Corporate Unofficialdom

--Critics begin to call corporate blogging "hype" and "passe." Fact is, the age of transparent business communications has only just begun. From blogosphere to podosphere, the thoughts of key opinion leaders will continue to colonize online content--

The BBC's North America business correspondent, Stephen Evans, writes "Why bosses blog - and why it's cheesy" referencing that although the list of boardroom bloggers is now long and distinguished and includes: Bob Lutz, vice president of General Motors; Randy Baseler, vice president of Boeing's commercial aircraft division; and Jonathan Schwartz, president of Sun Microsystems....they [blogs] aren't cool any more (because everyone is doing them). He asks his readers, "Isn't the point of blogs that they're meant to be the site of unofficialdom, and so forbidden to executives?"

Stephen, you're on to something here. It's called the new transparent environment of business communications. Grandma may have started a blog about her flower garden out back, but when key business opinion leaders start opening up their thoughts to an interactive format, it's the dawn of a new generation of communications between customers and companies. Fact is, the unofficialdom of the blogosphere you mention (the average Joe Blogger) is talking back to company brands. We can't expect corporate America to stand idle with all these bubbling brand threats, can we? (Corporate America is just starting to wake up to what's being said and linked to about their companies, executives, products and services online.)

The blogosphere started as a separate entity - a different realm. But now, as corporate executives move online, their company brand voices move online with them. Give these executives time to find their voice online and react to the unofficialdom you describe. Remember, the executive at a Fortune 100 company is [currently] far more restricted than a Joe Blogger working from home. So, their blogs could be characterized as "cheesy" and "boring" for now. But just you wait, as corporate speak continues to evolve with the blogosphere, you can bet we are in store for a new realm of communications: "Corporate Unofficialdom."