The subject of corporate blogging keeps coming up like bad sushi. Despite best efforts to curtail the irrational enthusiasm about blogs people keep wanting to blog. Now I’m not being hypocritical just because I have a blog. Indeed the point is I have a PERSONAL blog. A personal blog is WAY different than hosting some drivel on the mans machine.
Hell, if you are a private citizen and you want to blog about god knows what then more power to you. But if you are an at-will employee in a state [of confusion] that favors employer rights over employee rights [what are those?] then corporate blogging is just about as stupid as using your head for a jack hammer. Sure I know what you may be saying, "Gee Richard all kinds of companies have employees blog!" Or perhaps you are thinking I should lighten up and just let people satisfy their urgent need to pontificate on the efficacy of mouse shit as a natural lubricant for diesel engines.
Sure part of me wants to open the market place of ideas to the plebian echelons of corporate society. Indeed the thought of having true, open, honest and constructive dialogue about the company’s business goals and objective reads great. Like great fiction!
Before we get to far ahead of ourselves in this magical fairy land of joy, peace and love ask yourself when was the last time you had a conversation about the company that could be expressed in the afore mentioned terms?
Still waiting…
Can’t think of one or perhaps it was so long ago (circa nineteen ninety never) you can’t remember if it really did any good? No, it is more likely you were standing around the company self-serve cappuccino machine carping about how manager dick-head just screwed up yet another project but somehow managed to blame lackey, process or both.
What I don’t see in our blighted reality world is a corporation that is full of wonderful ideas and actively encouraging the droids to help run the asylum. No, thank you very much, but the lunatics in charge tend to want to stay thay way.
They hire people with military titles like Communication Specialist and Director of ex-Communications. Search your intranet; do you have communication guidelines? Is there a link to corporate communications? Are you allowed to talk to the press without a communication specialist shill standing behind you with his hand up your ass? Probably not and if you think some brainless executive is going to allow you to blog about the companies next great widget that has all the appeal of a spa vacation inChernobyl then you my friend are a lunatic. Stay in the asylum! And for gods sake do not blog at work!
On that note, may I present to you fresh of the (word)Presses, the parent Yahoo! Corporate Blog:
http://yodel.yahoo.com
There are a ton of different product blogs hanging off that main page.
Yes, we do have an internally posted blogging policy that everyone (generally) follows, and an internal (corporate) blogging listserv to ensure that new policies are commmunicated properly.
“What I don’t see in our blighted reality world is a corporation that is full of wonderful ideas and actively encouraging the droids to help run the asylum.”
Yes, the inmates are running the asylum here at Yahoo!, and that’s how we like it. You should seriously check out Hack Day.
Man, you’re jaded.