Why do some Fortune 500 companies blog and others don’t? Chris Anderson and Doc Searles have asked why companies such as Microsoft, Sun and GM blog whilst others, such as Apple, Intel and Toyota don’t. They hypothosised that the companies that blogged were often those that had less coherent and successful corporate messaging that those that didn’t.
In order to test this theory Chris Anderson and Ross Mayfield have created a Wiki of Fortune 500 companies that blog and those that do not in order to see if blogging corporations have performed more poorly than non blogging corporations.
So far the Wiki shows that 19 members (4%) of the Fortune 500 blog and that on a 12 month performance their share price has risen 2% whilst those without a blog have grown by 19%.
It will be very interesting to see how these statistics look a year from now. Will 2006 be the year of the corporate blogger?
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Very good theory—plus the blogs themselves don’t seem to subscribe to any notion of the corporate brand. They are, in many respects, renegade additions to the brand-building process. I would sense that the corporations that use them don’t really take back any notion of how the brand should be managed, though I am sure they do use some of the ideas fed back by readers for other areas of their businesses (by that I mean sales). It is possible for these blogs to help these companies—but they must integrate them into the marcom process, complete with feedback. Trouble is, companies like GM don’t (to me) seem to possess a two-way communications’ model. It’s still “fire it out”, rather than, ‘How do you view us today, and where can we take you?’
December 30th, 2005 at 5:39 pm
Not sure if the question about why some Fortune 500 companies blog is the right question. From my perspective, I think that the Fortune 500 that are blogging are at the forefront of the industry.
Playing with the numbers I think only 0.73% Of Employers Blog – While 4.6% Of Fortune 500 Blog, that means the big companies are ahead in this growing market.
See my post for more info.
http://blogsurvey.backbonemedia.com/archives/2006/03/fortune_500_tak_1.html
March 28th, 2006 at 12:27 pm