Ed Yourdon of NODRUOY Inc. believes some companies are sending the wrong message with corporate blogging policies.
I was in a business meeting a few days ago, listening to a senior executive present his company’s strategic plan for 2007. One of his goals is to establish a new and interesting division of the company as a “thought leader” in its market segment.
Even though it’s a somewhat fuzzy phrase, most of us would understand a “thought leader” to be a company whose ideas, opinions, analyses, and other expressions of “thought” are considered by its peers as being the most authoritative, credible, and pioneering in its industry. Intrigued by the identification of this goal, I asked the executive if he was planning any blogs or wikis to help create the overall image of a “thought leader.” He was a little puzzled at first, wondering if I meant that he should be blogging, or that his marketing department should create an official corporate blog.
“No, no, no,” I responded. “What I meant was: are you encouraging your employees to create lots of individual blogs, so they can be recognized in your industry as the people who, as individuals, are ‘thought leaders’?”
I tend to agree. I think corporate blogs should be a process of empowering people who empower your company. Likewise get your customers to create content about your companies. Remember blogs are about open communication.
Disclaimer: I do blog consulting for companies and tend to be sligtly biased in my approach. Sorry folks.
Originally posted on December 3, 2006 @ 11:53 am