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)