free-for-all vs. managed “official�? blogging

The conversation continues on the Global PR Blog today, Elizabeth Albrycht responded to Erin Caldwell in the comment section of the blog on a discussion point about the different strategies used by companies in who should blog.

Elizabeth said, “Achieving a balance between free-for-all employee blogging and more strategically managed “official�? blogging. There is certainly a place for both. One point I try to emphasize to people when I am explaining this world of participatory or grassroots communications is that leadership is still very important. You might have thousands of employees’ blogging, and only a few will be truly fantastic and influential all of the time. They emerge as natural leaders. But I would argue that it is the responsibility of the communications to both nudge these naturals along as well as identify other potentials and give them the training and tools they need to get to a higher quality level.�?

I really agree with Elizabeth on these points, when I think of free-for-all employee blogging I think of Microsoft and SUN, when it comes to managed “official�? blogging I think of Macromedia and IBM. Each company takes a different approach to blogging that works for them, but I think all of these companies have or are developing a formal approach to having their communications department support their blogging efforts.

Posted by johncass at September 20, 2005 10:27 AM