I was talking to a client recently who asked if I had seen the company’s blog, which I had, and we got into a discussion on the topic of blogging.
I remember when blogs first appeared on the scene and a director saying I should pen one as my family seemed to lead such a disasterous life! (I didn’t as discretion is definitely the better part of valour.) And that was what blogging was all about then – commenting on what was happening around you and how you viewed life.
Now everyone is doing it and the blogsphere is awash with corporate comment. The trouble is, the spontaneity has gone as these have to be check, checked and checked again before being passed to ‘legal’ for the final approval. This means that the life is sucked out of the site and the blogs remain commentless because there is no content left to comment on.
If a company wants to be seen as a ‘thought leader’ it has to allow its bloggers some leeway.
(Hope this gets past the EML team!)