Comments on: This is not a corporate blog http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/12/10/this-is-not-a-corporate-blog/ Mon, 21 May 2012 05:21:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Be Vewy Vewy Quiet http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/12/10/this-is-not-a-corporate-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-9314 Be Vewy Vewy Quiet Sat, 29 Jan 2011 18:53:02 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=934#comment-9314 [...] my blog has always been and will always be a personal one, I do operate under certain constraints as someone whose subject matter relates strongly to his [...] [...] my blog has always been and will always be a personal one, I do operate under certain constraints as someone whose subject matter relates strongly to his [...]

]]> By: A New Voice on Search Facets « Information Interaction http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/12/10/this-is-not-a-corporate-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-6772 A New Voice on Search Facets « Information Interaction Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:04:38 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=934#comment-6772 [...] support ex-colleague Daniel Tunkelang’s observation that for a blog to flourish it needs to find its own voice, and we are fortunate at Endeca in having considerable discretion to articulate our own views and [...] [...] support ex-colleague Daniel Tunkelang’s observation that for a blog to flourish it needs to find its own voice, and we are fortunate at Endeca in having considerable discretion to articulate our own views and [...]

]]> By: Blogs I Read: Search Facets http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/12/10/this-is-not-a-corporate-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-5236 Blogs I Read: Search Facets Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:54:21 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=934#comment-5236 [...] A couple of years ago, I started The Noisy Channel as a personal blog. Since my then-employer Endeca didn’t have a corporate blog, I became the company’s ambassador to the blogosphere, despite my protests that this was not a corporate blog. [...] [...] A couple of years ago, I started The Noisy Channel as a personal blog. Since my then-employer Endeca didn’t have a corporate blog, I became the company’s ambassador to the blogosphere, despite my protests that this was not a corporate blog. [...]

]]> By: Software Patents: A Personal Story | The Noisy Channel http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/12/10/this-is-not-a-corporate-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-4509 Software Patents: A Personal Story | The Noisy Channel Sat, 03 Oct 2009 17:19:13 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=934#comment-4509 [...] the radioactive nature of this post’s subject matter, I feel the need to remind readers that this is not a corporate blog, and that the opinions expressed within are my personal opinions, not those of my employer. Also, [...] [...] the radioactive nature of this post’s subject matter, I feel the need to remind readers that this is not a corporate blog, and that the opinions expressed within are my personal opinions, not those of my employer. Also, [...]

]]> By: Social Media Meets Corporate | The Noisy Channel http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/12/10/this-is-not-a-corporate-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-1882 Social Media Meets Corporate | The Noisy Channel Wed, 11 Feb 2009 02:59:58 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=934#comment-1882 [...] I’m not persuaded by corporate bloggers, and invited bloggers come across as corporate. Read the posts yourself at the FASTForward Blog, and I think you’ll agree that the fare, while not shrill advertising, is nonetheless a bit bland. Full disclosure: I participated in an effort last year to live-blog the Endeca Discover user conference. I even remember doing research on the fly to add context around the presentations. In retrospect, however, I think it was a misguided effort. No one wants to read a corporate blog. [...] [...] I’m not persuaded by corporate bloggers, and invited bloggers come across as corporate. Read the posts yourself at the FASTForward Blog, and I think you’ll agree that the fare, while not shrill advertising, is nonetheless a bit bland. Full disclosure: I participated in an effort last year to live-blog the Endeca Discover user conference. I even remember doing research on the fly to add context around the presentations. In retrospect, however, I think it was a misguided effort. No one wants to read a corporate blog. [...]

]]> By: A Word of Thanks to Thanx Media | The Noisy Channel http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/12/10/this-is-not-a-corporate-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-1403 A Word of Thanks to Thanx Media | The Noisy Channel Sun, 11 Jan 2009 16:00:49 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=934#comment-1403 [...] I hope I’ve made abundantly clear in the past, this is not a corporate blog, and I try to avoid even the appearance of being a shill for my employer, our customers, or our [...] [...] I hope I’ve made abundantly clear in the past, this is not a corporate blog, and I try to avoid even the appearance of being a shill for my employer, our customers, or our [...]

]]> By: Daniel Tunkelang http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/12/10/this-is-not-a-corporate-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-1114 Daniel Tunkelang Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:05:35 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=934#comment-1114 Paul, I've posted the occasional marketing message here myself, but even then there's usually a personal angle, e.g., I or one of my close colleagues was significantly responsible as an individual contributor. There's nothing wrong with expressing pride in your employer's accomplishments, as long as it doesn't cross the line into advertising. I suppose it's a slippery slope, but I think people can tell when they're being marketed to. I'd like to think that readers here would let me know if I crossed that line. The blogs you cite (LexaBlog, LingPipe) are excellent examples of corporate blogs done right. In fact, I have them both in my reader. Paul, I’ve posted the occasional marketing message here myself, but even then there’s usually a personal angle, e.g., I or one of my close colleagues was significantly responsible as an individual contributor. There’s nothing wrong with expressing pride in your employer’s accomplishments, as long as it doesn’t cross the line into advertising. I suppose it’s a slippery slope, but I think people can tell when they’re being marketed to. I’d like to think that readers here would let me know if I crossed that line.

The blogs you cite (LexaBlog, LingPipe) are excellent examples of corporate blogs done right. In fact, I have them both in my reader.

]]> By: Dave Fauth http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/12/10/this-is-not-a-corporate-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-1108 Dave Fauth Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:28:31 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=934#comment-1108 A small majority of people in any company are content creators. In my opinion, companies should encourage employees to blog on topics of interest to the company. It is a way to build the company's credibility without being a marketing machine. If the blog goes to all out marketing/sales, all credibility goes out the window. A small majority of people in any company are content creators. In my opinion, companies should encourage employees to blog on topics of interest to the company. It is a way to build the company’s credibility without being a marketing machine. If the blog goes to all out marketing/sales, all credibility goes out the window.

]]> By: Paul Ogilvie http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/12/10/this-is-not-a-corporate-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-1106 Paul Ogilvie Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:32:04 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=934#comment-1106 I've written some of the blog posts for our "corporate blog." I freely admit the first few I wrote did tend to be like a press release, simply announcing new features or improvements to the parts of the system that fall under my domain. However, my most recent posts have been quite technical in nature. With a little extra analysis and some work on the writing, I could easily imagine repackaging them into a paper or poster submission at an academic conference. I guess I'm saying that corporate blog posts should be interpreted carefully, but it is probably unfair to say that all corporate blog posts are simply repackaged press releases. Two great examples of "corporate blogs" that regularly publish content that can't be characterized as press releases are LexaBlog ( http://www.lexalytics.com/lexablog/ ) and the LingPipe Blog ( http://lingpipe-blog.com/ ). I also have a personal blog. Like Daniel, the voice of my blog is my own. Yet mSpoke, my employer, does recognize the value of me increasing my visibility through blogging. I agree that encouraging employees to blog is a good way for a company to get cheap marketing. There's usually quite a lot that can be discussed without jeopardizing core intellectual property. I’ve written some of the blog posts for our “corporate blog.” I freely admit the first few I wrote did tend to be like a press release, simply announcing new features or improvements to the parts of the system that fall under my domain. However, my most recent posts have been quite technical in nature. With a little extra analysis and some work on the writing, I could easily imagine repackaging them into a paper or poster submission at an academic conference.

I guess I’m saying that corporate blog posts should be interpreted carefully, but it is probably unfair to say that all corporate blog posts are simply repackaged press releases. Two great examples of “corporate blogs” that regularly publish content that can’t be characterized as press releases are LexaBlog ( http://www.lexalytics.com/lexablog/ ) and the LingPipe Blog ( http://lingpipe-blog.com/ ).

I also have a personal blog. Like Daniel, the voice of my blog is my own. Yet mSpoke, my employer, does recognize the value of me increasing my visibility through blogging. I agree that encouraging employees to blog is a good way for a company to get cheap marketing. There’s usually quite a lot that can be discussed without jeopardizing core intellectual property.

]]> By: Jason Adams http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/12/10/this-is-not-a-corporate-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-1103 Jason Adams Thu, 11 Dec 2008 04:36:43 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=934#comment-1103 Agreed. Skepticism is always necessary. Agreed. Skepticism is always necessary.

]]> By: Forrester’s straw-man study on media trust « The Mendicant Bug http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/12/10/this-is-not-a-corporate-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-1102 Forrester’s straw-man study on media trust « The Mendicant Bug Thu, 11 Dec 2008 04:35:56 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=934#comment-1102 [...] social networking profiles of friends to corporate and personal blogs. I ranted about this a bit on The Noisy Channel, which I’ll just reproduce [...] [...] social networking profiles of friends to corporate and personal blogs. I ranted about this a bit on The Noisy Channel, which I’ll just reproduce [...]

]]> By: Daniel Tunkelang http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/12/10/this-is-not-a-corporate-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-1101 Daniel Tunkelang Thu, 11 Dec 2008 04:33:35 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=934#comment-1101 Actually, IBM's official policy on blogging seems pretty reasonable: http://www.ibm.com/blogs/zz/en/guidelines.html But I have no idea how that works in practice. Actually, IBM’s official policy on blogging seems pretty reasonable:

http://www.ibm.com/blogs/zz/en/guidelines.html

But I have no idea how that works in practice.

]]> By: Daniel Tunkelang http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/12/10/this-is-not-a-corporate-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-1100 Daniel Tunkelang Thu, 11 Dec 2008 04:29:41 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=934#comment-1100 I agree that the study seems pretty questionable. But even if the study is hopelessly flawed, it seems pretty obvious that intelligent people read corporate blogs with the same skepticism and lack of interest with which they read (or don't read) press releases. I agree that the study seems pretty questionable. But even if the study is hopelessly flawed, it seems pretty obvious that intelligent people read corporate blogs with the same skepticism and lack of interest with which they read (or don’t read) press releases.

]]> By: Jason Adams http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/12/10/this-is-not-a-corporate-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-1099 Jason Adams Thu, 11 Dec 2008 04:04:49 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=934#comment-1099 Comparing "personal blog" or some random "corporate blog" to "personal email sent from a friend" is pretty much like comparing "advice from gin-soaked hobo" to "what your mama always said." The fact that Forrester can get away with presenting something like this and suggesting businesses act on it to shut down their blogs bothers me. It seems to me that 16-18% trustworthiness is not bad when you consider that much of the time you do a Google search for some product you hit a splog. That's probably the only experience 80% of people have with blogs. Of course, that's wild speculation, but this straw man study has gotten under my skin. :P And I do acknowledge that there is a huge amount of untrustworthy information in blogs, but I'm not sure that it's much different from other user-generated content. Comparing “personal blog” or some random “corporate blog” to “personal email sent from a friend” is pretty much like comparing “advice from gin-soaked hobo” to “what your mama always said.” The fact that Forrester can get away with presenting something like this and suggesting businesses act on it to shut down their blogs bothers me. It seems to me that 16-18% trustworthiness is not bad when you consider that much of the time you do a Google search for some product you hit a splog. That’s probably the only experience 80% of people have with blogs. Of course, that’s wild speculation, but this straw man study has gotten under my skin. :P And I do acknowledge that there is a huge amount of untrustworthy information in blogs, but I’m not sure that it’s much different from other user-generated content.

]]> By: Adam Bossy http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/12/10/this-is-not-a-corporate-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-1098 Adam Bossy Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:38:06 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=934#comment-1098 I am an IBM employee, and admittedly, I am constantly paranoid about their legal department. Being the corporate beast that it is, IBM has developed a huge bureaucracy that is often unexplainable. It is not always quite clear what IBM owns and who has authority to do something about it. For example, I have two personal software projects that I have begun during my employment there--which I have cleared with my manager--but I am consistently given conflicting advice on IP ownership from trusted sources. I suppose my blog is no different, and I should probably talk to my manager about it. Nonetheless, I try to keep these personal activities under the radar. The single time IBM is mentioned on my blog is on the "About" page, even though I have tons of material I could write about them. I am an IBM employee, and admittedly, I am constantly paranoid about their legal department. Being the corporate beast that it is, IBM has developed a huge bureaucracy that is often unexplainable. It is not always quite clear what IBM owns and who has authority to do something about it. For example, I have two personal software projects that I have begun during my employment there–which I have cleared with my manager–but I am consistently given conflicting advice on IP ownership from trusted sources. I suppose my blog is no different, and I should probably talk to my manager about it. Nonetheless, I try to keep these personal activities under the radar. The single time IBM is mentioned on my blog is on the “About” page, even though I have tons of material I could write about them.

]]> By: Daniel Tunkelang http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/12/10/this-is-not-a-corporate-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-1097 Daniel Tunkelang Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:32:48 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=934#comment-1097 I'm not surprised that the research is a bit sketchy. But I'll also plead guilty to using the report mostly as a pretext to make my own point. It kills me that so many people assume that blogging + corporate affiliation = corporate blogging. Same goes for Twitter. I’m not surprised that the research is a bit sketchy. But I’ll also plead guilty to using the report mostly as a pretext to make my own point. It kills me that so many people assume that blogging + corporate affiliation = corporate blogging. Same goes for Twitter.

]]> By: Michael Bernstein http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/12/10/this-is-not-a-corporate-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-1096 Michael Bernstein Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:30:20 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=934#comment-1096 I posted this on ReadWriteWeb as well: Has anyone else noticed the poor statistics that they're using? "Trust" is treated as a 4 or a 5 on a 5 point Likert scale, that is, anything above neutral. This means that lots of people could slightly trust a source and it would show up above something which a smaller number of people trust quite a bit and others are neutral on. Why not just show the median scores for each? I posted this on ReadWriteWeb as well:

Has anyone else noticed the poor statistics that they’re using? “Trust” is treated as a 4 or a 5 on a 5 point Likert scale, that is, anything above neutral. This means that lots of people could slightly trust a source and it would show up above something which a smaller number of people trust quite a bit and others are neutral on.

Why not just show the median scores for each?

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