Take Melcrum's Social Media Survey

My friends over at Melcrum Publishing are running a Social Media Usage survey. Click here to take it (it's quick).

You get a nifty free download at the end: Melcrum's Quick Start Guide to Social Media for Internal Communicators (a 23-page PDF).

The survey is aimed at large corporations and asks about your use (or intended use) of blogs, wikis, podcasts, social bookmarking tools, RSS, Second Life, online video, etc.

Social Media for Internal Communicators in London - March 22, 2007

I'm speaking at Melcrum's social media conference in London in a couple of weeks. Topic: What's Your Story? Getting the Tone and Content of Blogs Right. Attendees will get a copy of my Content Strategy Workbook -- one of the things that will be included in... (drum roll)... The Corporate Blogging Toolkit.

I'm developing it now. It's an extension of The Corporate Blogging Book, designed to be a practical blueprint and manual to launch a corporate or CEO blog.

Consider this a below-the-radar announcement. More TK.

McDonalds is blogging internally and lovin' it

McDonalds' COO Michael Roberts was live blogging last week during a Ragan seminar on internal communications. He was "fielding dozens of questions (from employees) from around the globe," reports Steve Crescenzo of Corporate Hallucinations, who was leading the workshop. (I love Steve's blog.)

The COO also does a podcast and a regular internal blog that he updates weekly (or almost). AND one of McDonalds' internal communications managers, Lisa Grover, has the title Blog Czar. The company is planning to roll out a blogging program for all employees to participate in.

Notable: McDonalds' Brian Kramer (with internal communications; his title not identified) recommends bringing your Legal department in early if you're contemplating a blogging program.

"Bring them into it early and often," he told (Ragan seminar attendees). "Make them feel a part of the process. The truth is, you probably have the policies in place already, if you have online communication policies. You just have to adapt them for blogs."

That's exactly what the lawyers I've been talking to about "legal risks" of blogging tell me, BTW. They consider blogging another form of online communications (which includes email, discussion forums, instant messaging, etc.) Thanks to UK freelance journalist Ben Schiller for the link.

The skinny on Intel CEO Paul Otellini's blog

Well, I wish it were the really inside skinny, but it's all I've been able to uncover. (See bottom for One juicy bit...). Intel CEO Paul Otellini has written an internal blog since December 2004. His blog had a brief moment of fame in the blogosphere when an excerpt was leaked in  the San Jose Mercury News in February 2005 shortly after the launch. [16-page PDF of the excerpt here.]

Most notable in the copy-pasted excerpt was this early entry by Paul:

While this is intended as an internal blog, I recognize that it will become public-welcome to the Internet! As a result, please recognize that I may be a bit limited in my comments and responses to protect Intel, and that we may exercise some editorial privilege on your comments for the same reason. I want to be clear on this up front. This is the price of entry to this blog.
                                                                    - Paul Otellini's blog: Dec. 14, 2004

 

What Otellini writes about
Since then, Paul's blog has been well hidden under wraps on Intel's intranet. I spoke with Tom Beermann in Corporate PR today who told me that the blog is still going strong. Paul posts "every week to 10 days" and writes about "issues important to Intel and the industry, where he thinks it’s important for employees to hear the voice of the CEO." His posts are generally about 500 words long.

Comments are allowed
Yes, comments from employees are allowed. Tom didn't know how many have been left. "It depends on the topic," he said. "Some posts get several dozen comments." As for who is interacting with the blog, Beermann says it's a wide range, from "manufacturing to marketing" folks. Those responding to the blog "are not senior managers," he said.

Blog will continue
Will Paul continue blogging? Yes, says Beermann. "He enjoys the interaction and plans to continue." Oh, and he has no plans to make the blog public. Nor have there been any further copy-paste "leaks," as far as Beermann knows.  "We’d prefer that employees treat this as an internal Intel communication."

One juicy bit...
A few weeks ago, I met two senior-level Intel executives at a private party on the West Coast. One, in marketing, told me she regularly reads Paul's blog and will often make reference to it in her team meetings when she's trying to inspire everyone with a bit of top-down vision from the CEO.

The other flatly said he never reads Paul's blog and could care less what "Paul has to say about Katrina."

So there you have it. A sample size of two. Covering the spectrum of what I suspect are common reactions from Intel employees to Paul Otellini's internal CEO blog. It's great... vs. who cares.


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