Does your company blog?

Caroliso

My IS manager is thinking about introducing blog technology into our company and making it available to folks. We do not currently have any kind of electronic discussion boards, although our culture is one where there is lots of open discussion and communication around company issues (some useful, some not).
The whole idea gives me the heebie-geebies, but I have not done more than glance at a blog in my life so I admit to being a novice. I don't even like the idea of self-managed employee web pages, so maybe I'm a bit of an old fogey in this regard, feel free to (gently) tell me that.
Does anyone have company supported blogs? Has anyone seen them, or seen articles about their implementation?

Gillian3

The IT Manager shouldn't introduce anything like this without first obtaining the approval of top management, and that should come after a full discussion by all the players, including HR. This is kind of like you introducing the idea that from now on you are not an "employment at will" employer. I think that there is a place for electronic communication in certain kinds of environments - where things are pretty open about what is going on and acceptance of employee opinions, including criticism. There should be a great deal of thought pertaining to the "rules of the game" and that isn't an IT thing.

marc

What would be the purpose? If it is to elicit EE input, sort of like an electronic suggestion box, then I would want the practical outcome to be based on reasonable expectations related to that kind of activity.

But, if it is just a way for EEs to have water cooler discussions electronically instead of the way it happens now, what's the point?

Why spend company resources on another way for EEs to be non-productive? Just because the technology and talent exist to utilize an IT application does not mean you should do so.

I cannot think of a really good purpose for this.

Gillian3

You are correct - this wouldn't have any value, and would be disruptive, for the vast majority of employers. There are some environments, though, where it would have some value - in those environments where consensus plays a role and where discussion of company issues is encouraged. Even there, though, rules must be established to maintain the value.

Caroliso

You're right, of course. He has mentioned it to two people as far as I know, we are close work colleagues, so I think it's his way of trying out the idea in advance of floating it more broadly.
We are an organization that describes itself as making as many decisions as possible based on consensus building, which has its ups and downs. So I would say this is a concept that does go with our culture, but you are right that "ground rules" about the blog discussions will be key.
Marc also raised some excellent points about thinking through what the purpose would be. I think IS Mgr is thinking about it as a way for people to share ideas in an informal way, and his point of view is that if people repeat rumors and other dreaded opinions, its no worse than the everyday rumor mill and at least we can attach it to someone.
Marc raised another good point about it possiblly being a way for people to waste time, and that just because it *can* be done doesn't mean it *should* be done.
This is why I come to this board! Please keep the comments coming.

Crout

Define "old fogey." If you say it's anyone who remembers Eisenhower I'm gonna be a little upset. And what's wrong with being an old fogey, anyhow? Old Fogeyism has it's place.

Caroliso

My apologies to Old Fogeys everywhere! x:D

System

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 06-10-05 AT 09:53AM (CST)[/font][br][br]If there is a place for blogging within a company (notice I said if), maybe the President or CEO could blog about happenings in the company to keep ees, vendors, and/or customers in the loop. But you need someone who exudes personality in their writing and who has the time to do it. Typically blogs are updated every day, although it's up to the writer to decide. If they aren't updated frequently enough, your readership will stop visiting the blog.

Personally, I'd avoid opening up blogging to employees for the same reasons mentioned already - it's time consuming (and probably isn't going to contribute to the bottom line or employee morale) and there's too much leeway for employees to blog about inappropriate things. If policing e-mail is a pain, think of policing blogs that are immediately visible to everyone as soon as they hit post (unless you approve each post before it goes live - again, time consuming).

One other thought - the popularity of blogs often rises if the content is controversial, and it's much easier to write something controversial in a blog than it is to say it in a group of co-workers or in front of management.

That's my two cents' worth. x:-)

Edit:

Articles on the topic of business blogs, or b-blogs:
[link:www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2004/tc2004089_3601_tc024.htm|Blogging for Business]
[link:www.inc.com/articles/2003/07/bblogs.html|Technofile: Blogging for Business]

HRCalico

Here's a Yahoo story on blogging - more food for thought.

[url]http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/warningyourcleverlittleblogcouldgetyoufired[/url]