The Blog Council Formed To Help Corporations Figure Out That Internet Thing
Dec 7th, 2007 | By James Lewin | Category: Corporate Podcasts, New Media Organizations 
The Blog Council, an organization formed to “identify and promote best practices in corporate blogging”, officially launched today. The Council is intended to be a tool for companies to share tactics, offer advice based on past experience and develop standards.
Founding members include:
- AccuQuote
- Cisco Systems
- The Coca-Cola Company
- Dell
- Gemstar-TV Guide
- General Motors
- Kaiser Permanente
- Microsoft
- Nokia
- SAP
- Wells Fargo
“Major corporations use blogs differently while abiding by the same rules and etiquette,” said Blog Council CEO Andy Sernovitz. “We have to speak for a corporation, but never sound ‘corporate.’ And we have to learn to do it live, and in real-time.”
Topics that are already on the Councils agenda include:
- How do global brands manage blogs in more than one language?
- What do you do when 2000 employees have personal blogs?
- What is the role of the corporate brand in a media landscape increasingly geared toward consumer-generated media?
- What is the correct way to engage and respond to bloggers who write about your company?
Corporations Don’t Understand Blogs
From all appearances, it looks like the Blog Council was created because big companies know that blogging, podcasting and other new media are growing in importance, but they’re clueless on how they should deal with that fact.
They as much as state this in their press release:
“Every major corporation is struggling with the question of how to use blogs and engage the blogosphere the right way,” said Sean O’Driscoll, General Manager, Community Support Services for Microsoft.
Blogger Marshall Kirkpatrick posted yesterday about how important it is becoming for companies to engage bloggers. “If you can engage and win over bloggers with honest communication, then you’ll become the darling of the blogosphere.”
Companies have to engage the blogosphere proactively, though, in order to be effective. If a company waits on the sidelines, it may not even know when bloggers or podcasters are talking about it. Even more important, though, the company won’t have any attention in the blogosphere when they need to respond to criticism.
