July 19th, 2007
Open source value in corporate blogs
Blogging itself is 10 and so (technically) is corporate blogging, since Dave Winer (right) was running Userland Software when he launched Scripting News in 1997.
Enough time has now gone by to draw some conclusions, about the value such blogs may have and who should be doing them.
The best corporate blogs, like that of Jonathan Schwartz, provide transparency, a real window into corporate thinking.
If the words of the CEO are carried out in the market, their blog adds to the corporation’s credibility.
But if the blog is pure spin, it can actually reduce that credibility. Companies which want separation between their insider perspective and the market’s perception are well-advised not to blog.
When Optaros decided to launch their Enterprise Open Source Directory, they also launched a blog. In researching my post on that directory, which will appear very shortly, I found the blog answered many of my questions.
Not all were answered, but enough were so that my interview with Dave Gynn, the company’s director of enterprise tools and frameworks, was focused, informative, and took less time than it might have.
This, I think, is the real value of a corporate blog. If your management wants transparency, you can get it by blogging. Break down the wall between your CEO and the market, and you may be surprised at the benefits which result.
But know the risks. Once the curtain comes down, the wizard is revealed. If you’re just an old humbug we’re going to know it.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for 30 years, a tech freelancer since 1983. You can follow Dana on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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