While some big companies have already taken a step into the public blogosphere with executive blogs, Intel isn’t one. At least, not yet. But they do have an internal executive blog, introduced in December.
The San Jose Mercury News reported yesterday that Intel’s President and COO, Paul Otellini (who becomes CEO in May), began an internal blog on 14 December with commentary on developments at what he called "the next version of Intel."
Intended wholly for internal use as a communication channel with the company’s employees, Otellini’s first post says:
Why am I doing this? Well, it seemed like a good idea to be able to create an ongoing vehicle to share my thoughts and observations on Intel and our industry with our employees, and to allow you an opportunity to have a platform for your thoughts or responses. While this is intended as an internal blog, I recognize that it will become public-welcome to the Internet! As a result, please recognize that I may be a bit limited in my comments and responses to protect Intel, and that we may exercise some editorial privilege on your comments for the same reason. I want to be clear on this up front. This is the price of entry to this blog.
That first post drew comments from employees saying things like "This is awesome… looking forward to hear more directly from Paul", "Your blog is a great idea – I look forward to future updates" and "The blog idea is great. I’m with Andy – stick with this!"
In his second post, Otellini acknowledges employee reactions:
First of all, let me say that I was blown away by the response to the Blog. We received over 350 comments in the first 24 hours, with more coming in every day. I did not read them all, but read many of them.
Later posts through January reflect an effective balance – responsiveness to comments on each post (and there are plenty) and pressing on with discussing topics that are in Otellini’s agenda.
Many other companies are doing similar things – quietly introducing internal blogs, news about which doesn’t readily see the light of public day until a newspaper or blogger gets wind of it and then reports on it.
The Mercury’s report does contain one warning sign for communicators.
It quotes a gentleman called Greg Evans, who the paper says advises companies on blogging, saying that "executives should always make clear the rules for corporate blogs." There’s no question about that – establishing clear policies at the outset are an essential part of balanced risk management, both for the employer and the employee, whatever level you are in the organization.
But that’s not the warning sign. Here’s that sign – Mr Evans is a lawyer, not a communication professional.
Blogs will soon begin to be pervasive in the workplace – see my hot prediction for 2005 – and if communicators don’t quickly get with the programme, there are plenty of others who will.
Edit: I omitted to credit where I found some details of Otillini’s blog content. Hat tip to B2Day, the Business 2.0 blog, that has a link to a PDF on the San Jose Mercury News website.
“First of all, let me say that I was blown away by the response to the Blog. We received over 350 comments in the first 24 hours, with more coming in every day. I did not read them all, but read many of them.”
And what message is our executive sending to the rest of the company with this statement? Sorry, I wanted to open up a communications channel, but not really a two-way one. There are a lot of you and I just can’t find the time to really care about what you’re saying. Ptoi. I suggest that Otellini is treading the well-trod Intel executive path of creating an us versus them culture in the firm, and while he might have heard about blogging, he doesn’t “get it”.
Intel COO blogs with employees
Apparently Intel’s COO has had an ongoing dialog with its employees through his intranet blog.
Intel COO blogs with employees
Apparently Intel’s COO has had an ongoing dialog with its employees through his intranet blog, and apparently he’s not the only one.
Dave, the quote I included in my post is a bit truncated. That was the relevant bit I wanted to use to illustrate the point I was making, and comes from a lengthier piece. You can see it all if you download the PDF from the Mercury website.
I think Intel’s COO is doing a pretty good job, judging from the PDF content, a snapshot of what he’s been writing about for employees for the past month or so. Plus the comments back.
It indicates to me that here’s a leader who is making some great efforts to create and develop an open and transparent communication channel. It is two way, very much so. While I’m not familiar with Intel’s culture and how open or not they are as a company, from what I can see this blog would go a long way to fostering an ‘us’ culture, not ‘us vs. them.’
Oh, I think he gets it.
Big Tech Blog Roundup
Some of the worlds biggest technology companies are blogging, internally and externally. Sometimes their own employees are blogging anyway. Here’s a rundown:
Cisco
Cisco entered with an original twist, a high tech policy
Risk management and corporate blogging
Neville Hobson has reminded readers that it is important for corporate bloggers to ensure that there are clearly defined policies in place to govern these blogs, particularly when those blogs are public
Intel’s COO Blogs!!
Intel’s COO Blogs!!
*yawn* What’s new???
That should not come as much surprise as other IT behemothes are already into it. Companies like Microsoft, Sun Microsystem amongst many others are already doing it!!
It’s a pity that it is o…
The skinny on Intel CEO Paul Otellini’s blog
Well, I wish it were the really inside skinny, but it’s all I’ve been able to uncover. (See bottom for One juicy bit…). Intel CEO Paul Otellini has written an internal blog since December 2004. His blog had a brief