Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - Posts
Considering
Computerworld's prediction that more corporations will create official blogs, Brian Kladko at
The Record in New Jersey
bylined a timely article today
on corporate America's use of blogs. His article cites a couple
of examples of companies trying to be more "warm and fuzzy" through
blogs, although he notes that only 5 percent of online consumers read
blogs, and 40 percent have never heard of them.
Blogs are
forcing many companies to break out of the typical corporate America
image and it seems to be a difficult transition for some. The article
notes that the stereotypical blogger is “not a suit-and-tie executive,
but a young, creative geek with opinions on everything – from the
latest lame video game to vote-fraud allegations in Ohio—and wants to
share those opinions with the world.”
The article also included Forrester analyst Charlene Li’s tips for blogging, which are worth repeating here. Many
of us are advising our clients or employers on blogging as a PR tactic,
so this is good advice for corporate America looking to explore this
new medium.
- Start
small, perhaps with an internal blog meant for employees only. When
you're ready to attempt a public blog, choose a product team that's
already communicating regularly with customers. Start with a few
trusted workers, and provide them with clear guidelines.
- Launch with a dozen postings and add new material frequently.
- Be
transparent and build trust. A common way of thinking about blogs is
that they should be like reading letters from someone; readers will
come to understand the author's interests and values. The voice and
tenor of the blog should reflect the writer's personality, not the
interests of the company.
- Encourage and respond to comments from visitors.
- Manage
bad news quickly and truthfully. "When bad news hits - and it
eventually will - don't run for cover; link to the bad news and address
it head-on. You'll gain credibility and loyalty for dealing with the
problem immediately."
- Syndicate
the blog. Using a technology called RSS, allow viewers to subscribe to
regular "feeds" of new content, rather than forcing them to visit your
site.
- Measure
not only the number of hits and visitors, but how many other sites are
linking to yours, the number of transactions that originate from the
blog and the reduction in customer-service inquiries.
Blogging makes not one, but two, of Computerworld's top 10 predictions for 2005 in this week's issue.
3. More people will lose their jobs over their weblogs.
It's happened already, and it will happen again. If you're posting
about your job or employer without consent, you're taking a lot of risk
with your future.
4. But more corporations will create official blogs.
Corporations have seen the weblog light, and blogs will become common
for business use. Unfortunately, far too many of these efforts will
just be marketing fluff disguised as weblogs.
It's ironic that as more and more companies will come to recognize
and try to harness the power of the blogging medium in 2005, others
will feel compelled, or may even argue that they've been forced, to
terminate employment because of fear of the ramifications of blog posts.
With the recent firings of Ellen Simonetti, Michael Hanscom, and
Joyce Park, I'm of the mind, that while I strongly believe in free
speech, I also join the consensus that a policy should be defined and
understood if there is any possibility of work-related posts. The
premise being that blogging is merely an extension of me, my voice, and
when it speaks in relation to my employer, common sense would argue
that my voice should be in accordance with our communications policy
and practices.
Case in point. As we've started this group blog external to
our employer, Connect Public Relations, it was important to us that we
not only kept the company abreast of our venture, but also had its
support. That said, I believe we ultimately control our destiny
in this. We'll be able to look back at this prediction at the end
of 2005 and it should be clear to us why it did or did not come to
pass.
Regarding the marketing fluff facade of corporate blogs, we can play
a significant role in ensuring that that is not the case. While a
corporate blog shouldn't be tethered to PR unless communicated as
PR-driven, as practicioners and trail blazers in this new realm, we are
positioned well to offer the counsel that leads to an honest and
transparent voice amidst marketing noise.
According to Forbes,
blogs may become a thing of the past, giving way to wikis as the next
generation of collaboration. "Think of it as an evolution." Blogs
"invite controlled collaboration," while wikis "are totally
collaborative."
The article goes on to emphasize the power of wikis as a better
platform for knowledge sharing. "Wikis go a step further in
democratizing the Web, making it possible for all of the fragments that
individuals would normally contribute through personal Web pages and
blog entries to combine as continuous living documents rather than
stagnating as dead ends."
While I recongize the knowledge sharing advantages of wikis, I think
it's far too early to remove blogs from their pedestal as an "it"
technology. Blogs are still so 2005. Just think about the
numbers. We're approaching five million blogs on the
Internet. There are more than 15,000 blogs introduced daily,
which means there is a new blog introduced somewhere in the world every
5.8 seconds. And we're not seeing any signs of a slowdown.
For me, blogs are very much a thing of the present, and for millions
of individuals and organizations worldwide, they'll be very much a
thing of the future. We're just on the cusp of this phenomenon
called blogging.
Don't get me wrong though. I'm excited about the prospects of
wikis and tapping into their potential as a poweful tool for mining the
depths of knowledge that exist around me, especially in my
career. One example close to home is when I look inward into our
company. I can't help but think how much valuable knowledge
exists throughout the organization -- based on years of wisdom,
experience, and interactions -- that could be called out into a central
forum where such collaboration would spur revelation and growth.
Talk about a new way for ensuring the process of "being in the know."
I'm just not ready to replace what is a new prospect to me in
blogging, with what some are pushing as the next "buzz" poster child in
communications technology. There's room for both in my world in
2005.