Can big companies benefit from employee blogs?

Many organizations worry that if they put their clout behind an individual, he or she will gain notoriety and power and eventually double-cross the organization. So, instead, they go for bland.

— Seth Godin on How (not to) pick a company spokesman

Those organizations are right to worry. Scoble was happy at Microsoft, but he built so much equity in “Scoble Inc.” that his decision to leave practically made itself. The same applies to Jeff Atwood of Coding Horror. Welcome to the world of free, fast, ubiquitous self publishing.

So what’s a company to do? Official, cautious, and faceless blogs are invisible. All worthwhile insider blogs start organically, without approval, in the face of hostile hierarchy (legal and corporate communications departments are all about risk avoidance and controlling the conversation, not empowering employees). I personally admire companies that embrace the openness of blogging and social media, but admiration doesn’t pay Microsoft’s bills.

What we need are case studies:

• Robert Scoble: He was good for Microsoft, but he outgrew them and took his brand equity with him.
• Gina Trapani: Her job is blogging, and still her notoriety is a problem for her employer.
• Corporate customer service via Twitter: See @ComcastCares, @JetBlue, @Zappos, and @hrBlock. It’s nice that big companies are allowing their most savvy and therefore most influential customers bypass the “please listen closely because our menu options have changed” circle of hell, but what about the 99.9% of customers that don’t know about Twitter? Also, Twitter can have less downside for big companies because Twitter accounts can be more “faceless” than a blog, and so far nobody has turned a Twitter account into a career in punditry.
• MiniMicrosoft: Anonymous (hard to stop or co-opt), influential, and critical (but fair). These bloggers care about the company, but they’re disenfranchised by middle management.
• Matt Cutts of Google: Good PR for Google, but again, he’s building more equity as “Matt Cutts, SEO Authority” than “Matt Cutts, Google employee”.
• Apple: Only Apple can get away with being a tech company without bloggers.

Blogging is a mixed bag for big companies, but it’s essential for small companies and startups. 37signals is the best example: they blogged from day 1, their products have collaborative, blog-like features baked in, and notably, the company blog (and not personal employee blogs) is where the action is.