Oct
2010
First Twitter, now blogging – Lucy Kellaway strikes again
Last month, I discussed an article by Lucy Kellaway in the Financial Times in which she criticised the extensive use of Twitter by the UK head of Starbucks as a distraction from his day job.
Today it seems she’s at it again, only this time on the subject of whether senior employees should blog as part of their remit. Unlike her Twitter argument I’m inclined to agree with many of her key points, though I still dispute her central thesis that “social networking has become the number one way for senior management to waste time”.
Kellaway makes three very good points as follows (ironically I was discussing this very issue with my colleague Ed Jones over a pint last night but I have a feeling he won’t fully agree with me…)
1. “There are a few people inside companies who are natural bloggers, who are actually good at it, and enjoy it” – very true and see here, here and here for some good examples of this in H&K. People shouldn’t be forced to blog if they either don’t want to, or don’t feel they will be contributing anything by doing so.
2. “You {the writer of today’s letter} are wrong to think it has to take hours and hours. Blogging will only take so long if you are fretting unduly over every comma or trying to present original, complicated material” – again, very true. Make it quick, make it impactful and make it relevant
3. “Most corporate blogs are read by almost no one” – not 100% true, but an important lesson nonetheless. One of the first rules we employ here at H&K when it comes to discussing blogging with clients is to ask them straight up – ‘Why is there a need for you to blog about X, Y or Z?’. If you can answer that question in the positive then you’re ready to start looking at a blog (and again, see here for a good example from one of our clients)
Oct
2010
Joey Ng
You linked to many great examples there Dave. Look forward to your Apprentice round up tomorrow.
Oct
2010
Dave Chambers
Thanks Joey – Apprentice round-up duly being posted now
Oct
2010
Niall Cook
Disappointing to see Lucy Kellaway of all people get sucked down the same pipe as others before her on the third point. If you think of a blog as a publication that gets “read” like a newspaper, then you could argue that they are read by almost no one. But that approach complete misses the point. Most people do not “read” blogs, they arrive at a post through a combination of searching, browsing and following links. They may never visit that blog again, and that – unlike a newspaper that needs readers to survive – is absolutely fine.
Equally, I think it’s hard to justify her hugely generalised position (which she to weakens with not only a “most” but also an “almost”) when you think that all our H&K blogs are receiving around 8,000 unique visitors a month. I don’t consider that to be “almost no one”.
Oct
2010
David Chambers
Interesting comments Niall, and I agree I’m not sure why she has such an agenda on the issue.
Oct
2010
Grant Smith
Thanks for the plug DC. You may now come to lunch.
Jul
2011
H&K London's Blog » Blog Archive » Powerpoint – five H&K tips for success
[...] As you may know from previous posts, I’m a devotee of Lucy Kellaway’s weekly column in the FT on working life. Her missive last week declared war on the use of Powerpoint by presenters. As she sees it, Powerpoint leads to boring, ineffective presentations which “lower the quality of discussion and lead to bad decisions”. [...]