Steve,

I've been around since mimeograph machines were a critical tool in communicating with others in my company. Heck, I remember the Xerox 1000 which came out when I was in high School. Copiers that collated, fax machines, Compuserve and AOL, I've been through all those changes.

This is what I tell my co-workers: We are with blogs now, where we were with the Internet in 1991. Just as the advent of the e-mail and the Internet changed the way we communicate, so will blogs. In my office one (superficial) difference between now and then is that, in the old days, people sat behind their desks facing forward as they wrote business letters, memos, and newsletters. Legal pads were key tools. Now, they have their monitors and keyboards on the credenzas behind their desks and their backs are to their desks. The jump from hard copy to electronic was probably bigger than the transition to blogs going on now.

Five years from now, we'll wonder what the fuss is all about. People responsible for communications are going to have to get used to surrendering part or most of the control they now have over content. Sure, it's a brave new world. There have already been casualties as the media has reported people getting fired at Google and one of the airlines because of what they wrote in their blogs.

But IBM has more than 2800 employee-driven blogs and Microsoft has more than 1,000 (source: A Practical Guide to Business Blogs by Ives and Watlington)

Jump on the bandwagon or get out of its way. While it won't always be pretty, It's gonna happen.

Great blog. Post more.

Regards,
G.

I like blogs, and I read blogs, but - fearless prediction - they will not have any significant, long lasting impact. Especially not in the Corp world. As I've noted in earlier comments, I can see where the overwhelming majority of "corp" blogs will be written by Susie, the Corp communicator. And while i am sure she is really nice, and a hell of a better communicator than the CEO, she is NOT the CEO. And therefore, all the value of this most personal of vehicles is boiled right out.

From the conference, I learned there is already a career path for blog ghostwriters. That is the death knell right there.

In this regard, I agree with that Wonkette person, who made her fame BEING a blogger, and still recognizes that "yeah, its not exactly new - we used to call it a bulletin board."

Can add much to that.

Steve N

Maybe I've read the Cluetrain Manifesto one too many times, maybe I'm young and naive, but I would love to see an executive’s blog that didn’t deal with corporate strategy or messages. Just a blog about what he (or she) does during the day, the things he is faced with. I think having a blog that just deals with company policy/strategy/earnings/whathaveyou, would be more seen as yet another corporate vehicle, while a more personal outlook could offer employees and customers a more personal, a more human view of the inner workings of the company)

I think that even if a CEO started a blog, he would most likely be really into it for about 2 months, then get bored and quit- leaving the employees once again feeling like they are being slighted by the man.

i am not a big blogger and wonder how anyone has time to keep up with more than a few blogs at a time - i would rather spend my time reading this blog than my CEO's blog - if he had one.

One big, fat kudo (haha, inside joke here....kudos=sing.+plural)....anyhow, one big fat K to Charles Pizzo above re: "The whole blog debate wears me out . . . Blogs remain a gray area, IMHO. Lots of potential; unproven. . . If everybody is reading and writing, who is working?...What we're hearing now is a lot of blogsterbation." (I'm also partial to anyone who makes up words that end in -sterbation)

Seems we're getting awfully excited over a new "tool" that has the real potential of becoming a work-time-sucking black hole. I mean, if employees spend too much time out dishing about "the job," when does the job get done?

And as communicators, aren't we supposed to champion tools that act as CATALYSTS to make the work time go "better, stronger, faster" (to borrow a phrase from $6m man's Oscar Goldman), rather than time-robbers that supplant bitching about/dishing about/pondering solutions about work for the REAL work?

The maxim "Sh*t or get off the pot" comes to mind....I think only if/until blogs evolve and truly help employees get from point A to point B faster, we're doing a whole lot of bowel-dumping, and not enough getting off the pot and back to biz.

Believe me, this comes from a person who ought to be in 12-step for procrastinators. I just happen to recognize that next bottle of Everclear when I see it.

Laurel (turning 41 next week and obviously crabby about it)

I agree with Shel's comment that "blogs should be used where they make sense" -- just as any other communication tool. However, it's been my experience that there is a need for collaboration in the corporate environment. So whether it is a Wiki, blog, or message board, as long as it's helping to fulfill the needs of the organization is the important thing in my opinion.

To put it more concisely, a blog is an excellent opportunity for an organization to display commitment to TWO-way communication - as long as the content makes it clear that the owner is reading the comments.

A man has gotta have priorities. Let your geek flag fly, baby.

Has Steve C lost the locus of control on this thread?

SN

Apologies to David Crosby (when's the last time someone apologized to HIM N-E-way?

Almost cut my blog
Happened just the other day
It was gettin' kinda long
Coulda said it took time from my day

But I didn’t, I just posted replies
I feel like
Letting my geek flag fly
Yes I feeeeel
Like posting
To Someoooooonnnneeee

(from an avowed CSN/sometimes Y geek)

As usual, Shel straightened things out before I could make my feeble attempt at scoring some points.

But I'll make 'em anyway:

1. A blog is not just a glorified message board. It's about ownership of the message and the process, baby!
2. CEOs have to communicate more and communicate better, not only with employees but with all stakeholders. If we don't teach them how to use a blog, who will?
3. Are all blogs great? No. Are all corporate newsletters great? No. As Steve C. will attest, most are C.R.A.P. Does that mean we should discourage newsletters? Maybe instead we should encourage people to do them WELL.
4. People who don't have the time or patience or inclination to make room for the new media will be left in the proverbial dust.

My friend David Murray made his prediction, so I'll make mine: Blogs are here to stay, for better or for worse. Which will it be? I'd say we communicators have something to say about that.

Well, hell, I wouldn't want to come off as the nattering nabob of negativism on this thread - Ive explained to many a person that skeptical and cynical are not in fact the same. Kinda like being fat and tall. You CAN be both, but one does not always correlate to the other.... and on this subject (well, all subjects, really) I remain skeptical. Willing to accept new data and modify my position as appropriate, as all good skeptics are - but skeptical nonetheless...

Hey, I can't control the natives!!! Here at Corporate Hallucinations, we take great pride in letting the inmates not only run the asylum, but run it better than the doctor ever could.

This has been my favorite discussion ever here at CH. I don't think there's a thing I disagree with out here . . . and I love hearing everyone's opinions.

Steve C.

I am very much enjoying the buzz around blogs right now and I am working with my company to develop some blog presence. However, I think it is important to remember that blogs are really bulletin boards, I remember dial in bulletin boards before the days of http and browsers. As a school teacher I sponsored my own bulletin board in the mid 1990's where I communicated regularly with my students and teachers around the world. We also buzzed with ICQ. The blog is really the bulletin board all grown up. I remember people talking boldly about how bulletin boards would create a subculture of decentralized communication leading to a totally democratic world of "netizens". Others feared they would become subculture vehicles for terrorists. The fact is, once business learns there is market share or money to be made, the blog will go the same way as the rest of the Internet: a brief Wild West like revolution followed by a complete corporate takeover resulting in mediocrity. For now, though, it is fun.

DATE: 06/15/2005 08:20:2P PM
I agree with the Steves! More information is not always better. More can be distracting and unproductive for employees.

How do you prevent them from becoming unproductive complaint boards (while maintaining any credibility)?

I'm open to new technology, but it needs to offer a unique advantage and value to validate the time of the CEO, communicator, and employees.

DATE: 06/15/2005 18:43:2P PM
I used to feel this way, back when blogs were in their infancy, six months ago. Now, especially as editor of Speechwriter's Newsletter--which may someday be named Ghostblogger's Blogletter--I'm opening my mind a tiny crack to the notion that a handfull of highly communicative top executives (like Dick Edelman and Bob Lutz and that goof who owns the Dallas Mavericks) might use this medium to some great effect.

And, in doing so, influence other execs to try it--or, influence more boards to hire execs who can communicate like human beings with their markets.

It's a longshot, and if I'm a betting man I'm not betting on it. But as the guy who keeps an eye on things for speechwriters, I feel I ought to try to believe there's a chance blogs can change and improve and expand executive communication.

David Murray

DATE: 06/15/2005 31:80:9P PM
I don't know Steve -- you sound pretty irreverent in Ragan Report too. Don't know if a blog is really needed to free you -- you seem kind of unfettered already.

My mind is open to blogs. I realize there are risks and limitations, as has already been outlined here. But with the right exec, and perhaps the right occasion (who ever said that blogs had to be a long-term thing), I could see that there might be applications for this new tool. Time will tell...

DATE: 06/15/2005 33:05:6P PM
I think blogs are interesting, and might work in a corporate setting if they're set up properly, posted to often to keep people coming back, and if contributors are really free to post honest, direct, candid (and yes, sometimes irreverent or edgy) content.

The question popping out of my mind as I assume the cynical employee role, is, "Why does my CEO have time to be sitting at his desk writing a bunch of crap? He should be running the company and making the important decisions that will ensure I still get paid a salary and receive my nice, big, fat bonus check--not spouting his every random thought at me and my 53,000 other colleagues!"

Anyone else wonder why the CEO would be spending his very valuable (and highly paid time I might add) writing blogs to employees?

DATE: 06/15/2005 41:40:2P PM
let's separate the CEO blog from normal internal blogs.....in my opinion, CEOs should spend a helluva lot more time communicating with the workforce, but I don't want to go down that path right now....

internal blogs can do many more things than just be an email killer tool. Steve N and Monique, did you know that you have a blog inside Motorola that tracks project readiness and graphically displays that readiness? I know you do and have seen it. This is just one small example of how an internal blog can be used for other things.

I haven't updated it for a while, but if you want to get an idea of what blogs can do, go to my blog site...at one point, i was listing 101 uses for blogs...a couple of these are easily done from an internal corp blog perspective...

anyway, my point....corp internal blogs will add value in ways not yet imagined...and, that's the problem, no one is using imagination for a tool that is quite flexible....

DATE: 06/15/2005 50:12:0P PM
Hi jbr, I owe you an email. Tomorrow -- I promise!!

Regarding tools to track rapidly evolving projects -- wikis seem quite promising.

DATE: 06/15/2005 52:51:3P PM
My response to Steve's blog: ROTFLMAO

DATE: 06/15/2005 58:93:1P PM
Is that good?

I sure hope it's good.

Steve C.

DATE: 06/15/2005 70:93:9P PM
Yes, ROTFLMAO = good
wOOt! = good
RTFM = bad.

Steve N

DATE: 06/16/2005 10:72:4P AM
Hi, my name's Rebecca, and I'm a procrastinator...
*Hi Rebecca!!*

Seriously it took me over a year to get my wedding album done. I'm ridiculous.

And re: Laurel's comment: "I think only if/until blogs evolve and truly help employees get from point A to point B faster" - again I refer to wiki.
http://wiki.org/wiki.cgi?WhatIsWiki

DATE: 06/16/2005 11:90:9P PM
Gosh, do we still have people who believe that having the CEO talk to the peons occasionally is not productive? Do we need MORE research showing that informed employees tend to stick around and complain less, and that their companies tend to outperform others?

Steve's right, though - use of a blog is just like use of any other powerful communication tool (TV, radio, e-mail) - the sender should not be empowered to use it without having some training in how to use it AND showing some aptitude for it.

DATE: 06/16/2005 12:03:0P PM
I think there is potential in CEO blogs. There is an informality and, occasionally, an intimacy to a good blog that could encourage employee loyalty and remind employees of the big picture - of why they're all there to begin with. Personally, I would love to read a blog that my CEO updates every week or so and reflects upon the week that was.

But I realize this is a very pie-in-the-sky vision. As with non-CEO blogs, they're only really worth reading if they're funny and/or insightful - only a certain kind of personality could really pull it off. If it's just the usual numbers and business speak, it's worthless.

DATE: 06/16/2005 39:15:3P PM
What exactly is the value (the "differentiator", in MBA-speak) of a blog vs. an old school, well written (defined as crisp, conversational, to the point, relevant) weekly message from the CEO delivered via email? I would argue not much.

We have the tools, folks. Always have. Paradoxically, a "good communicator" CEO does not NEED the blog, because s/he's out there anyway via a number of forums. The ones who could benefit from them, of course, would be disasters if they actually had them.

Count me among those who loved the term 'blogsterbation'...

SN

DATE: 06/16/2005 51:22:0P PM
Since I'm supposed to be wielding the knife and readying the hammer and nails, I figure I should offer my $.02. Let's look at Steve's remarks and some of the subseqent comments.

Steve doesn't think most CEOs are good enough communicators to blog. Probably true. They shouldn't, or at least, they shouldn't until they learn how. A bad CEO blog will have worse consequences than no blog at all. However, CEOs who sincerely want to work toward an engaged workforce, and aren't afraid to hang it all out there, would be well served by setting up a blog. Intel's Paul Otellini hasn't been doing it long but already raves about the results. He's found a way to get his views to employees so that they'll actually pay attention and take them seriously, and he's getting valuable input as employees respond via the blog's comments...input he's using to make business decisions. He's smart enough to know that employees in the trenches know more about their jobs than he does.

Ultimately a blog is just a tool. It's a content management system lite, producing posts in journal-like fashion and in reverse chronological order. They let you tag posts so they can be classified under various labels, and they allow for commenting and linking. The power, ultimately, is in the way they open a conversation while leaving the author as the locus of control.

I worked with one organization that had a new CEO starting. He wanted employees to get to know him quickly and he wanted to get up to speed in a hurry. The solution: A CEO blog called "My First 100 Days." Every day he posted what he had done and what he had learned and invited employees to comment. They got to know him, he got the honest and valuable input from the people who do the real work, everybody won.

Should the CEO spend his time blogging? You bet your ass. Assuming you see a blog as an effective new communication channel, I want the CEO communicating with employees as much as possible. I once met an enlightened Fortune 500 CEO who told me he wished CEO stood for "Customers, Employees, Owners," because those were the audiences on which he needed to focus. Who would want to follow a leader who didn't engage his troops?

Should a CEO spend his time writing crap? Of course not. And the CEO doesn't need to blog several times a day, or even daily. A couple times a week should do it in most cases.

As for the comment that suggested an e-mail would do the same thing...it wouldn't. Look at THIS blog. Steve posted his words, assuming control of a message to which the rest of us have responded. Some of us have responded to other commenters. But the locus of control remains firmly with the theme Steve introduced. Now imagine that with a CEO blog (which is exactly what' s happening with the Intel CEO blog). It generates ideas the CEO can actually use in his decision-making process as the employees banter around ideas based on their knowledge and experiences. In e-mail, only the CEO would see the comments he got by way of replies. There's just no comparison. (If there were, we'd all be sending e-mails and blogs never would have proliferated.)

But you can have successful internal communications using blogs even if the CEO never considers it. Siemens, for example, has several. One is from employee communications and is used for the less important, lighter news that doesn't really belong on the home page and is appropriately addressed in a lighter, more human conversational style. Another is used by all the various webmasters as a knowledge sharing and idea generation tool. Another is from IT and lists such mundane announcements as impending server outages. If you care, you can subscribe (via RSS feed) to that blog. If you don't care, you don't have it. And, as many of you have suggested, individual employee blogs can be a powerful knowledge sharing tool, assuming the company has policies in place that govern their use. (That's how you keep them from becoming unproductive complaint boards, by the way. I saw one employee blog post that was about 100 lines of code the employee had written. He said something like, "I just knocked out this code and I believe it can be used in any number of applications. Here's what it does, so anybody who can make use of it should feel free to use it." People who find that kind of thing useful would read his blog. Those who didn't, wouldn't.

I'm not sure I'm aware of the ghost-blogger concept, and I was at the CCC. I know there are people hired to blog on behalf of a company, like the Stonyfield Farms blogs, but that individual is very upfront about who she is. Ghost blogging won't work. It'll be too apparent and not only won't people read them, they'll hold the organization that tried it in utter contempt.

Finally, Charles asks if everybody is reading and writing, who's working? I don't see it as "reading and writing." I see it as "communicating and sharing knowledge." A study from The Institute for the Future a few years back determined that in knowledge jobs (that is, non-factory jobs), no matter what the work you do may be, you spend 80% of your day communicating with others. If blogs provide a better channel for communication, then all that reading and writing IS working, just through a more effective channel.

Blogs, of course, aren't the answer to everything, and they won't replace everything. They should be used where they make sense. Wikis, too, should be employed where they make sense. And we'll continue to use e-mail, phones, and face-to-face. New media channels never kill old ones; they just force old ones to adapt. Radio is still here even though many expected television to kill it. Radio, though, isn't anything like it was in the days before television. It adapted to the new role TV assumed.

Similarly, blogs won't kill off any old media. They'll be applied where they provide value in the organization, and they have plenty of value to provide. They'll be a powerful new tool for employee communication (already are, in some cases). But don't look for it to happen tomorrow. Look how long it took some companies to get intranets!

DATE: 06/16/2005 61:11:0A PM
Thank you, G.

Have you ever read Woody Allen's "Without Feathers?" He's a better writer than he is an actor . . . "Without Feathers" is just a bunch of little skits and short stories and one-act plays and funny farces.

In one of them, he is pretending to be a diarist in New York. And one of the entries is:

"Things are getting serious with G. Should I marry her? Not if she won't tell me her complete name."

Steve C.

DATE: 06/16/2005 68:33:8A PM
The whole blog debate wears me out. Most of the opinions are decidedly black or white --- from "blogs will never be an effective force inside companies" to "blogs change everything about corporate communication."

Half the time, I dismiss these predictions as entirely predictable comments that reflect a writer's well known personality and self interest. To quote comedian Chris Rock, "there... I said it." Consultants are staking out positions that will attract consulting gigs, while informing and entertaining us. But the sales message is embedded ("I am an expert! Hear me roar!")

Blogs remain a gray area, IMHO. Lots of potential; unproven. Only time will tell. The impact of technology is real, yet I still have neither seen print nor paper fade away as forecast a decade ago.

How long before we see measurement topics around blogs, and ROI? Do blogs transform an organization? Create behavioral change?Make knowledge management easier?

If everybody is reading and writing, who is working?

What we're hearing now is a lot of blogsterbation. Some of it is enlightening, and some of it is utterly ridiculous - from both camps.

DATE: 06/16/2005 73:24:4A PM
Interesting comment by Mr. Pizzo. He touches on one of the key issues for blog adoption within a corp....the ROI of a blog. One of the few "hard" returns will be a reduction in storage space allocated/used for email. Not a big cost saver, but much less space is needed to have a single communication item with a 2 meg excel/powerpoint attachment on a blog server than to have the same item/attachment sitting on 10,000 individual users email disk allocation.

another "hard" return can come from elimination of mail lists that are used by admins to send out mass mailings. my company outsources IT infrastructure and we pay $15/month for these lists. there are hundreds of these lists. if the admins used blogs to mass communicate, that cost would evaporate.

other than these "hard" returns, other blog benefits get very subjective and anecdotal. it's difficult to quantify, "work gets done faster" or "information flows faster" and if you are making a case in front of a numbers oriented exec, it's an uphill battle.

hard to sell a "faith" based concept, but if you really believe in it and have passion/good selling skills, it can be done. we need a lot more success stories to move past the blogsterbation phase. no doubt, if my company had blogs incorporated as i want, you wouldn't see me out here looking for success stories to use in my internal fight.

DATE: 06/16/2005 79:03:0A PM
First - Steve N - RTFM...are you a geek, too? If I had a dime for everytime I've said that...to MYSELF. HA!
w00t!

I think everyone should run out and by this T-shirt:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/generic/5eb7/

who says geeks don't have a sense of humor?! It's a great site if you ever need to buy your geek a gift.

ANYWAY - I think blogging is the best thing ever for corporate communications. I also think it will never work.

It's completely subjective, just like the company newsletter...if your CEO doesn't want to take the time to submit something valuable to corporate communications, the medium you offer him/her isn't going to make a difference. We've come a long way from the bulletin board, but we're a longer way still from a paperless society.

And kudos to Monique for recognizing the gift of the wiki! How are you using it in your workplace? That would be a great topic for a communicators conference, if you haven't done that already. My people LOVE the wiki here.

DATE: 06/17/2005 01:84:0P PM
Shel, really like your thoughts on corp blogging. I agree.

DATE: 06/17/2005 68:72:7A PM
In response to Steve N:
A difference is just what we are doing now: the comments. Unless the employees are going to use the "reply all" feature (which would quickly beomce burdensome), it's not a conversation. With blogs, dialogue is fostered.

DATE: 06/17/2005 73:53:9A PM
Fair enough - but arent comments an OPTION? And even if available, if the leader in question does not read them, or reply to them, then you could argue (as was noted earlier in this thread) that the promise of participation that is not met leaves you even WORSE off...

From what I have seen of many high level leaders, while they dont mind answering questions (especially in a live forum), they try to avoid engaging in a back and forth debate. We have all seen those devolve into worthless nitpicking (present company excluded, natch).

They generally understand that you never argue with someone who has more time than you, is obsessed, and has nothing to lose. You may win the argument on points, but it comes at a cost.

My bottom line on blogs is that they, by their nature, require a significant personal commitment. I don't often see that demonstrated. Even the BEST of the CEO communicators have more help than they often care to admit publically. Which is wonderful for me, as someone in that field. But it boils the value right out of this specific tool.

DATE: 06/19/2005 58:54:9P PM
Steve N, I find this discussions fascinating -- just like the ones about whether there was a role for e-mail or chat rooms or message boards in internal communications 10 or 12 years ago, and whether IM had a place four or five years ago. There were even discussions about the value of intranets.

Ultimately, whatever takes root on the web will infiltrate intranets, and that'll include blogs. To your specific points...

Of course comments are optional. Even Dave Winer, who pretty much invented blogs, says that, if you want to comment, you should do it on your own blog and trackback to the source blog. However, that won't work too well internally. While a blog doesn't generate a conversation the same way a chat room does, the blogger (author) is the locus of control, setting an agenda for comments that, more often than not, are constructive. On GM's Fastlane blog, vice chairman Bob Lutz "responds" by writing a new post to summarize comments and then talk about his own thoughts. The participants feel like it's a dialogue, as do employees participating in Intel CEO Steve Otellini's blog.

The commitment you mention is required, of course, but to varying degrees. A commitment to blog weekly is fine, and less of a requirement than someone who blogs daily. Of course, at the end of the day, the commitment can be offset by the ROI, which can include the kind of profitability and growth that results from a highly engaged workforce, not to mention real-world solutions to problems and issues based on employees whose on-the-ground experience can be brought to bear.

As noted earlier, though, any business blog -- internal or external -- should be strategized (as, of course, should any channel).

DATE: 06/20/2005 12:32:6P PM
Well, if we're gonna be quoting CSN (or, as they are sometimes known, Convict, Pills and Hash...) well then I gotta weigh in here for for one James Buffett, Esq. From his album "Beach House on the Moon":

"If men came from Venus
And women came from Mars,
Then I'd be lunching with my boyfriends
While you girls talked about cigars.

But that's not how it happened;
Evolution took a different turn.
We may be creatures with some unique features
But we've still got a lot to learn.

We've made it nearly twenty centuries
A bunch of monkeys with PhD's.
Spun a web of communications
But it's all still a tangle to me.

I can't tell the spiders
From the dangling flies and moths.
I fell like some outsider,
Who seems to have his wires all crossed.

[Chorus:]
I can't fax you my love.
I can't e-mail you my heart.
I can't see your face in cyberspace,
I don't know where to start.
I'm light years behind from the age the call stone.
I'm a carbon based caveman honey, just flesh and bone.

Now we live in the age of computers.
They run everything in the world.
And I'm a little behind on this technical climb
And your are an Internet girl.

I've got words but no processor.
I've got feelings but I don't know DOS.
So I just have to go back to basics
And try to get my point across.

DATE: 06/20/2005 12:15:6P PM
Steve N, you make my heart sigh. Thanks for the poetic reality check. Every time I'm almost convinced to get on the blog bandwagon, you ground me in reality.

As shown here, it seems like the most focused of topics can so easily turn unproductive or become nitpicking. That doesn't mean blogs can't be interesting or sometimes helpful. But is that enough? Ultimately, I suspect most blogs would be mostly entertaining, company-sanctioned procrastination. Case in point -- by writing this, I'm putting off writing an article! hmmm... Time to go back to work.

DATE: 06/20/2005 29:45:0P PM
depending upon the purpose of the internal blog, it is quite possible that comments will be moderated. meaning, comments are reviewed for appropriateness/relevance to the original post topic. so for a CEO internal blog, poems/lyrics may not make the cut for publication on the blog. it will depend upon the "owner" of the blog and the purpose.

a well thought out blog strategy for a company will greatly reduce the level of company sanctioned procrastination. pagers, IM and other electronics means of communication already have the same effect. the "water cooler" has merely been replaced by these electronic forms of communication. in my opinion, blogs will not increase any levels of procrastination.

DATE: 06/20/2005 40:85:9P PM
THE END

DATE: 06/20/2005 73:35:2A PM
Hi Shel - me too (finding it fascinating, that is). I am reminded of Bruno Kirby, the limo driver in This Is Spinal Tap, with the classic line, "This Rock and Roll thing, it's just a fad..."

That said, I don't argue that there are examples of executive blogs that are working and adding value - but I believe them to be the rare exception. Does that say anything about the vehicle itself? Of course not - as noted much higher on this page, I like blogs, and as evidence suggests, I certainly like the commentary.

My hesitation is not about if they have a place, but rather if comms "from the CEO" are most effectively captured in this format. Speaking only for me, what *I* like about blogs is their informal nature, their "peek inside" a world that you don't otherwise have access to, and their personal nature. A well written "weekly message" can accomplish that same thing, without the inherent risks that I see in positioning it as "a blog" (primarily, the expectation that it *is* in fact who you think it is on the other end of that message. Perhaps its the cynic in me, but I can see busy execs tiring of this quickly, and handing off with increasing frequency to their ecom staff...)

Maybe it's their "flavor of the month" feel that I am rebelling against...which is weird because I am usually on board as an early adopter, technology-wise (nice way of saying 'geek'- Monique will support me on that point I am sure). But I just get the sense that at this point, blogs are radiating more heat than light. I think that can and will change as the channel matures.

DATE: 06/20/2005 78:13:1A PM
We're already experimenting with a blog internally for a specific employee audience. The purpose of the blog is to help keep this audience up-to-date with what is happening within their department and division. (It's a rather large and sprawling group.)

In this case, the blog isn't meant to be one exeuctive's mouthpiece - which frankly sounds pretty boring. It's designed to be a point of information aggregation, if you will. The novelty of it seems to be driving employees to check it out. It's also easily accessible, which makes it even handier than e-mail in some situations.

Another way we're thinking about using a blog internally is to support some benefits program changes for 2006. While the changes are not written in stone as yet, we recognize that if they are adopted they will have an impact on a broad group of employees - some of whom are very comfortable usings blogs to ask questions and sound off. So we're thinking a blog might be one of our communications vehicles, and an effective one for part of our employee audience. If we decide to use it in this way, it would be set up around the specific benefits issues; we would have benefits experts posting information and responding to comments and questions; and it would go dark after a specified period of time. We'll measure to see how successful it was to convey the information. Again, it would be only one of the vehicles, since we recognize not everyone would be comfortable with this venue.

DATE: 06/20/2005 80:71:2P PM
Says who?

DATE: 06/20/2005 83:31:5A PM
I definitely can attest to the fact that Steve N is a total geek -- the kind who wears the label like a medal of honour.

DATE: 06/20/2005 83:75:2A PM
Hey now, I've only seen Episode III ONCE - of course, it was on opening day, at a digital projection theater....

SN

DATE: 06/20/2005 83:93:4A PM
He took a vacation day to see it on opening day -- 'nuff said.

DATE: 06/21/2005 10:63:5P PM
My favorite thing was when Steve N. sang for us. He sounded just like Jimmy Buffett.

DATE: 06/21/2005 13:42:3P PM
As steve c. knows, I am more of an 80s Hair Band guy (XM Boneyard, anyone?) but on occasion I can be convinced to stop air drumming and start air steel drumming.

DATE: 06/21/2005 83:34:5A PM
Steve C -- The natives are restless....

I don't think the horse is quite dead yet.

DATE: 06/23/2005 01:82:5P PM
Bill Gates doesn't have a blog. Here's why: "I've toyed with doing one myself, but I don't want to be one of those people who start and then don't finish it, and again I'm thinking maybe I could do one a month or one every six weeks--something like that. I'd kind of like to, but I've got to be sure I can keep going for at least a year to make it worth doing."

DATE: 06/23/2005 71:95:3P PM
David, I read that quote when it was first published. I don't understand your point. Nobody ever suggested a CEO HAS to have a blog. But if the CEO wants to engage employees, is willing to commit to it, and understands what she's getting into, is there any reason she SHOULDN'T? You, too, Steve N. Why not?

DATE: 06/27/2005 78:43:0A PM
Why not indeed. If all of your criteria are met (which is one hell of an "if") then yeah, fire away.

As noted, I am a fan of blogs. Read em every day. But my hesitation with the "CEO" blog is about commitment (ie not 3 entries and never heard from again) , and the personal touch (ie not farmed out to Susie in ECOM).

Which, ultimately, is the defining element of the blog, no? If either one of these ISN'T met, then you come out of experience with LESS credibility than you went in with - an unacceptable outcome.

SN

DATE: 07/05/2005 23:24:3P PM
That thump you heard was Shel falling off of his chair.

SN