Advantages and Disadvantages of Corporate Blogging

There are many advantages and disadvantages to corporate blogging.  If you are not careful, blogging could even cause your company to close.  One major concern is, the risk of getting fired.  If the CEO is doing the blog, this isn't a concern.  On many blogs, you can receive comments and even posts from employees and other people wanting to participate.  If the employee says something that offends the supervisor or high-priority customer, the employee is at risk for getting fired.  A survey found on Enterprise Blogs stated "over 57 percent of executives at 332 large companies said they were concerned about blogs as a source of trouble for their companies."  It is easy to post on a blog, but is a lot harder to remove it.  As stated in our Business Communications textbook, if you respond to a memo, whether on a blog or personal, when the readers emotions are running high, they may say something that they regret later.

Another disadvantage is the time it takes to maintain a company blog.  If you hurry through any post you do, the company may be at risk of sounding unintelligent, uneducated, and worse, unreliable.  Poor writing and preparation could affect the way the reader thinks about the company.  You want to have a good impact on your reputation, and poor blogging could interfere with your reputation.

After reading through multiple disadvantages of blogging, I still believe the advantages outweigh the bad.  One of the biggest advantages I believe, is the free publicity.  Facebook is the largest social network online, and spreading news on the internet has become extremely efficient.  If you link your blog to Facebook, you can easily get thousands of people to read your link.  It depends on the attractiveness of the link and the blog, as to whether the consumer actually clicks on the link, reads your blog, and continues reading your blog.  Another advantage is connecting with your employee's and customers.  Corporates have are impersonal, but if you create a blog, you can bridge the gap of communication.  Your employees and customers will feel more connected and in turn, you will have better employee moral and more satisfied customers.  It is up to the corporation whether they want to invest time in creating a blog to connect with employees and customers.  In my opinion, I think blogging is a great idea.  Especially, if you want to keep up with the computer age.


References

"Corporate Blogging Disadvantages." Enterprise Blogs Info. 2011. Web. 29 Mar 2011. http://www.enterpriseblogs.info/corporate-blogging/disadvantages

Thill, John V., Bovee, Courtland L. Excellence in Business Communication. 8th Edition. Pearson Education, Inc. 2008. Web. 29 Mar 2011. http://media.pearsoncmg.com/pcp/pcp_81963_bus_comm_ccco_wct6/