Group blogs versus personal blogs

Shel Israel provides his take on group blogs versus personal blogs.

The basic issue is that team blogs give enterprise executives more comfort because the company brand remains over any personal brands. On the other hand, most of the most popular blogs are the work of individuals who write mostly about their work.

I agree with Shel and his reasoning for why team blogs are less popular.

The thing about Team blogs is that they are generally mediocre.  The participants tend to talk to each other, they link too often to other portions of their own organization and too rarely too competitors. They feel self-serving, rather than community serving. Its a reason that Corante, which was originally Hell-bent on providing the most group blogs has been moving away from the position.

Team blogs are safe and it is better to be safe than abstaining. But if you want your company bloggers to really move the needle, I think the wiser course is to let them blog as individuals.  Many voices have turned out to be more powerful and credible than one voice.

Employers should be empowering their employees to communicate with and build relationships with the company's target audience. Sure, set some guidelines for blogging but set your employees free.

Shel discussed Scoble's leaving Microsoft. Sure Scoble was the brand and there was huge discussion on his move. But the goodwill Scoble created for Microsoft was invaluable.