussions about corporate blogging seem to becoming more frequent and more thoughtful. Maybe we are moving beyond the 'gee whiz' nice idea phase and getting down to a close look at the engine and how we might make this thing work. For my own take on the corporate blogging uptake problem (its about culture, stupid) read my Boss magazine article, from last month.

Here are some recent posts worth noting:
The PostDanmark experience from public(MIND): I think Post Danmark is on the right track. Started from the bottom – from one employee in the HR department, developing the spirit, broaden the use out of the HR and into other processes. Speaking about it – creating ownership among others – playing with the tool, seeing the potential, not only as a gadget, but as the right tool for new kinds of communication. Post Danmark is on it's way using weblogs as a integrated part of there HR-activities. Funny how things is escalating, how things are ignited...:-)

A less positive account from Germany: In Germany, many companies tend to be very "corporate" and certainly very formal compared to the US and UK, as an example. For instance, it's common for colleagues of many years to still call each other Mr and Mrs (Herr or Frau) and speak to each other with the formal sie, rather than the familiar du. So the idea, for instance, of a CEO blogging to the world is distinctly alien.

In Australia, things are no less bleak, as Cameron Reilly commented recently: "Mick and I were talking the other day trying to come up with one Australian company that is really using blogging proactively to have conversations with their customers and we haven't yet come up with one. What's so hard to understand people???"

Scott Rosenberg of Salon.com is pessimistic about the likelihood of corporate america taking up blogging: "Outside of the tech industry, and a few pockets here and there like law and medicine and library science, blogging remains an inscrutable anomaly, less likely to be seen by an employer as a PR plus than as an HR nightmare. Corporate America is still, outside of a few islands of enlightenment (and pragmatism in the face of a chaotic world), all about control -- controlling the message, controlling costs, controlling the employee's life to the extent that the company is able."

Tim Bray of Sun on the other hand is very upbeat: "Today, in late 2004, there are exactly two companies in the world where blogging has gone wide-open: Sun and Microsoft. At both places, the impact has been overwhelmingly positive. Neither of us would consider going back for a second. The existence of the Sun and Microsoft blogs is, every day, making our competitors’ lives a little harder. This kind of competitive advantage generally just doesn’t go unanswered; we are after all living in a free-enterprise system." So Tim believes that it will spread through competitive pressure, whatever reservations today's generation of over-controlling CEOs might have.

Here's a few more contributions to this debate: A sabre geek, Susan Merrit, Robert Scoble, and Neville Hobson.

On a practical (informational) note, Sabrina I. Pacifici of LLRX.com has a powerpoint presentation which "documents and illustrates how the development and implementation of blogs within your organization can serve as a key application to facilitate research services, knowledge management, marketing, training, and communications within groups, departments, and enterprise wide."

Comments

[Gary Potter]

First, thanks for the mention. Sabre will get there, I'm convinced of it. While it may take a dialogue with our CEO, I'm up for the challenge, as are my colleagues.

[Hans Henrik]

Hi Trevor

Thank you for linking to my post about Post Danmark

I think your right - Corporate Blogging is becoming a serious tool for management, and my hope is still that we in the nearest future will see other business possibilities than PR and externalized communication.

Post Danmark is a good case on that.

Best Regards
Hans Henrik H. Heming