Blogs — How Microsoft Turns No into YES

The usual debate within a company about whether to start a blog is how to handle negative comments. It’s true there will be some. Free speech and negative people seem to go together. Some complaints and criticism on blogs are valid and respectfully said. Others, well, they just are not.

I guess it all comes down to whether we fear our customers more than we want to get to know them.

The Rutland Herald has an excellent article, Blogs increase business branding, on company blogs. Despite the title, their coverage shows both the pros and cons. Here’s a snip from the center.

Blog proponents have a favorite word: conversation.

It’s the way they sum up their arguments for why businesses should take a serious look at blogging. The blog, they say, is a way for you or your company to talk to customers, fans, supporters and, yes, even critics.

“Companies are starting to realize there are conversations taking place online that they can be a part of,” said Josh Hallett, a Winter Haven, Fla.-based blog consultant, whose customers include the Orlando Sentinel. “Those conversations are going on right now, whether you like it or not.”

Still, the free-flowing nature of blogging can be tough for some companies and organizations to stomach, said Hallett, whose own blog is at hyku.com/blog.

After all, do you really want to provide your critics with a platform from which to smack you in the mouth?

Last summer, MetroPlan Orlando, the transportation planning agency for much of Central Florida, started a blog with the idea of encouraging the public to get involved in transportation debates.

The experiment lasted about two months. The agency pulled the plug after tiring of critical comments posted by anti-tax and anti-toll activists.

Then there’s Microsoft and employee Robert Scoble. The so-called technical evangelist writes on his Scobleizer blog (scobleizer.wordpress.com) about a wide range of tech issues, and is not shy about criticizing the software giant.

It’s that willingness by Microsoft to allow itself to be lambasted by its own employee — as well as the people who post comments on the blog — that gains the company respect on the Internet, said Matt Certo, president of WebSolvers Inc., a Web site developer in Winter Park.

[This article via The Blogging Times]

I think it’s reasonable that some company cultures and maybe some industries are not conducive to the conversation that is a blog. However, as I write this, I can’t seem to think of an example . . . the industries that come to mind are already blogging in some way. What could be more fraught with trolls, critics, and folks who want to make negative statements about the competition than politics? Four of the Top Ten Blogs in the 37 Million on the Technorati Index and Search Engine of Blogs are Political Blogs.

Liz Strauss