It seems like everyone has their rules of thumbs for every topic and Robert Scoble and Shel Israel are no different. In their book Naked Conversations they have what they call "The Corporate Weblog Manifesto", a somewhat detailed list of 34 rules to blog by for the big wigs of the world. I hate to admit it but I agree with most of what they say. Here are a few quick excerpts with comments by moi:
"Use a human voice. Don't get corporate lawyers and PR professionals to modify your speech"
I really appreciate this "commandment" as I've been calling them. As a head of company/blog writer the first goal in writing a blog is to be readable and honest to who you are. Loads of legal jargon and P.C. talk is not only boring to me but incredibly impersonal. I'll admit it may be tougher for a company head to write a blog than a well-informed/well educated person with no legal ties. They have to balance honesty, opinions, and positive information with the truth and do so without doing harm to the goodwill of the company.
"Know your influencers ... if you can't connect to them during a crisis, you shouldn't try to keep a corporate weblog. (...because they often know when you're under attack before you do.)
That last quote kind of ties the last few weeks of class up as to why social networking within a physical group of people is important. Social networking within social networking in order to socially network. Very meta.
"Be nice to everyone.... You never know when a janitor will go to school, get an MBA, and start a company."
Very Jesus-y of them.. kind of. My feelings on this, on a non-business level is to only be nice to people who deserve it. Not to say if someone talks smack about you, your company, your product, your mom, etc that you should retaliate, but I wouldn't recommend feeling obligated to be nice afterward. After-all, when the CEO, mail room boy, and even the janitor go home, they still have to deal with their personal feelings towards those people who weren't so kind to them. If you couldn't live with it in your personal life why should it stand in your business life? Isn't it harder to respect a pushover than someone who stands up for them self?
All in all, the list was pretty agreeable. It really allows you to appreciate the balancing act a CEO or similar person-in-charge must endure in order to "keep up with the times"
Sunday, September 16, 2007
The 34 Commandments!
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2 comments:
I think you hit the major rules for corporate blogging. And in my opinion, the first rule is especially important. I've had to look at corporate blogs for a few business classes, and the ones that are very technical are the worst. Corporate blogs that are down-to-earth, fun to read, and make a point are rare. But when I have come across blogs like that, I tend to think better of the company as a whole.
I also like the questions you posed in your comments about the last rule you mentioned. Although I do think it's a great rule to be nice to everyone, there are limits. And as you said, it is hard to respect a pushover.
I think you go the main rules for how to act in business. Obviously, being nice to people is essential unless you want nasty emails spread around the office or enjoy having your office furniture nailed to the ceiling.
Using a human voice is a good thing too because it would be bad if during your next meeting you broke out into Farsi or Klingon.
The influencers were a little hard for me to grasp until I equated a crisis situation with no bagels on Bagel Friday... when that happens, it's best just to call in sick.
But seriously, you wrote a great post and I think that this truncated commandments list is a great starting point for a C-level or EVP-level person to write a blog informaing the masses.
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