InformationWeek’s “Secret CIO,” who writes under the pseudonym “Herbert W. Lovelace,” in the September 9 issue takes aim at enterprise blogging because it takes time away from real work, and if successful, it’s hugely distracting:

The last thing you want are uncontrolled and ever-expanding records of individual activities.

The column puts well what I expect the corporate response to blogging to be. I imagine talking with a CIO who straightens his rep tie and says:

“Let me see. You’re telling me that each of our 150,000 employees will have a weblog. And you say people typically spend a half hour a day writing and reading weblogs. So, you’re trying to sell me software that will drop my company’s productivity by 1/16th? Security, we’ve got an intruder!”

Here’s what I want to say to The Secret CIO:

Much of what you say is right, although you’re ignoring the benefits of discovering a handful of people who start writing incredibly useful blogs that are full of ideas and that crystallize unarticulated opinions and feelings. And you’re ignoring the ability of blogs to pull together groups and preserve much of their intellectual value. But maybe you’re right. Maybe giving every employee a blog isn’t the right way to get to these goals.

But even if you were 100% right, you’re missing the point. Don’t think shooting down the proposal from an enterprise blogging company shoots down blogs. We don’t need the proposal and we don’t need your permission — if we’re not allowed to blog in the corporate space, there’s still a might big Web out there. Blogging is happening whether you want it to or not. Your best employees are already setting up weblogs — and mailing lists, and discussion boards, and web pages — to talk about what matters to them, in their own voice.

Weblogs are a done deal. The question is whether there’s additional business value to be had by aggregating, mining (yech) and nurturing the blogging community that’s already created itself under your nose and under your radar.

Categories: Uncategorized dw