As much as it pains me to agree with Jeff Nolan on his post about corporate blogging here, I have to say that annecdotally I do not see an immediate tipping point for corporate blogging. From my vantage point, I see at least a couple of other factors contributing to the sad state:
- There are very few "skilled" bloggers in any position of authority within a corporation – Despite the grassroots nature of blogging, people still need role models for corporate blogging. Unless a company is actively supporting blogging, there is a (tremendous) amount of baggage that blogging (whether right) carries with it in a professional setting.
- Academic arguments on risk management are nice, but some corporations need to gain extra comfort level with their abilities to handle actual blog crises (or at least criticism in the blogosphere) – Ask yourself, who in your organization is a role model for handling this kind of stuff? Have they proven that they can take the heat (of any temperature) in the blog environment or is it just conceptual? I’d be surprised if people could name three people (off the tops of their heads) in their companies that could "handle" the blogosphere. Again whether right, I see it as a barrier to corporate blogging.
The environment and culture surrounding blogging sets the tone within a corporation (case in point: Malcolm Gladwell’s portrayal of how crime in New York was reduced by eliminating graffiti and the visible signs of vandalism).
One area that I am sensing positive feedback in the corporate environment is around serious use of blog reading. Perhaps it is because people can digest larger amounts of information in blog format as opposed to reading traditional new sources. Perhaps it is because they can glean leads and subtle insights from reading blogs. Or perhaps it is related to the richer link content in blogs.
So if companies are not ready to encourage corporate blog writing by actively seeking, reaching out to, and elevating the exposure of skilled bloggers in their own organizations, I would suggest that they support blog reading (and blog intranets as sandboxes at least). The ROI on gaining industry knowledge from blog reading strikes close to very immediately. I think that some managers are surprised by how much their workers’ level of knowledge comes up when they are encouraged to read quality blogs, like Om Malik, Daily Wireless, and Mark Evans (to pick a few from the telecom space).
Steve,
I think your first point is key. Just yesterday, I was speaking with a colleague of mine about blogs. Now this person is very smart, and somewhat web savvy. But, when it came to blogs and RSS, he was drawing a blank, e.g., “So a blog is like a web site?”
Is it possible that Senior Management at companies across corporate America simply don’t know what a blog is? Or why it is useful? If this is the case, then it definitely has to be a grassroots initiative by folks who are, I dare say, younger and more in tune with the web. My hypothesis has been that there is a generational gap between Web 1.0 (web sites) and Web 2.0 (I’m including blogs here). I don’t see anything to suggest that this is not the case in the general executive population.
It also points to a marketing strategy of educating Senior Management about blogs, thier evolution, their utility, risks, etc., etc.
“So a blog is like a web site?” … I’m glad I’m not the only one that gets this question! 😉
“Is it possible that Senior Management at companies across corporate America simply don’t know what a blog is? Or why it is useful?” … I think the ROI on blogging is hard to articulate at a senior management level in part because there are many differrent use-cases and the ROI (many times intangibles) depends on the use-case. Senior management can quickly grasp things like close $X million dollars more business or save 30% in recurring maintenance costs, etc.
In part, this is why I believe that corporate blogging needs to be a simple decision. The low hanging fruit (as I see it) for the masses are things that will hit with visible, positive returns with low effort to implement. The returns need not be so quantifiable at this phase, but they should hit fast.