Michael Schrage of CIO Magazine
has a characteristically sane and clear-eyed column about the value—and
the concomitant risk—of free-wheeling internal corporate blogs,
and he apparently has the goods on some in-house Fortune 500 examples.
What
topics do these blogs address? IT project management seems to
be a favorite, which is only logical since both the target audience
and the author pool would tend to be familiar with blogging technology
and comfortable absorbing information on-screen. But how badly
does the CIO really want to know about the progress of the massive
ERP installation with Bangalorean outsourcing and hot and cold running
Big Four consultants? (We know the answer is that, if he’s smart,
he wants to know about problems early and often, but we also know that
such a pioneering attitude can invite arrows in the back.)
Would your firm have the nerve to permit free-wheeling internal blogs? As
a reality check? Think about it; odds are somebody else is already.