Comments

• 

  Ian Barr said:

  Perhaps to test the waters, a CEO should consider blogging for a few weeks (or months)without it being live?
  
  My rationale would be that it would:
  - allow them to develop or find their blogging 'voice' (which can sometimes take a few weeks of posting)
  - get into the groove and determine how much time it takes them to write a post
  - determine whether or not they're able to come up with compelling posts on a regular basis
  - give them a chance to see how their posts compare to other CEOs out there
  - provide a chance for constructive feedback from a trusted source (who understands blogging)before going live
  November 3, 2006 22:14
• 

  David Ferrabee said:

  There's another option too.  We have done project blogs, or 'campaign' blogs for a few senior execs.  These are travel journals or reflections on a time-limited activity.  In both cases they haven't been advertised as blogs, but that's what they were.  
  
  In this way the experience is still authentic, but a bit more contained.  As is the subject matter, so execs don't feel as exposed and do get to find their voice.
  
  Good questions though Boyd.  We had a conversation about this in the morning at our EMEA Internal Comms conference you joined in the afternoon.
  
  If only we'd known.
  
  Also, btw, the fellow who ran those two 'campaign' blogs has just started blogging (http://blogs.hillandknowlton.com/blogs/philturner).
  
  Cheers
  
  /df
  November 4, 2006 06:33
• 

  Boyd Neil said:

  Both great ideas. I especially like the idea of 'campaign' blogs and think we should add it to our Canadian toolkit. Ian . . . would this meet the criteria in your comment?
  November 4, 2006 07:43
• 

  Brendan said:

  Great comments... Personally, I am not entirely convinced on the merits of time-limited blogs. For a couple of reasons: they typically do not allow sufficient time for the authors to find their voice nor to truly build a sustained audience.
  
  Secondly, and while I agree that there are no rules that govern blogging, I would argue that anyone or any organization that choses to blog should be prepared to do so over an extended duration. Time-limits or selective blogging - like a political campaign blog, for example - could create the perception that blogging is something that will happen under specific terms and conditions only, and when those conditions are met, it is shut down. However, I certainly see the merits in issues-based blogs (ie. the McDonalds CSR blog - that said, blogs such as this tend not to be constrained by time-specific considerations)
  
  All that said, I think the discussion around campaign blogging - of which we have now been involved in a couple - is an important and intriguing one.
  November 4, 2006 15:52
• 

  http://blogs.hillandknowlton.com/blogs/boydneil/ said:

  Brendan . . . is your objection that this issue-blog approach is counter to the spirit of blogging or that there is something intrinsically weak in the approach as strategy? Frankly, if it is identified as time and issue-limited (in the interests of transparency) I don't see a problem. With respect to finding an author's voice, again I think that the voice can also be 'attached' to the issue.
  November 4, 2006 17:56
• 

  Brendan said:

  I should differentiate between issue and time-sensitive or campaign blogs (although campaign blogs may be inherently issue-specific, McD's CSR blog I would consider issue-specific but not time-constrained and I believe that is the right approach). As it relates to time-specific blogs, which I am not convinced of, it's less an issue of transparency as it is value and perception. Audiences build over time, so a temporary blog may accomplish little in terms of reaching target audiences. And, as I mentioned re. Perception, audiences may be turned off by an exec that blogs then stops when he or she decides that they,ve had enough with it... Or that it's purpose has been served, like a press release.
  November 4, 2006 19:13
• 

  David Ferrabee said:

  I think we may be looking at it from different ends of the telescope.  In Change & Internal Comms we are trying to push exectives to do it.  To overcome their fear of exposure and of direct feedback.
  
  I like to think that internal and external blogs should be the same thing (like this one).  But to get people to adopt you have to let them try it out.
  
  I am almost alergic to the work 'campaign' in terms if Internal Comms, because I think all internal comms is about a longer, more enduring conversation... You can't sell employees.
  
  But when the probleme is getting execs to blog... Or getting organisations to blog, I think there's nothing like trying it on for something where the subject and time are dead easy for the Exec to understand.
  
  /df
  November 5, 2006 16:05
• 

  Brendan Hodgson said:

  David, good points. I certainly agree that exposure, in any format, is ultimately a good thing for the executive. The question becomes one of what responsibility - if any - that executive has to his/her audience, internal or external.
  November 5, 2006 21:40
• 

  James Barbour said:

  For a great example of how NOT to CEO-blog, take a look at Carphone Warehouse's Charles Dunstone.  
  
  He clearly began with all the right intentions, but I strongly suspect that if he'd asked himself your six questions beforehand, he might not have started his pseudo-blog at all.
  November 6, 2006 11:10
• 

  Thinking of video blogging? You should probably forget it. » Brazen Careerist said:

  PingBack from http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2006/11/21/thinking-of-video-blogging-you-should-probably-forget-it/
  November 22, 2006 03:50
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