ComputerWorld has a very good article on the legal issues and potential liabilities facing companies whose employees blog, whether those employees do so officially or not. The article discusses topics that include libel, disclosure of trade secrets and confidential information, careless statements that can be used during litigation, the risks of loose-cannon bloggers, and advocates […]
Category: Internal Communication
Corporate blogging: Setting the ground rules
Yesterday, I posted a contribution to the Kitchen: How to Cook a Weblog collaborative blog on the subject of establishing clear policies regarding corporate blogging. It’s a mini-essay that discusses why companies and organizations need to pay attention now to how they enable blogging as a communication channel, and avoid messy and potentially damaging outcomes […]
Podcast your voice brand
Music and sound can be an integral part of a business’s brand, say Fast Company and Strategize. Many leaders listen to music to inspire creativity and innovation. And it’s been found that corporate voicemail welcome messages can make an impact on your business and bottom line. The Top 100 Voice Brands project collects recordings of […]
Google advocates corporate blogs
Since implementing an internal blog about 18 months ago, Google has seen tremendous benefits from it and may in the future consider providing tools and expertise for this purpose to interested clients, according to a report in InfoWorld. Google deployed an internal blog for its employees shortly after acquiring the blogging service Blogger in early […]
The sweat shop computer games industry
If you followed the story of ea_spouse, the wife of the Electronic Arts employee who wrote in her personal blog a from-the-heart tale about working conditions and practices at the game developer and the effects on her husband and family, a report in the New York Times throws some more light on what it’s like […]
The visionary road for internal blogging
Tim Bray of Sun Microsystems argues that the only feasible way an organization can get started with blogging is through a top-down approach: It’s going to have to happen much the same way it did here at Sun: your CEO or COO or whatever is going to have to say Make it happen! and then […]
Changes in the works at Electronic Arts
It’s part of a modern-day sweat-shop industry with it’s high-tech work force toiling like galley slaves chained to their benches. So said the New York Times in an article last month describing Electronic Arts. This is about ea_spouse, the wife of the Electronic Arts employee who wrote in her personal blog last month a from-the-heart […]
Some evangelism on Forrester’s vision
Not everyone sees the visionary road for internal blogging as Charlene Li of Forrester Research does. It looks like I’m one of the seemingly few who very firmly does share that vision on how blogging might evolve in companies as part of an integrated communication and information-sharing system or process, and as a means unto […]
Communication challenges for Oracle and PeopleSoft after acquisition
CNET News: PeopleSoft’s board of directors has approved a takeover deal with Oracle worth around $10.3 billion, ending a long-running and bitter battle and creating a major software maker. CNET News | Oracle buys PeopleSoft for $10 billion So while the acquisition endgame is in sight for investors and shareholders, a great deal of work […]
The FUD begins in Oracle and PeopleSoft deal
Creating fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) about your competitors in the minds of their customers is a tactic common in the enterprise software industry, especially when you see a significant event like an acquisition that will upset the fine balance of players in a mature and consolidating market. It’s all part of the friendly business […]
Microsoft ramps up the FUD
Following the announcement of Oracle’s acquisition of PeopleSoft on 13 December, I wrote about the outbreak of fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) that began with comments by an SAP executive. Now comes news about moves by Microsoft seeking to lure PeopleSoft customers away. Microsoft-Watch reports that Microsoft didn’t waste any time in trying to win […]
FT highlights example of blogs for internal communication
Today’s Financial Times has a report on corporate blogging that includes an excellent example of a European company using blogs for internal communication: Some companies, uncomfortable with the openness of public blogs, use them as an internal communications tool. Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, the German investment bank, has set up about 120 internal blogs to promote […]
How to win friends and executive influence
MediaInsider, the PR Newswire blog, posted an article from PIONet on research that adds some very useful information to the little that’s known about how corporate PR practitioners work to influence and persuade senior management in their organizations – how they obtain and use "clout" – or how they secure perceptions of their value to […]
The harsh reality for PeopleSoft employees
CNET News: Oracle appears to be adding insult to injury in its merger with PeopleSoft – taking the unusual step of notifying workers of their termination by sending pinks slips via express mail to their homes. Shipments to thousands of PeopleSoft employees across the [United States] are expected over the weekend, according to sources close […]
Google blogger firing highlights again why guidelines are essential
News yesterday that Mark Jen, a Google employee, had been fired for blogging serves to add yet more focus to a matter that has become increasingly important to companies and employees alike – establishing clear guidelines on blogging in the workplace. This subject is beginning to sound like an auto-repeat CD (yes, I have moved […]
Intel COO blogs with employees
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 […]
An open conversation with General Motors
A few hours ago, Shel and I had the pleasure of an 18-minute conversation with Michael Wiley, Director New Media, GM Communications, at General Motors. We interviewed Michael for the 21 February edition of our bi-weekly podcast show For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report. In our conversation, we discussed the GM FastLane Blog, […]
IBM has 2,800 internal blogs
Like many companies, especially in the tech industry, IBM is no stranger to public blogs with more than 20 employees listed at the developer blogs’ portal. What I doubt is known at all is how deeply IBM has embraced blogging within the organization. According to Philippe Borremans, PR Manager at IBM Belgium & Luxembourg, writing […]
An open conversation with Robert Scoble, Microsoft geek blogger
Yesterday, Shel and I interviewed Robert Scoble, the Scobleizer, in our bi-weekly podcast show, For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report. In a 38-minute conversation, we discussed a wide range of topics, including evangelism, anti-marketing, blogging, RSS and reading feeds, email mailing lists, relationships with colleagues, internal blogs at Microsoft, The Red Couch book […]
The Dutch company where everyone’s a blogger
Fredrik Wackå posted a great report today about Macaw Nederland, a Dutch technology company and Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, whose 110 employees all blog. Fredrik says: At Macaw all employees have their own internal blog. They get it when they get their network, intranet and e-mail account. Not only do they have blogs – they […]