Blogging as corporate marketing
Daniel’s Geek Rant lightly touched an interesting subject a few days ago: “Will corporate blogging go worldwide?” It is interesting because blogs (web logs or personal online journals) are now used not only by private individuals creating a network of online friends and ideas, but also in the corporate world. The blog is now a powerful tool in the hands of certain individuals, finding another opportunity to push their ideas immediately and directly to their readers, to evangelize their companies and products, to stay in the spotlight. The blog’s purpose in such a situation is more of a marketing tool than a communication tool. Which, to put it short, sucks.
Why are blogs now regarded as the best thing since sliced bread? Haven’t people learned anything from the dotcom boom and failure only a few years ago? Is it that difficult to see that all this hype on blogging is greatly exceeding the natural course of durable growth? What goes up will go down. It’s only a matter of time until the interest for corporate blogs will decrease.
Furthermore, let’s think of the cultural diversity in the world. Can corporate blogging be assimilated by any other culture than the American? I really doubt it. Only Americans believe in individual recognition and success, in the “American Dream” of breaking class and fortune barriers overnight. When you say Apple, you think Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. When you say Microsoft, you think Bill Gates. The entire American culture, including the economy, is based on individuality, on well-known names and success stories. They are the voices of companies, they are in the spotlight, not the little guys below. Apart from conferences, speeches, interviews, articles in magazines and newspapers, press releases on web, now they have blogs as means of broadcasting their personal ideas.
What about other countries? Not all cultures promote individuality. The Japanese don’t like to stand out from the crowd; they consider themselves miniatural components of a large assembly. There’s no individuality there, it’s only the organization. There’s no “I,” but “we.” Can you name the chief designer of Sony Electronics? Or perhaps the President of Toyota? Do they ever speak for themselves, or only for the organizations they are part of? I cannot possibly imagine a Japanese worker, singing the corporate anthem ever since he was a zygote, going slowly through the company from the lowest possible position to the upper hyerarchy in decades by following tradition and corporate rules instead of competencies and competitivity, to have a blog evangelizing his immense contribution to the company. It doesn’t reflect that culture. European multi-cultural diversity is yet another story. We’re talking about extending the operations of a company over national borders. It’s not uncommon for a product to have components built in Spain and Italy, to have Dutch management and marketing, Norwegian capital and Eastern European customers. There’s no room for individuality here either. Therefore, corporate blogs will not catch up here; individual oppinions are not being voiced outside the company’s Public Relations, corporations are more important than individuals, and using blogs for evangelizing, marketing and indoctrination (read: bullshitting) is not accepted.
