Blog

If you’ve ever wondered whether a blog can become a money making venture, I suggest you read the story of Dr. Arnold Kim and his blog, MacRumors, in today’s New York Times.

There is a proliferation of blogs devoted to finding out and revealing secrets about companies and organizations. MacRumors is one that is devoted to trading gossip, rumors and facts about Apple, the notoriously secretive computer company. Apple inspires considerable speculation in the technology industry because of penchant … some call it, obsession … for secrecy. For Dr. Kim, reporting on Apple’s secrets translates to a large following and a six-figure income.

A business acquaintance was telling me that he hoped his company might emulate the style of Dell Computer’s corporate blog. Not wanting to throw cold water on his hopes, I kept silent. But Dell’s blog is not my concept of a contemporary transparent and open interface with customers. Rather, it is more focused on product promotion, chockful of predictable corporate hype and jargon. Example - “Providing Mission Critical Assistance to ProSupport Customers …” That’s self-aggrandizing ad copy, and simply not believable or credible.

Here’s a clue that Dell’s blog is not engendering great support - the miniscule number of comments. Corporate blogs that are successful focus on creating a transparent, interactive online environment. Dell, on the other hand, appears to be using its blog as another advertising platform to push corporate sales fluff.

Here are eight tips to successful corporate blogs:

1. Ask “why” - Why do you want to have a corporate blog? What’s the real purpose, the objective? If it’s to sell, advertise or overtly promote, go buy an ad. The objective of a CEO or corporate blog should be to engage customers/clients in an online discussion, no-holds-barred. If a company has a damaged brand image or reputation, a corporate blog is a good way to give unhappy customers a voice and hopefully win new friends.
2. Post often - get to the point - be brief - invite comments. No one will bother to read long-winded corporate jabber. Make it clear that you want to hear what people really think, especially if they don’t agree.
3. Develop a thick skin. If a corporate blog is genuinely successful, it needs to be a forum for anyone to express any opinion about the company, profanity excluded. Continued
   Tags: corporate blogs, Dell, Outpost Worldwide

In today’s world of intense message chaos, blogs have provided an effective online channel for expression of voice and words. But, what are the rules, best practices and ethical boundaries in the vast blogosphere?

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders has made available online and for free download its “Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents.” It is the most credible standard for basic ethical and journalistic conduct in the world of blogging, in my opinion.

General Motors is trying to patch up whatever reputation it had as an environmentally aware corporation. The company is holding a series of online chats with environmental critics after GM’s blog was slammed with comments that were critical of the company’s environmental efforts. The environmental activist group Rainforest Action Network said some things that GM didn’t like, and the big car company pulled the plug on the comments function of the blog, defying all the rules for openness and transparency in a New Media world.

In today’s world of communications, corporations or organizations must behave with openness and transparency. When engaging audiences - even critics - in conversations using the communications tools of Web 2.0, companies need to accept the risk that not everyone loves them.

Now, GM has backed itself into a defensive, duck-and-cover position and has been responsible for creating adverse media coverage about itself. Not smart.