What is it going to take for (corporate) blogging to become a job skill?

Blogging as a Job Skill

Micro Persuasion — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 11:32:00 GMT

Microsoft's Heather Leigh thinks corporate blogging should be a job skill. I know many of us are blogging as part of our jobs. But what will it take for blogging is recognized as a skill in and of itself? How

re: What is it going to take for (corporate) blogging to become a job skill?

Dana VanDen Heuvel — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 12:44:00 GMT

Heather,

Well, with certain sites and corporate blogs, this is becoming a skill. Further, there are already people with the title of "chief blogger."

While I am not a journalist or PR person per se, the points you mention above are all things think of when writing press releases to be read by journalists, and when I'm writing articles, and, of course, when I'm writing on my weblog.

I think that relevance and filtering are your most important, and are the things that get people back to your site. I will assume that most bloggers can write, or are trying to improve (as is my case) because they have expended the engergy, and that they have an opinion (originality, I think is part absolute, and part frame-of reference).

That being said, think of the people you know in your dept. How many would you say 'know the voice of your organization' enough to 'blog' about it? I would argue that very few have it.

Now comes the question. Is blogging a skill, or a talent? :)

Is Blogging a Skill or Talent?

Dana's Blog - Internet Marketing and Sales Technol — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 15:59:00 GMT

Heather at Microsoft posed the question today on what it will take for (corporate) blogging to become a job skill. Interesting, when you think about it. I think that it will follow suit with things like "Internet Marketing" and other new-age ventures. However, what is blogging, in the corporate sense. Does updating project weblogs count? Anyone can do that (is corporate e-mailing a skill?). Or, are we talking about projecting your company's voice into the world? Heather has the following to say about the skills required: A gage (or gauge) for relevance. Strong written communication skills. An internal filter. Part...

re: What is it going to take for (corporate) blogging to become a job skill?

Heather — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 21:01:00 GMT

Dana, you make a great point when you say ask how many in ones department can actually be the voice of the organization. Makes me think about what it is about me (I'm sorry, I know this isn't all about me) that makes me a good blogger (if I may be so bold as to say). Part of it I think is passion for your sobject and for blogging in general.

As far as the skill versus talent question that you pose, I guess I'll say some of both or either. I think many people can enhance their skills in most of these areas, but some will not become proficient no matter what kind of coaching they get (like the relevancy skill). I guess you need a baseline talent and then the developed skills are what take you from being an OK writer to a great blogger.

This actually reminds me of when I was in high school and my mother would read my papers and cringe. She told me that I used to be a horrible writer. I definitely feel that I have developed in this area. Wouldn't say I'm great, but I'd say better than most. I'm not sure if that means my talent was unexposed or my skills were underdeveloped.

I suppose it can work either way.

PR Machine

TrackBack — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 21:49:00 GMT

PR Machine

EWerx

TrackBack — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 21:53:00 GMT

Ich liebe blogs in deutsch ; )

Reblog

TrackBack — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 22:11:00 GMT

Reblog

Corporate Blogging

Alex — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 23:37:00 GMT

You raised an interesting question about Corporate Blogging. While skill and (natural) talent are important there is one major question and that is: Who carries the can when some Blogger fouls up? Haven't e-mails got enough people into trouble and they were supposed to be private?? I know organizations like to think that everyone is part of "the team" and we all (as a 'team' support each other) but that concept usually lasts until you know what hits the fan and the CEO etc. has a symbolic heart attack and wants to know who is "responsible" or alternately whose head is round enough to roll far enough to get everyone else off the hook. It is the old eternal question "Do we speak with one voice" or "A lot of (relatively) little voices?

re: What is it going to take for (corporate) blogging to become a job skill?

gretchen — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 01:48:00 GMT

I saw a Microsoft job today that mentioned blogging in the job description (http://www.microsoft.com/careers/search/details.aspx?JobID=1c40cdf2-fd8b-4b08-a1d7-f93baa8dd625). Just now as I did a search for this description, I found 14 jobs on the career site that mention "blog." Of course, some mentioned words that included the "blog" - but more than one actually mentioned blogs!

thoughtsignals

TrackBack — Thu, 17 Jun 2004 00:09:00 GMT

thoughtsignals

PR Opinion

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PR Opinion

b-spirit

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b-spirit

re: What is it going to take for (corporate) blogging to become a job skill?

David — Fri, 02 Jul 2004 15:46:00 GMT

Corporate blogging should be very well defined to avoid missteps caused by crossing the line from delivering a message to writing a diary entry. An approach that is probably familiar to everyone is that of a columnist. Most columns emphasize a specific topic, such as local interest, sports, or politics. Many corporate blogs have the same type of focus. If this is the model for a firm’s corporate blogging efforts, then the same skills a columnist has should be held by those tasked with delivering the message.
The real challenge here seems to be finding enough content to live up to the blogging standard of posting frequently. Most columnists get a week to develop an idea while working full time on several stories in order to have a constant flow of topics available. Corporate bloggers have more important tasks than putting that much energy into a blog.
How long will it take for (corporate) blogging to become a job?

re: What is it going to take for (corporate) blogging to become a job skill?

Gautam Ghosh — Mon, 12 Jul 2004 09:08:00 GMT

My thought is that Blogging has a long way to go before it becomes a job skill. Skills are important in their various contexts and unless organizations start having "Corporate Blogger" as a job title it is unlikely that Blogging will become a job skill...Guess the dotcoms/tech companies will pave the way for such a job...since some of them like FC and Google have employees blogs on their sites !

re: What is it going to take for (corporate) blogging to become a job skill?

??? — Mon, 12 Jul 2004 17:13:00 GMT

does anyone know what it take to become a CEO???

Louis Rosenfeld

TrackBack — Tue, 17 Aug 2004 01:08:00 GMT

Louis talks about the importance of business blog ROI

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When will corporate blogging be recognised as a desirable skill?

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Hans Henrich Hoejberg Heming wants Danish companies to see the light

Blogging as a job skill

Thoughtsignals — Sun, 03 Oct 2004 14:59:00 GMT

Heather Leigh suggests blogging as a job skill, and goes on to outline some specific components of this skill. I know many of us are blogging as part of our jobs. But what will it take for blogging is recognized...

re: What is it going to take for (corporate) blogging to become a job skill?

Alison — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 17:50:57 GMT

I'm doing searches for chief blogger job descriptions today, and this post came up in the results. I'm wondering what that says about how far we've come (or not) in recognizing blogging as a job skill in and of itself. What are your thoughts on the predictions made in this post 4.5 years later?