Scoble's Rules for Corporate Bloggers
Who should blog for the company? What should they say? Who should approve it? What's the ROI? Microsoft obviously believes blogging has customer relationship and PR value because more than 1,000 of its employees are blogging.
One of the most famous, and interesting, is Robert Scoble, Microsoft's blog evangelist Here are Scoble's rules for corporate bloggers:
“Our rule here (at Microsoft)? Don't be stupid. 
I call it be smart. But, it comes down to not pissing off your boss… and working to make sure you align your weblog with the image that the company is trying to project.
My suggestion for those who want to write a business blog:
1) Read tons of blogs first. I recommend that you read at least 50 blogs for two weeks before you start. Get an RSS Aggregator. That's a must. Learn how to use Feedster, Pubsub, and Technorati.
2) Show your passion for your company and your products. If you aren't passionate about your products or your company (in a good way) then it's probably best that you don't write a blog that'll be identifiable with your company.
3) Help other people share their passion (interview workers who you notice staying late to do something “extra special”).
4) Try to answer any concerns bloggers might have. But, be careful. Work with PR teams and marketers in your company so you know what their stance is.
5) Take some risks. But know the consequences.” – Robert Scoble.
BL,
The link you provided to Scoble's blog didn't work for me. I found the blog at this link:
http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/
It's really amazing that this guy works for Microsoft, and is fairly honest and funny about Microsoft's flaws (for example, search for “evil corporation” on MSN Search and the top result is… Microsoft!).
Microsoft doesn't host the blog. An interesting side note is that Scoble will not grant press interviews unless and until they are cleared by Microsoft's PR firm, Waggener Edstrom. He says whatever he pleases on his blog without prior approval from anyone, but he can't talk to a journalist without pre-approval. Why?
It probably has something to do with securities law. His blog is public. Therefore, what he says on his blog is publicly disseminated and meets the requirements of Regulation FD. Notice to all you PR pros reading this: blogging could be an excellent way to satisfy Full Disclosure regulations about the distribution of material news. Can you say IR Blog? I knew you could!
STEVE O'KEEFE
Moderator, IAOC BlogFest 2004
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