Being a vocal member of the blogosphere and proponent of corporate blogging, its easy to lose perspective on actual acceptance of blogging in the corporate world. The Makovsky 2006 State of Corporate Blogging Survey conducted by Harris Interactive® slapped me back to reality.

…only minorities of top executives surveyed are convinced to “a great extent” that corporate blogging is growing in credibility either as a communications medium (5%), brand-building technique (3%), or a sales or lead generation tool (less than 1%). In contrast, most executives are somewhat or not at all convinced of blogs’ growing credibility in these areas, (62%, 74%, and 70% respectively).

Among other highlights of the survey:

• Even though 12% of senior executives say their companies have taken legal or other action in response to a blog, only 20% report having a formal process in place for monitoring blogs written about the company.

This is frightening. The blogosphere is the place where conversations are taking place. Its the place where your customers are talking about you. Its the place where your competitors are talking about you. Joining in these conversations should be priority #1 for businesses - and you dont need a blog to do that.

• A minority (15%) say that someone in their organization is currently writing a blog related to the company or its activities.
• Only one in five (21%) report reading business-related blogs once a week or more frequently.
• Only 30% of senior executives report that they have a thorough understanding of the term “Internet blog.”
• Forty percent believe that their companies should have corporate policies to address the writing of blogs unrelated to the company or its activities. This compares with the 77% who believe their companies should have such policies concerning the authoring of blogs sanctioned by the company.

Absolutely! Before you unleash your corporate blog(s) you must have blogging policies in place. You can find out more about developing corporate blogging policies here.

• Further, 8% report organizing a team of dedicated people to write sanctioned blogs about the company and its activities.

I wonder what percentage of these companies have employees that are writing unsanctioned blogs? I guess if they are not monitoring the blogosphere then they will never find out. Ignorance is bliss.

• Three percent said their company changed its product, service, or policies because of publicity generated by a blog written about it.

Andy Beal summed it up best on his blog - Could it be we need to come up with a better way of explaining what a “blog” is? I bet if they conducted a similar survey and asked “Are you interested in hearing what your customers think of your business?”, we’d get a different response.

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3 Responses to “Fortune 1000 Execs Still Don’t Get It (Blogging)”

1. Strive Notes » Corporates slow to react to blog credibility gains Said:
   on May 8th, 2006 at 4:19 am

   [...] Corporate¬?Blogging 101¬?has a discussion going about the survey and Jeffrey Tream at Inside the Cubicle does a pretty thorough analysis. [...]

2. Amanda Chapel Said:
   on May 8th, 2006 at 5:18 am

   The Makovsky release is a complete bastardization of the findings. ?ÄúStill don’t get blogging?Äù is nonsense. Corporate execs are judging blogging as NOT in the interest of their corporate agendas.

   See http://www.strumpette.com/archives/107-Corporate-Execs-Thumbs-Down-on-Blogging.html .

   Bloggers have to stop drinking their own cool aid.

   - Amanda Chapel

3. Patrick Dodd Said:
   on May 8th, 2006 at 6:23 am

   “The Makovsky release is a complete bastardization of the findings. ?ÄúStill don?Äôt get blogging?Äù is nonsense. Corporate execs are judging blogging as NOT in the interest of their corporate agendas.” The fact that corporate execs are judging blogging as NOT in the interest of their corporate agendas is precisely why they don’t get it - “IT” being the efficacy of blogging.

   There are some industries where the benefits of corporate blogging are few and to be sure blogging is not the end all tool for corporate communications. It does, however, become important when incorporated with other tools that facilitate bottom up communication.