|
| |
I just finished reading Halley Suitt's HBR Case Study on blogging in the September issue of the Harvard Business Review. I was so excited to finally get my copy & read the article because I know that many of the top execs at our company read this publication, and I can now go to yet another group of stakeholders and pitch the idea of blogging knowing they the topic has been covered in a publication that they respect. Really, I think that the HBR piece will only add to the credibility of blogging as a vehicle for corporate communication! HBR is a respected rag, and many discussions have ensued in our company as a result of something we've read in HBR.
While I'm on board with the ideas posed in the case study, and for being fictional, the case study does not stretch the truth in the least. Everything that Halley wrote could happen, or is happening in some company somewhere.
(You'll have to have read the piece for the copy below to make sense)
Personally, if I were the CEO in this situation, I would have used the Glove Girl example to develop a policy around personal websites or weblogs that mention the company or associate an employee's work on their own site with the business of their employer. I've not asked yet, but I'm betting that KI does not yet have a policy on weblogs, personal websites mentioning the company, or on corporate employees publishing works mentioning KI. Considering that I'm the "Internet Director" here, I'd better get w/ HR and start working on that little detail. I am very impressed by the Employee Guidelines for Personal Website and Weblogs that Groove Networks has posted on their site.
Further, I disagree with Erin Motameni's analysis when she said "By identifying herself as a Lancaster-Webb employee, she has probably cause other to believe mistakenly that she represents the company's official positions.” I think that’s a load of crap. Let’s consider the demographics here. Web users > Potential Customers > Someone savvy enough to find the weblog of an employee…. I think the odds are pretty slim that Glove Girl’s site could be mistaken for a corporate property or as the official position. But what do I know, stranger things have happened.
There was a point in the article where I would have fired the Glove Girl however. When someone posts potentially sensitive competitive or damaging information on a public website, before the company releases that information to the public (or does NOT WANT that information released to the public), I believe that a breach of confidentiality has occurred and reprimands should follow. However, as the story unfolds, the breach is rectified, but I am of the opinion that the breach should never have occurred.
All in all, a great piece! I truly hope that this piece helps elevate the level of discussion of weblogs within the corporation!
I am new to the internet and I am surfing here and this is very interesting reading. I did a search in the search engines on "company blog" and I found your web blog.
I am a Lawyer in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and thus my interest in searching for a company blog on the WWW.
I just wanted to see how the rest of the world thinks and see what trends and technology are happening in the world. I also was interested in a blog for myself which might possibly lead to a blob for my law firm, you never know, that is if I can understand the technology of operating a blog. The different things discussed on a website found by searching for "company blog" in the search engine is very amusing reading to this Halifax Lawyer.
Respectfully yours
Posted by: A Halifax Lawyer at February 7, 2004 12:31 AMB. J. Stephens, LL.B.