Who Shouldn't Blog?

I asked this question yesterday, but let me try asking it in another form: Can you think of companies or categories of companies that should not blog?  If so why shouldn't they blog?

Comments

[Joel]

Any companies (like Raytheon) that provide the U.S. Government with technology or intelligence. Why is fairly self-explanatory; transparency in such cases could equal the loss of American lives.

[Randy Charles Morin]

Saddam Hussein Inc. :)

[Jeremy Wright]

Joel,

Those companies could blog, just not about anything vaguely sensitive. This is the same policy ALL companies should have. Some stuff just doesn't get blogged about.

[Steve Shu]

Setting aside alignment of organizational goals and blogging for purposes of my comment here, I would think that companies or organizations that do not have the skill set for blogging (e.g., regularly updating information, using computers, writing coherently) should not blog unless they pilot working on such skills first. Another skill that one needs to develop is being able to respond to tough love that the blogosphere brings out. I know some people that could respond to tough love in a talking environment, but in a purely writing environment, this may be a challenge for some small organizations.

[Neville Hobson]

Shel, it's a good question. To me, the answer lies more in the make-up of the organization - it's culture, its persona, let's say.

If an organization isn't already a place where openness and transparency in communication exists and is practiced, then using tools like blogs will unlikely do anything positive for that organization.

Some skills can be learned, such as Steve Shu suggests. But if your openness/transparency foundation isn't there, don't blog.

[shel]

Randy, good comment, you just made the book. Nev--you're in again.

[Peter Flaschner]

I've been doing some thinking along these lines myself. I've come to the conclusion that any company that is not commited to the process shouldn't blog.

Blogging requires an investment of time. The smaller the company, arguably the greater the investment (since there isn't a traditional marketing effort to piggyback on). A blog started and abandoned can do more harm than good.

[Elisa Camahort]

On a practical not, some companies and industries are in fact heavily government-regulated. They can only use certain language; all of their public communication copy goes through rigorous review by legal teams. I am thinking specifically of the health insurance industry.

Sure, they could blog, but how could they sustain an informal, rapidly reacting, natural style when every post has to be run through Legal? Even a business blog has to be dynamic! Some industries' regulatory environments seems like they would suck the very life out of a blog. That was why one of my clients decided to sponsor a blog instead of starting on in-house. It's an alternate way for companies who perhaps don't have the right environment for internal blogging to participate in a more active online conversation.

[Geoff]

Neville I think you have explained why so few UK companies blog! Our general culture seems to be one of secrecy.

[Steven Streight aka Vaspers the Grate]

A blog is more efficient, as an online content platform, than a conventional static corporate fluff web site for communicating candidly with a target audience...

...due to frequent communications (posts), intimate tone, and swift, easy user-interaction with the posts via comments and email to the blog author(s).

Thus, who should not blog would include:

* those who do not wish to hear from customers, users, the public

* those who do not wish the populace to have the liberty to speak freely on religion, politics, business, social issues, democracy, militarism, and personal tastes

* those who cannot respond swiftly and sincerely to all varieties of user comments, good, bad, indifferent, bizarre, complimentary, deeply questioning, potentially embarrasssing

* those who do not wish to act in consistent compliance with authenticity, credibility, relevance, integrity, originality, passion, sincerity, honesty, practicality

* those who make things worse via intimate confessional-information formats

* those who fear the level ideascape of the democratized blogosphere: where every opinion is equal

* those who prefer hiearchies of informational "authority" and journalistic elitism (e.g., MSM)

* those who only wish to say "Buy my product" and only wish to hear "Love your product".

* those who aren't passionate and aggressive enough to frequently have something interesting and helpful to say

* those who cannot say much that is not better left unsaid, classified, or clandestine

* those who cannot spend the required time to blog properly

* those who do not care about interacting with the blogsophere by reading and commenting at other blogs

* those whose strategy embraces arrogance, exploitation, deception, manipulation, false advertising, or consumer fraud

* those who wish to force the old marketing and business schemes of hard sell hype, corporo-centric viewpoints, unilateral broadcast messaging, and static, non-interactive propagandizing on the alien-to-business-as-usual blogosphere.

[Joel Richman]

Whether or not companies should or shouldn't blog I'm learning brings the internal discussion back to "if we're going to blog then we should really BLOG and get into it," which then deteriorates into a debate of "well then who is going to blog for us? Do we have a group blog, or do we have one voice? Do we let some people blog and not others or open it up to everyone?" And there are good arguments for all.

So i'd ask the group: Is there a link between the issues above, the "need for transparancy," and whether or not a company should or shouldn't blog?

In other words, do 'true blogs' (if those are noted by the level of transparency, openness and participation of an organization) have a place in an enterprise that deals in/with sensitive information? If there's a risk--and blogs are definitely a risk in some orgs--of sensitive, possibly damaging information getting out into the wild, then should those companies take that risk with the expectation that employees would be entrusted to always 'do the right thing' just so the org can say "we blog?"

[Steven Streight aka Vaspers the Grate]

Joel, just use the same procedures for use of corporate email, fax, etc. Blogs are no different as far as potential for leaking sensitive info. Happens in cocktailed conversations at conferences too.

I think there is a grave danger thinking "only" or "primarily" defense contractors, nuclear power providers, explosive material manufacturers, governments, etc. have sensitive, secret info that must be protected.

Identity Theft is the fastest growing crime in history, and is nearly impossible to thwart or bring perpetrators to justice. Thanks to banks and credit card companies, and their *outsourced* fulfillment operations, not implementing proper safeguards.

Personal, private, exploitable information--medical, employment, telephone, financial, legal, physical location, etc.--must be severely limited or avoided completely in all blogs.

So every teenager to every CEO has to be concerned with sensitive non-bloggable information.

Non-bloggable defined per each specific blogger.

[Michael Kaplan]

It is hard to imagine that the NSA, the FBI, the CIA, the DIA, the DOD, or the NVTC have anything to gain from a blog.

There is really not a person in such an organization who can even give a public talk without having the talk and the slides reviewed heavily. How can such a slow and exacting review process handle something as on the fly as a blog?

When someone from these orgs becomes a "rock star" or a media darling" they are in many cases pulled back and cannot spend as much time out in the public -- because for the press it is often about the people as much as the facts, and for these agencies making it about the people works against their interests....

[Steven Streight aka Vaspers the Grate]

I know of a Police Chief and a City Planner and a Fire Chief who have blogs.

Anybody can have a blog.

A mafia hit man can have a blog. A garbage collector, shoe shiner, toilet scrubber, whatever.

Sure, certain thing must be left unsaid, but they know all that. That's old hat to FBI, CIA, etc. people.

We act like blogs are such dangerous tools, I guess we over-interpret concepts like "transparency", then Identity Theft criminals or irate employers jump on it.

Hard to imagine them "having anything to gain from a blog"?

Then dear friend, Michael Kaplan, you have more to learn about both people and blogs.

[Paul Robinson]

Any situation where the release of information would either be unprofessional, dangerous or plain stupid. How would you like it if you were in court one day and the judge announced he'd just read on your lawyer's blog that he thinks you're a liar?

I used to work for an organisation that dealt with highly sensitive British MOD stuff. Blogging would not be allowed from a work perspective there, but then it was the kind of place where you couldn't discuss work outside anyway. That's not about 'shouldn't be able to blog', that's about 'can not under any circumstances'.

I truly believe the analysis of this is over the top though. I think common sense will prevail.

[Steven Streight aka Vaspers the Grate]

I agree with Paul Robinson. Why are businesses acting so dumbfounded with the core values of blogging?

This brain dead attitude is very strange.

Maybe they are scared of actually hearing what consumers really think...since they're so used to outsourcing customer service, or providing it grudgingly.

[Michael Kaplan]

I guess Steven did not read the rest of the post. They have little to gain because they are not supposed to stand out as people -- that actually can work against them in their professional life.

Blogs can (among other things) make companies seem more human, more open. So there is little to gain if your "company" is trying to avoid such a thing....

Anyone who fails to recognize that the one time to not blog is when the things that are good about blogging coincide with the things that your profession does not want is someone who needs to learn more about people, and blogs.

[Steven Streight aka Vaspers the Grate]

I see what you mean.

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