Here’s an example from the CEO of a successful public relations/investor relations agency. Decide for yourself if he has anything useful to say on his blog.

Footnote: I know this guy and he is very intelligent. I haven’t spoken to him about his blog, but perhaps he is simply taking the blog format for a test drive so he has a better idea what he is talking about when he recommends it to clients. I hope so.

Actually, the most delicious part of the piece was a PR blogging evangelist trumpet “one to many thousands” communications. So much for one-to-one.

Always the ad hominem… always. It’s so weak. Seems to be a particular trait among the PR blogging evangelists. It certainly doesn’t make a strong case for your book. Quite the opposite.

Here, this is a depiction that isn’t a personal attack but does address you and the issue: http://www.strumpette.com/uploads/july06/snakeoil.jpg .

Get it?!

- Amanda

Randy Stross (the NYTimes columnist) and I spoke at length on the phone about CEO blogging. Very thoughtful guy - a fun interview. We debated back and forth on whether Bill Gates could/should blog. I say “no” in my book (I have a chapter called “Should the CEO blog?”). But I wrote that chapter before Gates announced he was stepping down to concentrate on his foundation. I think Gates could in fact blog about the foundation and what he wants to do with it, specific success stories, details of his trips to Africa, etc. Apparently he’s quite a good writer. And blogging on that topic would be unlikely to affect MSFT’s share price.

Oh and it’s spelled A-MAN-DUH, get it?!

Okay, here’s a more realistic and exact review: Sometimes when a girl says “yes,” it is completely obvious she means “no.” Debbie’s “How To” ironically does more to say “If You’re Smart, Don’t!!” See http://www.strumpette.com/archives/156-When-a-Girl-Says-Yes,-But-Means-No.html .

Now if you decide to buy this corporate-blog stuff or Debbie’s book, I might also suggest the “Flaming Swords Corporate Juggling Manual.” Other similar Amazon buyers have gotten the “How to Give Yourself a Lobotomy” handbook, and the “Beirut on 10 Bullets a Day” travel guide.

- Amanda

What a great question… PR is not about customer relations directly, but about media relations. PR folks don’t aim to have townhalls with the consumer, but with journalists. They deal with intermediaries, so they are interactive that way, but not with consumers.

A blog cuts out the middle-man. It’s direct to the consumer. No PR people, no journalists necessary. I hope that explains my point better.

PR is not interactive; blogging is. While blogging has a certain amount of PR to it, inviting the customer into the conversation is how to engage the customer and not just manage or sell the customer. It’s more experience and not just product.

Jeff,

Any CEO that doesn’t interact with customers today. Which, in the Fortune 1000, is pretty much all of them because of the size of each company and the diversity of strengths in its workforce. I agree with Schwarz that CEOs must be communicators, but isn’t a CEO’s first job to extend the life of the company and grow it? Communicating by blog might help that, but would all CEOs be good bloggers and help the company by blogging? If it’s a skill that they’re willing to learn and not just hand over to marketing, then the CEO should. But if they don’t do it well, they’ll only hurt the company.

Not necessarily for the communications benefits, but for the personal experience of seeing the power of networks first hand. They’d see how content and dialogue flows between nodes in the network - blogs and media websites - and how intricate and powerful the interplay of influences are.

It would be educational for them, they really would learn something about how their industry is changing.

The publishing bosses who would benefit from it most are those who have trade and specialist publications in their portfolios, as some of these are most ripe for the communities they supposedly serve to disntermediate their services.

I wrote about this yesterday here: http://open.typepad.com/open/2006/07/guardian_takes_.html

You wouldn’t wanna reveal secrets to the competitors, right?

Blogging is teh new “hip” things, and corporations trying to show off that “Hey, look, we can too”.