Personal v. Team Blogs

I wrote a couple of days ago about issues of boosting your personal blog traffic in a world of increasing noise list and issue which I think is more complex than it seems. I've also been recently asked with great frequency about employee personal blogs vs, company team blogs, an issue which I think is simpler than it may seem.

The basic issue is that team blogs give enterprise executives more comfort because the company brand remains over any personal brands. On the other hand, most of the most popular blogs are the work of individuals who write mostly about their work.

The issue seems to have been escalated by Scoble's recent announcement that he was leaving Microsoft, leaving Channel 9, which is company property, but taking Scobleizer with him. Actually, this will be the third job Scoble has left with his personal blog moving along with him.

I say this issue is not so complex, because ultimately companies will become more comfortable with blogs and when they do, they will opt for a blog strategy that will be the most effective for customer relationships. If decision makers are more comfortable with team blogs, then they should start with them and see how the thing evolves over time.

Personally, I think they would do better by simply setting up appropriate blog guidelines to allow any f their employees to blog if they choose to. The first fundamental change to a company caused by blogging is internal.  The culture changes when employees discover they have an enlightened management who trusts its employees to do and say the right thing on their blogs. The evidence is overwhelming, that employee rarely betray that kind of faith. There's also the MySpace factor. Kids are growing up using blogs and they aren't going to be much interested in working somewhere that tries to suppress or control the personal brand that comes out of it.

But personal brand brings us back to Scoble.  Executives point out that his personal brand has become a significant chunk of the kinder, softer corporate brand that has been evolving over at Microsoft. Scoble says he's leaving and it's mentioned in nearly two hundred traditional media outlets as well as thousands of blogs. Employers are immediately uncomfortable with that sort of power and impact being caused by a mid-level employee and I can certainly see the reasons for it and first glance.

But let's take a closer look. Scoble's departure does not seem to have undone the good he did during his paid tenure. Microsoft still has a more human face. Is their a vacuum in Microsoft's brand caused by his departure? Of course there is, but it will be short-lived.  Microsoft has over 3000 bloggers, about five percent of its global workforce. One or more of them, currently writing in the giant shadow will emerge. They will have a different style and texture, than Scoble had, but we all move on.  Someone else will pick up the Channel 9 handheld camera. He or she will change it a bit from the way Scoble did it, but the show--watched by 3.5 million people a month--will go on. When a TV network loses its anchorperson, someone else always walks into the spotlight. The Mercury News has its problems, but few people think Dan Gillmor's departure had much to do with it. Nobody I know was reading Biz 2.0 when Om Malik was there, so his departure has little impact on the struggling publication.

Let's go back to Scoble for a moment. What if his blogging had been part of some Microsoft evangelical team blog.  Would he have been asked to be less prolific, to stop dominating the team?  Would he have been directed not to say he had Mac envy or wished Microsoft would support gay rights and acquire more cool startups? It's a good question. It was easier for Scoble's managers to do or say nothing when it was on his personal blog, written at home. If someone was managing this blog, would he have not tried to cover his own butt by filtering what Scoble wrote?

The killer question is which way ultimately benefited Microsoft more? I think the evidence is pretty compelling that the personal blog, which has never been Microsoft's property, gave Microsoft the greater--and longer lasting--gain.

The thing about Team blogs is that they are generally mediocre.  The participants tend to talk to each other, they link too often to other portions of their own organization and too rarely to competitors.  They feel self-serving, rather than community serving. Its a reason that Corante, which was originally Hell-bent on providing the most group blogs has been moving away from the position.

There are several that do work. I've previously mentioned TechDirt as one that I like at has high rankings.  But I don't like it for being a team blog.  I happen to like what each of the contributors has to say. Of course if they blogged separately, they could link to each other a lot and say why they agree or disagree with the other team members.

Team blogs are safe and it is better to be safe than abstain. But if you want your company bloggers to really move the needle, I think the wiser course is to let them blog as individuals.  Many voices have turned out to be more powerful and credible than one voice.

(Note--I cleaned up a couple of typos on this post. More signicantly, I inserted the 5th paragraph above, beginning with: 'Let's go back...')

Comments

[Evil ZEN Scientist]

Shel

We're blogging at Novell on a 'team blog basis' - and it seems to be working ok.

We've kicked a few slackers in the backside and taken them off - but generally we're working together; blogging on all sorts of technology - and linking across the board.

http://www.novell.com/coolblogs

[The_lex]

For an interesting take on "team blogs," check out http://strayz.blogspot.com . Not a team from a corporation or company but one either without a purpose or the purpose of shaking things up in the world/blogosphere.

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