Blogging – Does Size Matter?
I recently spoke with Nancy Flynn, executive director of the ePolicy Institute, after reading some curious statistics about
blogging in her book "Blog Rules". According to her research, only four percent of major American corporations operate public facing blogs compared to ten percent of small businesses who have incorporated blogs into their marketing.
Four percent seemed awfully low when you think that companies like IBM, Microsoft, Boeing and General Motors are blogging. But Nancy should know. Her organization addresses online communications and helps companies establish rules and policies for blogging and online communications.
So the question remains, when it comes to blogging, does size matter? Why do so few large companies have external blogs when Business Week declared in a cover story last year that “blogs are a phenomenon that you cannot ignore, postpone, or delegate.”
Perhaps big companies have more to lose by blogging. As Nancy suggested, they are generally public companies and more closely watch litigation and regulation. Perhaps their in-house lawyers are better informed about the risks and liabilities or their IT departments haven’t made the investment in the enterprise systems needed to operate blogs on a larger scale.
On the other hand, perhaps many smaller companies are more willing to take risks, are less informed about the litigation issues or are more likely to take advantage of low cost non-enterprise software.
Honestly, companies large or small may not have a choice but to participate. It is estimated that the blogosphere adds a blog each second. We all know about the very public black eyes that some companies have experienced by ignoring the blogosphere or failing to respect its rules of engagement.
Talking to Nancy was sobering. She takes a much more cautious view about blogging because she is focused on the liability and litigation that comes with decentralized corporate communications. Recognizing its potential, she thinks that left unchecked, blogs are a ticking “time bomb waiting to go off.”
Nancy asserts that blogs, like emails and IMs, are electronic business records that can be used in a court of law against a company. She advocates that employers review every blog posting that goes out. She points out that 17 percent of companies actually have software that blocks employees from reading and responding to blogs.
I feel Nancy’s assessment seems a bit strong. Despite years of conditioning, I am prepared to take a leap of faith with employees and assume the community will corral wayward bloggers. My faith rests on my belief that blogging helps strengthen ties between the public at large and the company.
So in the end, will the current policies of big companies carry the day or will smaller companies set the tone for the future of corporate communications?
While it is an interesting proposition, I don’t think size matters when it comes to blogging. It’s how you use it. While I take a more tolerant approach to employee blogging, I agree wholeheartedly with Nancy that it is critically important for companies to implement employee training and widely circulate blogging policies. How else will employees clearly know what is acceptable and what are grounds for dismissal? As I have said before, I believe blogging is about the freedom for employees to express themselves in a personal way; it is not about the freedom to say anything they want.
It is nice to think that we can all engage in naked conversations, but the reality lies somewhere between absolute freedom and total control.
Let me get back to you.
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