Blogs in Organizational Use
- PCon Team
- Jan 1, 2005
- 5 min read
Unlike regularly designed websites, blogs are built as collections of personal articles - posts that address various topics through the writer's perspective. Among their advantages is the ability for blog readers to interactively respond to specific posts and even the option to track and receive email notifications about new posts or comments added to the blog. All this results in a relatively flexible structure compared to the familiar format of forums, and certainly in relation to websites containing static content. Blog implementation is considered especially simple, which is undoubtedly an important part of their success. They are very easy to set up and operate, and their contents are automatically archived and ready for scanning.
The initial response to blogs was rather lukewarm: they looked simple and focused on content rather than design. However, blogs did not receive much attention in the following years, perhaps because they were seen as a strange hybrid between a forum and a regular content site. At that stage, teenage girls stood out in this field, enthusiastically adopting it to share their thoughts in personal, rosy posts. Today, the number of blogs online is estimated at 2.5 million, with at least half written in English. From an internet version of a personal diary for a few eyes, blogs in recent years have evolved into quality content producers, attracting hundreds and thousands of readers daily. The community of blog writers has also developed. From personal blogs to municipal blogs. From private leisure-time blogs to professional business blogs, and everything "in between." Although most writers are still private individuals under 30, with leading companies like Microsoft, Nike, Sun, and many others (who have opened organizational blogs "officially") entering the field of organizational blog management, it seems that the "for your eyes only" trend is about to undergo a radical change.
Additional managers join daily with the innovative viewpoint of Bill Gates and others, who believe that blogs will be the next hot business-organizational trend. The organizational blog, as an inexpensive and convenient means of communication, can enable simple communication with customers and may even serve as a marketing and image-building tool. In such cases, its content can be frequently updated as a standalone content site or as part of the organizational portal at negligible cost. Unlike various knowledge communities managed by organizations, the blog is managed from the individual user's perspective and is not subject to the community content manager's editing. All these have made the organizational blog a legitimate tool that demonstrates its many advantages daily online.
Among the potential advantages of the blog: A platform for exchanging professional information and "brainstorming," a way to distribute professional news, a communication tool between the organization and its customers, a marketing aid (material appearing in the blog can expand on the company's new products and services. Links from this material directly to product descriptions or an online sales system will also encourage sales. Additionally, for various technical reasons related to blog structure, blogs are very "prominent" for search engines, and finally, an internal organizational bulletin board.
Here are some prominent examples of organizational blogs:
As in every area of the internet, blog search engines are available to streamline information retrieval:
Bloogz - enables searching the RSS content of blogs
Intell Seek's BlogPulse - allows searching for phrases, authors, and more
Technorati - a search engine that includes the ability to search thousands of blogs
Waypath - a search engine divided by topics
The general impression, based on browsing and searching the web, is that there are no Israeli organizational blogs. Is that really the case?
We turned to the experts and asked Carmit Shaked, knowledge management consultant at ROM Knowledgeware, to confirm this observation. To her knowledge, the most significant organizational blogs found online are from international companies. Although there has been an increase in the number of Israeli companies using knowledge management and sharing in recent years, one can still generalize and say that Israeli organizations have not yet discovered the potential of blogs. When asked if it's possible to characterize the organizations that will adopt this method for knowledge sharing in the near or distant future, Carmit replied that the first organizations likely to find use for it are subsidiaries and Israeli branches of international organizations, where there is greater awareness of the topic. Following them, additional organizations from the high-tech sector will join the trend. This may also manifest in organizations with an organizational portal or those developing advanced knowledge communities, accustomed to conveying opinions through a Web format. Small organizations and those not connected to the high-tech field will be the last to join, if at all.
One of the great "mysteries" that occupied local web surfers in 2003 was the identity of a Bezeq 144 service operator who wrote about her professional experiences. This is what we heard from Bezeq's spokesperson office: Since, as far as we know, this is the only blog Bezeq employees have published, Bezeq has not been required to design a defined policy dealing with the boundaries of information permitted for publication in such a framework. Although Bezeq has an internal forum system and knowledge sharing within the organizational portal, the company greatly appreciated the initiative to write an external blog. Fortunately, the talented writer never put us in the dilemma of officially responding to the published material, so we could fully enjoy the pleasant blog. The bottom line is that although we did not initiate the writing of the blog, it gave the work and Bezeq a new and refreshing aspect and enhanced the company's image in the eyes of the general public.
As you can probably see, although awareness of organizational blogs in Israel is not high, as of today, it can be seen as an organizational challenge and channeled into avenues for image promotion in the eyes of the general public and internal organizational information sharing.
Here are some problems that may arise due to employees writing in an organizational or personal blog:
Exposure of sensitive information - information uploaded to the network in a blog may be exposed to the wrong eyes. For illustration, recently, two blogs of American soldiers serving in Iraq were closed, and a third writer was severely reprimanded for a blatant breach of confidentiality.
Damage to the organization's image - An organization employee who "washes dirty laundry in public" through their private blog can cause serious image damage. This is true even if their claims are completely unfounded or exaggerated.
Waste of time - writing a blog during working hours can take a lot of time if boundaries are not set that clearly explain what is desirable and permitted. Waste of time can also result from reading blogs and navigating from there to other links. Also, blogs require investment in distribution through special channels, such as blog search engines.
Distribution challenges - Initially, it's not easy to build an audience for a blog. The medium and search engines for it are not well-known, and similar to a forum, it's a tool whose popularity will build gradually and depend on continuous investment in new content.
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