Why are we blogging?
What is a blog? According to blogger.com it is “a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world.”
So what is the point of a blog on a company website? Does it represent the views of the company and demonstrate that we are all company people, or is it more about showing that we are a group of individuals and as a company we welcome diversity and celebrate difference? My money is on the latter as there really isn’t a Ruder Finn type; we are a diverse group with a wide range of interests. What unites us is working here. So this blog represents the musings and ponderings of a mixed group of enthusiastic, creative people. It is, if you like, a window on our worlds, the public practise of something previously kept private.
Having read the usual horror stories about inability to control the messages on a corporate blog, I can see how it can be a bit of a nightmare from an HR perspective. To a certain extent, HR is about controlling circumstances and situations. Blogging is something fluid which defies control; it isn’t done according to a timetable or rota, it’s there for whoever wants it, whenever the mood takes them. All of which begs the question, “Is there any control here and if so, who exercises it?” The reality is that this blog is built on trust rather than control and trust is an essential part of doing business. Although some companies struggle with it, we trust our staff to do and say the right thing and we rely on their self control to avoid it careering out of control.
For us, blogging is about external communications, about telling the word that we’re here, but at its heart is internal communications, making sure that the people showing their faces at the window know what our company stands for.
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