Cross Posting

I am stopping my cross posting at blogger (ideas Cloud) for now. This blog was originally created in preparation of Forbes starting its Bloggers Network in Jan 2008 which unfortunately hasn't materialized yet (as we are well past June 2008). If and when Forbes launches its Bloggers Network and if I am still one of the invited outside bloggers, it will be my pleasure to blog for Forbes. Until then, I don't see any point keep cross posting stuff. Oh well, such is life.

For my latest blog entries and musings, please visit my personal blog at kempton.ideasRevolution.com. Thanks for your visit here.

Links: 2008-06-02

• For the life of me - Mountaineer chronicles his Everest rescue by Calgarian Andrew Brash and defends those who left him for dead
• Quotes from Yves Saint Laurent (1936 - 2008) * "I participated in the transformation of my era. I did it with clothes, which is surely less important than music, architecture, painting ... but whatever it's worth I did it." (2002) * New York Times slideshow and obituary
• "Asset-backed insecurity" - an interesting piece about sovereign-wealth funds by The Economists
• Poor People With Checks - nicely done video "Checkmate"
• ABC Blesses Blogs, Endorses Embedding
• Owning the Clouds [via Cory

Happy 5th Birthday WordPress

Wonderful job Matt. Happy 5th Birthday to Wordpress.

When should a company start blogging?

Recently I've been talking to a few friends about corporate blogging. And I thought this may make a good blog entry. So here it goes.

My current thinking is that a company should start blogging as soon as it is known to the public (i.e. out of "stealth mode") and have insights to share with its customers, potential customers, and the public at large.

Should a company wait for the "perfect moment", "perfect blog entry", "perfect ..." to start blogging? I don't think a company should wait as I think Bruce Mau got it right in his "An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth",

"9. Begin anywhere. John Cage tells us that not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis. His advice: begin anywhere."

I don't think there is a "right way" to corporate blog. There are as many ways to blog as there are different companies, different personalities and personal tastes, preferences, etc. for different blog writers and companies. Ultimately, companies will find their own voices in time. The voice should be identifiable (there has to be a person behind a blog entry, not just the anonymous "corporation"), and this voice has to be real, authentic, and passionate.

Here are some of the corporate blogs that I read. It should come as no surprises that they can be quite different from each others,

• The Legal Thing - by Mike Dillon (Sun Microsystems' General Counsel) (first entry - "This should be interesting")
• KR Connect - by Kevin Roberts (CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi) (first entry - "One From The Heart")
• The Google Official Blog - by various Google executives
• OpenSkies - by Dale Moss (Managing Director of OpenSkies, a new British Airways subsidiary flying transatlantic flights) (first entry - "It's official! Project Lauren becomes OpenSkies.")
• Photo Matt - by Matt Mullenweg (Founding Developer of WordPress)
• on the Java Road - by James Gosling (Father of the Java Programming language)

Start blogging now to share your insights with your customers, potential customers, and the general public at large. It's not just a blog, it is a conversation.

Begin anywhere.

P.S. I hope you've enjoyed and learned something from my first entry at infoport. If not, well, there is always the next blog entry.

P.P.S. It was not an accident that the "Blog Council" was not mentioned in the main blog entry. I thought Jeff Jarvis has covered Blog Council's challenges well in his "It's not just a blog" entry. It also seems strange that the Blog Council doesn't even have a blog. (big smile)

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March 7th, 2008 Update: eBay has added a new blog for "Desktop".

Re: New CBC president discouraged by attacks on Teamakers’ blog

I am going to blog some more because I think this is very important to my beloved CBC. Here is my comment to the entry “New CBC president discouraged by attacks on Teamakers’ blog” at the official CBC blog “Inside the CBC“.

Note: Here is the official press release of the appointment of Mr. Hubert T. Lacroix as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)/ Radio-Canada.

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Hi Hubert,

I am glad I waited for a few days before I comment because I take issues with the tone of your first comment but your latest comment sounds a lot better.

A few quick points before I take some time to blog more later in my own blog,

1) It is important you responded to the Teamakers’ blog entry as open and transparent dialogue is key to understanding

2) I accept your apology in writing your comment like a [legal] memo. Just please promise to not “heretofore” or “hitherto” us in your comment. (smile)

Note: My better half and a few friends are lawyers, so I tell unfunny lawyer jokes sometimes. (smile)

3) May I suggest you start your own blog and leave the comment sections open for people to comment at your blog ?

On this final and very serious point #3 of suggesting you to start blogging and allowing comments. You may appreciate the significance of the following more as you were a lawyer. I recently interviewed my blog friend, Mike Dillon, a lawyer for 23 years and currently General Counsel of Sun Microsystems (a Fortune 500 and publicly listed company). (note: I will be posting that podcast/audio interview later.)

When Mike started blogging in August 2006 at http://blogs.sun.com/dillon/ , he decided to open his comment section against advice of a colleague. Since then Mike has been really happy with his initial decision and he thinks a more open dialogue has been achieved. It will be my pleasure to try to connect you with Mike. (Incidentally, when CBC tried to establish its Blogging Policy (which reads like a legal-cover-your-behind-document) for employees some months ago, I thought CBC might learn a few things from Sun’s clean one page easy-to-read policy but that idea and my and Mike’s offer for help was sadly ignored.)

Again, I comment and blog about CBC stuff because I love CBC. Also, I have blogged and commented with my real name because I think I have pissed off enough CBC senior executives with my often idiotic comments that I know I have a better chance in winning a Lotto than working for CBC. (big smile)

In the world of Blogs and open communications, it is nice to read “I’m reading everyone’s comments with interest and will continue to do so for the next five years …” from you.

Keep reading, you may be surprised what you learn from people who work for you (in all levels).

Best Regards,
Kempton

OpenSkies (a tiny part of British Airways) starts blogging

Virgin is one of my Admired Companies. If it is up to me, I prefer flying with Virgin over British Airways.

But I will definitely give BA some credit in starting the OpenSkies blog (all three entries so far have been written by Managing Director Dale Moss (PDF file)). Quoting their “Behind te blog“,

Our lines are open, so are our minds.

Let’s start with a brave statement: We don’t want you to simply witness the creation of an airline, we want you to be part of it. That may sound like puffery, but it isn’t. We hope to prove that your contributions will help make OpenSkies a unique and, invariably, a better travelling experience.

This blog is the heart of our conversation.

Dale seems to be creating some buzz and quite responsive to readers’ comments/feedbacks even their first flight is months away in June 2008.

I agree with Neville’s analysis that Dale’s “commentary has far more impact than the massaged press release text”.

Thanks to Matt, I am happy that OpenSkies’ blog is now on my radar screen and I am paying attention to it. (smile)

Now, why doesn’t Virgin have a blog?