It is always hard to know how a talk on social media is going to work with a room full of business students. Will they "get" social media? Will they have heard of "Twitter"? What if the answer really is NO?
The other night as I started to wrap up my presentation, my mind switched to questions. I tried to think back over the sections that elicited the greatest responses and wondered what questions would be asked. But I should have already known at least one of these questions — because it has been asked EVERY time that I talk about social media. "How do you find the time?".
Now, I have an answer to this … but what I am interested in, is others. I know how long it CAN take to write blog posts. I know how many hours I spend reading and commenting on other blogs. And I know, roughly, how much effort will be needed to make my various other social media projects successful (a lot). But what about others? What about those at the peak of their careers? Can and do senior executives write blogs?
In search of the answers, I turned to the unreliable Twitter and asked the ALWAYS reliable community. Here is the list of senior executives with blogs:
- Wade Millican pointed me to Drazen Drazic
- Ric Hayman suggested JP Rangaswami, closer to home Mike Cannon-Brookes, Bob Lutz and Sam Lawrence
- Michelle Zamora suggested Sandy Carter
- Ian Farmer reminded me of Mario Sundar’s now defunct list of CEO blogs
I also knew of or found new (to me) executive blogs, including Dr Ellen Weber, Johnathan Schwartz, John Dragoon and Randy Baseler.
So it seems there are SOME executive blogs running wild. But over the next couple of weeks I want to take a closer look. What do they write about, and how frequently do they update?
ALSO … if there are other executive blogs that you know of, let me know. I will check them out as well!
http://www.chubbygrocer.co.uk/
A senior manager of Waitrose, an upmarket supermarket here in the UK.
My only question, what are these blogs for? Most of the time they seem to be for personal indulgence. What are the merits of marketing themselves? Do they become more vulnerable? Does the company gain from the managers blogging?
Ive heard that Microsoft’s softer stance on its staff blogs meant that the company now has a face and not just a corporate giant.
My question then is…how much of it is spin? And if they actually work? will it take the heat out of Vista etc and is it a long term bet to make things like Zune and Live more desirable through “accessibility”…
I remain doubtful of the economic effects of exec, or corporate blogs on the company.
In most organisations it is the mandate of a C-level executive to communicate the strategy of the company, and it’s continued place in their industry. If eNewsletters aren’t being opened, and the only time real communication takes place is once a year at shareholders meeting, are they fulfilling that mandate?
have a look at realestate.com.au. Also NowWeAreTalking. Umm SavingsAndLoans have a senior blogger? Gosh I saw two more this week – no comments on their blogs- but I can’t remember now. The list should not be technology company bloggers 😛
I’ll be back later with a better list as long as the Attention Economy doesnt take a nose-dive. heh.
http://cpablog.typepad.com/alexmalley/
CPA President blogs – does that count?
http://www.royaltech.net
– Personal indulgence.
– Experimentation
– Fun
A retrospective of what I was doing, discussing and interested in for me to compile into a ‘book’ in years to come for first and foremost, my kids and grandchildren to laugh and ridicule me over.
Actually, I’m talking about Corporate Blogging tomorrow at – http://www.onlinebankingreview.com.au/BankTechnology.php
with a person from SavingsAndLoans.
Our CEO writes a blog, but the pace of work makes posting intermittent.
You can take a look at http://www.universepoint.com/ceo/blog/