Business Week: Blogging with the boss’s blessing
July 1 2004
Until recently, the thought of employees blabbing freely to the masses about their work on company time -- without the suits from PR hovering over them to stay "on message" -- would have created panic in the executive suite. But in the past year, employee blogs have begun to multiply across Corporate America -- and a growing number of companies approve. It started mostly as a techie thing when engineers and product developers at places such as Macromedia, Sun Microsystems (SUNW ), and Dell (DELL ) began posting first-draft free-for-alls of their own volition as a way of communicating with customers, each other, and the outside world. Though employees represent just a fraction of the 2.7 million bloggers today, experts predict they will grow robustly as consumers demand information in a more unvarnished way.I guess the hype cycle is finally at a point where corporate blogging is becoming mainstream; I consider myself a pioneer in the area, having started lotus.com/weblog 18 months ago; but I wouldn't consider myself a role model. So many things I'd like to do or have done differently with that site.
In fact, had a meeting this morning to start the discussion about what lotus.com/weblog v2 will look like. The current plan is that we'll open it up to multiple authors, based in part on the feedback I received here several weeks ago. We're even looking at it in some interesting ways -- whether my colleagues might have to "audition" to be a part of the writing pool, or whether we might make it a recognition thing -- "fame and fortune -- write for the lotus.com/weblog". I'll avoid the obvious ego-inflating comment (though it was made in the meeting) of how attractive it will be for my colleagues to "be like Ed Brill" ;)
I'd expect to start seeing changes there in the next few weeks, certainly no later than during August. I'm still open to feedback and input; and if you are an IBMer and want to contribute...send me an invite for 30 minutes ;)
Back to that Business Week article for a second...
It's revolutionary because companies have usually been more concerned with controlling their message than conversing with customers. Blogging changes that by establishing "a connection through real human beings speaking like real human beings, which is something companies have forgotten how to do"That's exactly what we wanted to do with lotus.com/weblog. I'm hoping that V2 will deliver on that, by opening up a whole range of humans to that direct 1:1/1:many communication.
Link: Business Week: Blogging with the boss's blessing >
Post a Comment
- 2
Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 7/1/2004 8:03:33 PM
you had your shot, buddy ;)
- 3
jon johnston bingo.cbsol.com | 7/1/2004 11:28:41 PM
I thought you were already in charge.....? Boss? What?
I've been so disillusioned. :)
- 4
Paul Robichaux http://www.e2ksecurity.com | 7/5/2004 8:16:29 AM
lotus.com/weblog isn't the kind of blog that the Business Week article is talking about; it's thinly veiled PR that doesn't "establish a connection" in the sense that, say, Robert Scoble's blog does. There are several ways to accomplish this connection-building: one is by providing more transparency into business processes (cf. the Exchange team blog, which Ed has made fun of before precisely because it *is* transparent); another is by providing useful insights drawn from one org that are widely applicable (cf. Joel on Software). Merely linking to product release announcements and the occasional article isn't going to cut it in the world envisioned by the BW article.
- 5
Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 7/6/2004 1:37:58 PM
it's not the same blogging mindset.... corporate blogs run the gamut. lotus.com/weblog is (or could be) more like Groove's corporate blog. There are lots of other similar examples. And I hope it will change and evolve in a way that is more meaningful.
- 6
Axel Janssen | 7/7/2004 3:58:04 AM
the CIO of fornicary has set standards regarding outspokeness and fun of blogging.
Those are difficult to reach:
http://www.jroller.com/page/fate/
When I read Domino blogging I feel that there could be a bit more critical attitude against the own plattform. Best in this regard are Ben Poole and codestore.net, I think.
In my view, even in MS.net blogosphere - which I am starting to learn - there are lot more critical voices.
Anyway, I have no blog, and I got some usefull information from Rocky Oliver and others.
But there is grain of salt that others communities than Domino have more attack-your-own-plattform attitude.
- 7
Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 7/7/2004 8:00:08 AM
IMHO, of course...that is a vile blog and language like that should not be tolerated in a professional context. I can't believe any company or customer would want to associate with a blog that uses words like "f---faces" to describe people working on JBoss. If I saw someone blog like that and then connect it with a job at IBM (as in the upper right of that site, where he lists a formicary.net e-mail address), I'd make sure that IBMer went off the air.
There is room for critical voices in the Notes/Domino community, but there's a difference between criticism and spew.
- 8
Paul Robichaux http://www.e2ksecurity.com | 7/7/2004 8:52:11 AM
I don't know if you read Mark Cuban's blog (http://www.blogmaverick.com) or not; if you don't, you should. He is setting the bar for business transparency. The most recent example is his clear and detailed account of why the Dallas Mavericks are letting Steve Nash go-- see http://www.blogmaverick.com/entry/6721616637326928/.
- 9
Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 7/7/2004 11:00:43 AM
what an interesting disintermediation of the whole sports journalism franchise, though!
- 10
Axel | 7/8/2004 11:31:44 AM
... I would be glad if my employer had the customer base of formicary.
... blog contains decent technological info (at least for me).
... we're using his open source workflow engine (http://www.theserverside.com/news/thread.tss?thread_id=20579#90646)
:)