Industry: State of the Blogosphere: Corporate Bloggery

Executives Slow to See Value of Corporate Blogging

Corporate blogs take up only a small space in the blogosphere, but awareness is building, however slowly, among senior executives. Makovsky & Company released "The Makovsky 2006 State of Corporate Blogging Survey" with research conducted by Harris Interactive, to determine which corporations are blogging and how concerns about blogging are being handled.

The role of the blogosphere isn't yet fully realized by senior executives at Fortune 1000 companies. Reserved views extend both to blogging and how to respond to blog posts about the company.

Of 150 top-level decision makers surveyed:

•5% said they see corporate blogging as a communications medium
•3% see it as a brand-building technique
•Less than 1% see it as a sales or lead-generation tool.
•62% doubt the credibility of blogs as a communications tool
•74% doubt the credibility of blogs for brand-building
•70% doubt the credibility of blogs as a sales or lead generation channel

•Yet only about 30% of senior executives have a thorough understanding of the term "Internet blog."

Corporate opinions of blogging may be caused by the clash between corporate culture and the relaxed practices of some bloggers. "The culture of blogging places a high value on communiqués that are honest, spontaneous, provocative and sometimes shocking, in contrast to the controlled communications of business," said Robbin Goodman, EVP and partner at Makovsky & Company. "There is a learning curve that needs to take place."

About 1/2 of the respondents say they have policies in place concerning blogging. 77% believe a policy should be in place to handle company-sanctioned blogs.

Senior level executives may not author blogs themselves, but 15% have someone in the organization writing a blog relating to the company or its activities.

Yet interestingly...THE SAME EXECS USE BLOGS TO MONITOR THE PULSE OF THE PUBLIC.
•20% monitor blogs to know when the company appears in the blogosphere
•21% read business-related blogs at least once a week

The data are a result of a nationwide telephone survey of 150 leading executives at Fortune 1000 companies; 144 of whom had heard of the term "corporate blogging."

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