The world of corporate communications is changing. With the tools afforded by the internet, and blogging especially, there is a great blurring of private citizen communications and corporate communications that I see will bring great value to corporations and to corporate responsibility.
by Kevin Moss, Head of CSR at BT Americas.
Yesterday’s post, How to Get Your Sustainability Message Noticed in Cyberspace misses the true value of blogging to corporate responsibility.
The world of corporate communications is changing. There used to be a clear line of demarcation between the individual as an executive communicating a corporate message and the individual as a private citizen exchanging personal views. Corporate communications that represent the company position tend to be one to many. Private citizen communications would be two-way but limited to very small audiences.
With the tools afforded by the internet, and blogging especially, there is a great blurring of these two options that I see will bring great value to corporations and to corporate responsibility.
In large organizations, whether for-profit, NGOs or government, the individual connection between the employee and the external stakeholders can be lost. The internet is an equalizer for small to have an equal voice to large. And the internet also has the capacity to serve as the personalizer, allowing executives in large organizations to share their personal views and be more connected as individuals with their stakeholders.
Simply having a company blog open to comments from readers gives a key message on the importance and acceptance of differing viewpoints to that company. When truly an expression of the views of an individual business executive, blogging provides a strong foundation for individual accountability. And through opening him or herself up to a more personal connection with readers I believe the executive blogger (CR practitioner or otherwise) creates an environment in which the views of their external stakeholders are front of mind in their decision-making.
Blogging as a communications tool for CR practitioners is interesting, but blogging as a mechanism to bridge the gap between company executives and stakeholders is a compelling route to ever-improving corporate responsibility.