[Sigia-l] Corporate blogs, again

[anu gupta]

Listera wrote

> Here's an interesting article on corporate blogs, this time focusing on
> Microsoft:

> <http://www.atnewyork.com/news/article.php/3093931>

>Many questions on this phenomenon remain unanswered.

> Suppose a CEO comes to you and asks, "So you're a hotsot IA, do you think
we should allow our 10,000 employees to have a > blogs?" What will you
advice?

Interesting questions...here's my take on this. Did you see Groove's weblog
policy for employees ? 

http://www.ozzie.net/blog/2002/08/24.html

Not sure whether there's been any advances on this since.


> Shouldn't blogs be just personal?

What's personal ? Is Gizmodo a weblog ? I'm not sure it's necessary, but
does it really matter ? If the tone of the weblog becomes too corporate and
sanitised it probably stops being so interesting, and therefore loses
readership. 

> Should they comment on one's own job? Could they ever be objective?

I think they can - look at Zawodny and others who talk about day to day
activities. I don't think it's possible to generalise, it depends on whether
the company culture encourages openness or not.

> Can you ever trust corporate bloggers on their employers?

If they earn the trust, then I don't see why not.

> Are corporate bloggers under any legal obligation to favor their
employers?

Good question. 

> Is the corporation ultimately responsible for what's said in employee
blogs?

I guess that's something that will only be decided in the inevitable court
cases that will occur.  

> Is it immoral for an employer to encourage blogging by its own employees?

Absolutely not, as long as the employer doesn't force the employee to blog
to the employer's demands.

> Should employers sponsor and/or host employee blogs?

I think yes, if they want to establish a more personal voice in their
dealings with customers - a bit Cluetrainy maybe, but I think it makes
sense. 

> Should the corporate site link to employee blogs?

Yes. Blogs should be seen as a valuable and additional channel of
communication. Otherwise, why even host and link to forums or discussion
boards.

> Should the corporation closely monitor employee blogs?

Yes, but mainly because they might find some interesting information that
wouldn't get to them otherwise! I would imagine this would happen just
because internal colleagues would subscribe to the feed.

> Should it formally distribute corporate blogging guidelines?

Yes - see the Ray Ozzie post linked to above. 

> Should corporate bloggers disclose such guidelines they operate under?

Yes, of course. A link to the corporate policy would probably suffice.



anu