Looking for a blogger!
So, it was not too long ago, that a lot of us believed that trained journalists and opinion leaders are the ones who are entitled to a say in the media or any public forum. Well, not anymore! Whichever walk of life you may belong to, you have the power to express your thoughts, thanks to social media.
Blogs among social media tools are the best for creating news, sharing opinions and for taking a stand. However, not everyone wants to blog, as Forrester’s North American Technographics Online Survey (Q2, 2007) points out only 11% of North Americans are publishing, maintaining or updating a blog. I would like to draw your attention to a different region: Metro India, where 24% (Forrestor’s Asia Pacific Technographics Benchmark Survey, Q1 2007) are creators as defined by Li & Bernoff in Groundswell. But ‘creators’ are not necessarily blogging, they may be uploading videos, audio, writing stories/poems etc. or simply updating web pages. Fewer people have taken to blogging in metro India and this does not even include the large rural Indian population. So I do find my friends in India, my relatives( in the age group of 35 to 60) joining social networking sites such as facebook, LinkedIn or orkut but rarely have I read a blog post by them. So blogging is not uniformly popular in different regions.
Organizational blogging however is very different, companies that did not consider blogging suitable for them till recently are reviewing their position in most cases (hopefully) to manage publics’ opinions and build relationships. There have been cases where organizations have disciplined employees for irresponsible use of social media and it is important that organizations inform their employees unambiguously about their policies regarding employees’ use of social media. Recently an employee of the Colorado Department of Transport was pulled up and is being investigated for forwarding from a state-owned computer a photoshopped image of the U.S. President polishing the shoes of Sarah Palin. This 73 year old CDOT veteran may face a reprimand or could even be fired. Organizations have even had employees blog against its own policies and practices, which is obviously very embarassing.
I would like to know about your opinions on organizational blogging. Should organizations give employees a free hand in creating their presence on the Web 2.0 or should they police it? Will look forward to your opinions, you DO have a say here!
Nice post Paromita. : ) Similar to your experience, most of my friends and relatives in India are active on social networking sites but haven’t yet explored the blog phenomenon. Wyld (2008) notes that the predominant language of the blogosphere is English (39%), Japanese (33%), Chinese (10%) and then European languages. It’s odd that India, which has the second largest world population is missing out on this blogging action. Hopefully these inactives and spectators will soon become creators! : )
Thanks Neha, it leaves me surprised to see that Indians are being blog shy though they do most often have an opinion on things around. Recently, news channels like NDTV, CNNIBN have been able to draw comments/reactions to their debates of social issues through social media(twitter) but proactive blogging is yet to take off..
Indians aint shy…they just have a huge history of being snubbed down..the feeling that whatever they say or think finally is not reflected on the bigger picture..makes them not participate in debates like this….
I really cannot remember the last time nething happened in the country the way the educated harworking middle class wanted it to be…(the category thats missing from the blogging world)..
Hey Ankur thanks for your comment!
I would argue that social media gives the opportunity to absolutely anyone to make a point and be heard. Traditionally the ‘middle class’ does find it difficult to be heard in a society ruled by money and power (Ruchika case, RTI activist killed in Mumbai) but I am hopeful. Both traditional media and social media can empower people. To boost your morale: Jessica Lal’s justice and Nitish Katara murder.
I must say that I really enjoyed reading your blog. Although I feel that blogging is one of the best ways to express our views about just anything under the sun but sadly, my blog account remains vacant; i totally blame it on my laziness. Organizational blogging has many advantages. It increases the traffic for any site; a company’s website is just not enough, you require means to make it more visible to people through the various search engines like Google or Yahoo. Moreover, the reviews and comments on the blogs could increase the count of their potential customers. If the review is good, the customers would have more trust in the organization’s various products & services. So, I see all the reasons for organizations to engage in some serious blogging. But when it comes to employees, a bit of screening is always required to ensure that by no means the organization’s reputation is at stake.
thanks for your comment. Reputation management is one of the foremost concerns of organizations with SM.
Good post, Paromita!
Seems like blogging really asks quite a lot of energy and consistency. Otherwise, it’s hard to keep followers’ interest. Corporate blogs are similar. If an organization misses one month of blogs on its site, I’m afraid the org may lose some loyal followers or at least their attention.
Thanks Jing, Toyota’s blog is a perfect case to exemplify your point. Once companies decide to blog they have to be diligently pursuing it.
Blogging gave us an opportunity to express ourselves. This in turn encourage freedom of speech. At last ordinary people got a medium, to express oneself, that was all along the domain of politician, media-men, orator etc.
Paromita’s blogg site was academic, interesting, witty and very well conceived. You are correct, blogging in the long run would encourage transparency in our life.
Carry on.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Yes, everyone can make use of social media to express their views and reach out. Its important that we do it responsibly.
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