When is a blog not a blog? When it’s a corporate blog, right? It seems the digital world is in a state where the concept of blogging might be headed mainstream. Many of these blogs are easily accessible to Joe and Sally Q. Public. The perception these corporations put out there is that Joe and Sally can get a glimpse into the everyday mountains and molehills a company might be going through, or to introduce new products or give a glimpse into the life of one of its employees.
The inherent problem here is that at some point the idea of a true blog gets very cloudy. If you’re introducing products, talking about the business or trying to seem irreverant or hip despite the fact that you’re a corporation, is that really blogging? Moreso, if the company is a public company, every last letter and every last word is getting approved by PR or marketing before getting published. It’s also pretty darn safe to assume that no matter what, there’s an alterior motive. So – text is getting edited/approved/disapproved before publishing and there’s someone in another department doing it. Does that make it a blog? I sure don’t think so. To me, the very definition of personal publishing involves the freedom to write, think and post what you want, when you want and how you want.
Public companies, or private for that matter, could learn a lesson here from Microsoft, who seem to let Robert Scoble publish his own views about the behemoth. Granted, Scoble pays for the domain so he should rightfully do what he wants with it, but Microsoft could easily turn the screws on him. I don’t think I’ve come across many other high profile public companies where this occurs. Many of these corps simply serve up PR and call it a blog. That, folks, ain’t blogging. That’s marketing. Pure spin.
I guess it’s all not so black & white either. I’ve found quite a few small companies who operate very high quality blogs and hawk their wares and news in a manner that, to me, is completely acceptable. But in the end, I’ll check out Battelle or Om Malik before I go to any corp blog.
In other news, I haven’t been back to Kent State since I graduated in 1994. I’ve also never been to Cincinnati. But work and pleasure intertwine in funny ways. I will find myself in Ohio twice in the same week next week. Business trip to Cincinnati, then next weekend it’s off to Cleveland for a trip to Jacobs Field, then down to Kent to re-live some of the Friday nights I can’t remember. That said, beer intake will be adjusted downward for age.
George Bush is proud of his service in the National Guard. How many here can read this and not shake their head? Just know this: if Bush really did fulfill his obligations to his national service, you can bet your sweet ass that he and his team of knuckleheads would have already stepped forward, stuck their chests out, and pointed with glee to the documents which do actually prove it. They haven’t. He didn’t.
If this happened in the U.S., they could narrow the suspect list down to roughly half the population, according to the U.S. board of health, right?
Song now playing: Dramarama – “Everybody Dies”