The eOK .network

Was at BlogOut 2007 on Thursday evening at the Geek Terminal. I wouldn’t dare say it was a blogger event, but more a geek convention with most in attendance happening to be bloggers.

Between song, food, and drink, serious discussion was had in breakout tables. The table I was at focused on the topic of corporate blogging. I was kinda forced to join it by Bernard who wanted “PR expertise” to be at the table.

Although I didn’t stay all the way through I learned and got a feel of what Singaporeans think about corporate blogging:

• Most of us see it as a marketing / PR platform.
• Some want it for community feedback.
• The biggest inhibitor of starting a corporate blog is not so much lack of time but fear of relinquishing control.
• Most don’t believe in setting a goal for corporate blog, rather let passion and honesty attract the community and work from there.

All this talk reminded me of the Wired 15.04’s cover story on The See-Through CEO. In this article, Glenn Kelman, CEO, of Redfin took to blogging to be absolutely honest with the real-estate industry and it worked not just to drive business to his company but also to expose the “unethical” dealings of old-school agents.

But other than this example, I can’t say that corporate blogging has really transformed businesses, especially in Singapore. In fact I was saying at the table that sometimes the individuals in your organisation that blog can have a stronger effect on branding, culture, and good will than a single corporate blog.

But we’re still in early times and corporate blogging has got to be believed not just by the marketing / PR folks but by the top management themselves. At the end of the day, there’s nothing better than hearing whatever it is from the horse’s mouth–that means you Mr CEO!

(Photo from Kevin’s Flickr set)