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Corporate-level blogs of the Fortune 500 companies: An empirical investigation of content and design
Abstract
With the popularity of blogs, more and more companies are jumping onto the blogwagon. This study tries to help companies to adopt blogs successfully. Companies that adopted blogs are maintaining different types of corporate blogs with different features. This study analyses content and design features of corporate blogs launched by the Fortune 500 companies to identify whether different category of blogs would employ different features. The result of this study shows that there are different adoption patterns of content and design features in terms of corporate blog type. Our research can guide practitioners in designing as well as writing content of blogs for their intended purposes.
... There appears to be a greater conceptual thought towards the use of blogs in organisations and their applicability in assisting organisations in a variety of ways. In addition to this, various classifications of organisational blogs have been advocated in the academic literature such as: employee blogs, group blogs and executive blogs (Lee et al., 2008). This paper attempts to provide further analysis regarding the use of blogs and their possible connection to the notion of organisational learning. ...
... One of the salient features of blogs advocated in the academic literature is that they have the potential to support processes of communication (Lee and Trimi, 2008). The undertaking of projects in organisations often involves a significant amount of internal and at times external communication among project participants. ...
... The undertaking of projects in organisations often involves a significant amount of internal and at times external communication among project participants. The notion of dialogue could be argued to be central to the success of a project in a company and for this reason the " conversational nature " [Lee et al., (2008), p.135] of blogs may be suitable for project intensive organisations. Blogs, if used in the correct manner during a project, could allow individuals to share their thoughts and views about the progression of a project, alert members about tasks and project milestones achieved and may potentially provide an element of 'project collectiveness'. ...
This paper sets out to examine the suitability of blogs as organisational learning tools within project-based organisations. Three distinct yet interrelated issues are covered. Firstly, the applicability of blogs as a potential learning tool within project-based organisations is discussed. Secondly, the association between blogs and the concept of organisational learning is clarified. Thirdly, the question of whether blogs have the means to allow an organisation to transform itself into a learning organisation is assessed. Due to fact that there is an apparent lack of empirical research in relation to blogs, this paper also outlines an empirical research study by the authors involving the use of blogs within a project-based organisation and presents the research questions, methodology, objectives and research techniques of the study. It is hoped that the significance of this study in attempting to bridge the gap between theory and practice of organisational learning may be seen as an important contribution to the organisational learning literature. The progression of the discipline of organisational learning is dependent upon such unique empirical studies that illustrate various approaches towards its facilitation within diverse organisational settings.
... Following the growing interests in and adoption of corporate blogging in recent years , researchers have begun paying attention to this unique phenomenon ( Lee and Trimi , 2008 ) . A few existing studies have discussed potential risks and benefits of corporate blogs ( Cox et al . ...
... t years , researchers have begun paying attention to this unique phenomenon ( Lee and Trimi , 2008 ) . A few existing studies have discussed potential risks and benefits of corporate blogs ( Cox et al . , 2008 ) , examined different types of corporate blogs and blogging strategies ( Lee et al . , 2006 ) , and analyzed content and design features ( Lee et al . , 2008 ) . Although these recent studies offer valuable insights and useful guidance for future research , many questions remain unanswered regarding how corporate blogs have evolved as a corporate communication tool , and what specific strategies are used in corporate blogs . ...
... nies , focusing on companies ' control mechanism strategies . They found most of the companies analyzed used a top - down blogging strategy , which means a high level of control rather than allowing bloggers ' autonomy . Two years later , another study analyzed content and design features of corporate blogs maintained by 23 Fortune 500 companies ( Lee et al . , 2008 ) . The results revealed that promotional blogs used content and design features differently from executive and group blogs . Another recent study by Cox et al . ( 2008 ) offered extensive discussion of potential risks and benefits of corporate blogs , presented brief case studies , and recommended corporate blog policy guidelines . The ...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how major corporations in the USA utilize corporate blogs for building and maintaining relationships with various publics.
Design/methodology/approach
Applying the relationship management framework, a longitudinal content analysis of corporate blogs is conducted in 2006 and 2008. The blogs are identified by a thorough search of blogs operated by corporations listed on Fortune 500 companies or Interbrand Top 100 global brands. A systematic coding scheme is developed based on the existing research on relationship maintenance strategies and corporate communication.
Findings
A growing number of major corporations in the USA have adopted blogs as a corporate communication tool and the popularity of topic‐oriented blogs appears to have increased over time. While corporate blogs tend to apply various relationship maintenance strategies, the application of such strategies tends to be concentrated on a certain type of strategies.
Practical implications
Despite the increasing adoption of the corporate blogging practice, many corporations still do not seem to harness the unique potential of a blog to the fullest extent. To maximize the relationship management efforts, practitioners should consider expanding the scope and level of relationship management strategies. For researchers, this paper proposes a new approach for examining corporate blogs as a public relations tool by applying the relationship maintenance strategy framework.
Originality/value
This paper is the first attempt to provide a longitudinal overview of the state of corporate blogs and strategies. In addition to offering descriptive information about the corporate blogging practice, this paper proposes a new research framework for studying corporate blogs.
... The fact that blogs are generally about producing content means that they are often associated with the notions of dialogue and information sharing. It is the " conversational nature " (Lee et al., 2008, p. 135) of blogs that makes them appealing for individual's to exchange views and opinions about issues of mutual interest. Blogs also promote the notion of " thinking by writing " (Nardi et al., 2004, p. 45) allowing bloggers inserting blog posts to reflect on personal experience or actions thereby sharing this tacit knowledge with fellow readers. ...
... However, some organisations such as International Business Machines and Microsoft have been quick to realise the benefits of using blogs (Du and Wagner, 2006). Research into the organisational uses of blogs is growing with several types of organisational blog being identified by use: employee blogs; group blogs; executive blogs; promotional blogs and newsletter blogs (Lee et al., 2008). Employee blogs are often associated with staff members' blogging externally on the behalf of their company so as to maintain a favourable image for the company. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the theoretical link between blogs and organisational learning. It aims to provide a set of practical guidelines on how to overcome the challenges of implementing an organisational blog.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review will be used to examine blogs and their association towards organisational learning and an illustration of how one company reacted to using blogs will be provided.
Findings
It was discovered that implementing blogs within organisations can present challenges that might be overcome through properly informing and educating staff about their organisational benefits. A set of guidelines is presented as an implementation checklist for companies considering using internal blogs.
Research limitations/implications
The paper does not examine the adoption of blog use within multiple organisations but reflects on the challenges of running blogs in one specific organisation. The problems identified might not apply to all types of organisations. Further research will be required to determine this.
Practical implications
The paper provides a set of guidelines that allows organisations to assess whether blogging is right for them and suggests steps to take that can stimulate an organisational blogging culture.
Originality/value
The paper offers practical advice and guidelines that help management to overcome difficulties associated with the introducing of organisational blogs internally. The paper provides a novel academic perspective in which organisational blogs might not be as straightforward to implement as argued in the literature.
... clear governance and guidelines for appropriateness may constrain some executives' online communication (Lee et al., 2006), the existence of CEO blogs and online communication can play an important role in personifying monolithic corporations to stakeholders, increasing customer engagement, and humanizing CEOs as companies' chief engagement officer (Vidgen et al., 2013). Additionally, Lee et al. (2008) suggested collaboration, knowledge management, thought leadership, employee engagement and environmental monitoring represent an additional set of opportunities CEOs may realize by utilizing richness and connectedness in their online communication. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to compare Fortune 200 and top startup chief executive officers’ (CEOs) communication strategies on Twitter and the effectiveness of these strategies in influencing public engagement. Specifically, guided by the dialogic communication theory and social presence theory, this study explored CEOs’ use of dialogic communication, social presence strategies and message tactics. Additionally, public engagement on Twitter measured by total number of likes, retweets and comments was associated with communication strategies utilized by CEOs.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed the quantitative content analysis. A total sample of 720 posts from 36 CEOs were selected and analyzed. Drawing from prior studies, a coding scheme was developed and employed during the coding process. Two authors of this study served as coders and reached satisfactory inter-coder reliability. A series of χ² tests and negative binomial regressions were conducted for data analysis.
Findings
Neither Fortune 200 CEOs nor top startup CEOs fully utilized dialogic principles for Twitter communication. Although Fortune CEOs seemed to be experts in strategically tailoring messages and therefore present themselves on Twitter in a friendly manner, startup CEOs demonstrated a higher level of authenticity, animation and informality. Findings are mixed regarding the direction of associations between dialogic principles and public engagement.
Originality/value
This study expands the application of dialogic principles in examining online executive communication and its influence in public engagement on Twitter. This study was among the first that examined executive leadership communication in the context of social media setting. In this sense, the study shifted the internal focus of leadership research to investigating leaders’ interaction with a variety of online publics.
... Organizational blogs are often intended for internal use only. Such blogs may take many forms (e.g., employee blogs, promotional blogs, newsletter blogs; Baxter and Connolly 2013;Lee et al. 2008). ...
Email, social media, and other types of computer-mediated workplace communication tools can enhance flexibility in how employees perform their jobs, expand networking opportunities, increase profits, cut costs, and enable collaboration among diverse groups across the globe. Despite their advantages, these technology tools can also cause security breaches, financial loss, employee distraction, and lawsuits. To prevent such damaging consequences, many companies monitor their employees’ computer-mediated workplace communication. However, this surveillance is often met with resistance from employees as it taps into concerns over workers’ privacy rights, due process, and fairness. We examine these employee concerns through an empirical study of full-time working adults’ beliefs about their computer-mediated workplace communication privacy and their evaluations of organizational justice, trust in upper management, and commitment to the organization. Our results suggest that employees who perceive less computer-mediated workplace communication privacy tend to view their organization’s policies as less fair, trust upper management less, and demonstrate less commitment to their organizations. Furthermore, results indicate that procedural justice mediated the relationship between privacy and organizational commitment and moderated the relationship between privacy and organizational trust.
... Research into the organizational uses of blogs is growing, with several types of organizational blog being identified, namely, employee blogs, group blogs, executive blogs, promotional blogs, and newsletter blogs (Lee, Park, & Hwang, 2008). Employee blogs are often associated with staff members' blogging externally on behalf of their company to maintain a favorable corporate image. ...
The “social organization” is an organization that is skilled at strategically applying mass collaboration toward overcoming its business challenges and fulfilling its business aims. Social organizations, through the formation of collaborative communities, use social media tools to obtain business value in addition to using social media to learn from their business successes. Social media tools such as blogs, wikis, and social networking sites are gradually being employed in organizations for the purposes of communication, information, and knowledge sharing. The concepts of social software and Web 2.0 and their associations with “Enterprise 2.0” have connotations with the term the social organization. Social organizations are organizations that adopt social media tools to establish communities in the workplace to enhance organizational performance through the process of organizational learning. Social media tools are transforming the social fabric of organizations in terms of how they perform their business routines within an internal and external context in addition to encouraging a greater degree of transparency across and between organizations. The theory of organizational learning is that it is facilitated through the use of social media tools, which has the potential to transform an organization into a learning organization.
... In comparison to wikis, the diary-like format of blogs makes them more appropriate to disseminate ideas [15], reflect and exchange opinions. It is the conversational nature of blogs [16] that provides users with a sense of empowerment to exchange views and opinions about issues of mutual interest. In contrast, forums are generally used by people to ask questions and receive answers to questions. ...
The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the concept of Web 2.0 and to review how three established Web 2.0 tools: blogs, wikis and online forums, can be applied in organisational contexts. In doing so, this paper identifies ways in which Web 2.0 tools can support some of the key theoretical constructs of organisational learning. Furthermore, this paper proposes how to advance this area of research as it has been acknowledged that there is a lack of empirical evidence to substantiate the view that Web 2.0 tools can support the process of organisational learning. A traditional literature review will be used to indicate the differences between three of the most established types of Web 2.0 technologies: blogs, wikis and online forums with a view to providing recommendations on how these practices can be adopted in organisational settings. The findings of the traditional literature review show that despite their being relative differences between blogs, wikis and online forums; they have the potential, dependent on their use, to support the concept of organisational learning. Though this paper provides an overview of how certain Web 2.0 tools can be applied in organisations it does not provide empirical evidence of Web 2.0 use within enterprises. This paper presents a general overview on blogs, wikis and online forums and their use in organisations to assist management practitioners who might be unfamiliar in their use on how to apply them internally in their organisations.
... Research into the organisational uses of blogs is growing with several types of organisational blog being identified, namely: employee blogs; group blogs; executive blogs; promotional blogs and newsletter blogs (Lee et al., 2008). One type of internal blog that is starting to be used by organisations is the group blog, also referred to as collective, collaborative or project blog. ...
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the “state of art” of organisational blogging. It also aims to provide a critical review of the literature on organisational blogging and propose recommendations on how to advance the subject area in terms of academic research.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic literature review is used to illustrate the different aspects of research currently associated with organisational blogging and how these studies have advanced the field of organisational learning.
Findings
The results of the systematic literature review indicate that though research into organisational blogging is increasing, research in this subject area is still in its infancy.
Research limitations/implications
Though this paper reviews empirical research related to organisational blogging it does not provide empirical evidence of Web 2.0 use within an actual organisation. The paper does, however, advocate and provide recommendations for further research to be undertaken within this subject area.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the “state of art” of organisational blogging by providing a current synopsis of the area and provides the academic community with further recommendations for conducting future research into the subject. The paper also provides value to management practitioners in terms of how organisational blogs can be applied in an internal corporate context.
... Avram [8] reinforces the personalized nature of blogs when stating that " …a weblog is highly subjective, reflecting the thoughts, opinions and preferences of its author(s) " . Though some definitions of blogs state that they are publicly accessible to everyone [9] blogs can also be used for private reflections. For example, Wordpress.com ...
This paper explores the concept of Web 2.0 and provides an overview of three types of Web 2.0 tools currently used in education today, namely, wikis, blogs and online forums. The paper also presents the results of a systematic literature review on Web 2.0 in education, the findings of which revealed a lack of Web 2.0 pedagogical models in the literature. This paper makes a contribution to knowledge in the area of Web 2.0 use in education by presenting a Web 2.0 pedagogical model to inform educators of how to apply the learning theories associated with Web 2.0 in the classroom. In addition, the paper presents the findings of a teacher training course based on the Web 2.0 pedagogical model taught through the use of an integrated Web 2.0 platform that was carried out as part of a large-scale evaluation of Web2.0 across Europe.
... The usage of social media is obviously a big change of paradigm for many companies, and Siemens is an example of a global industry that is moving strategically toward the use of internal blogs [6]. IV. ...
El uso de internet y de las redes sociales influye en las decisiones de los turistas a la hora de consumir cualquier tipo de producto o servicio. De hecho, una estrategia eficiente en herramientas de marketing digital por parte de las empresas turísticas y los destinos aumenta su visibilidad de cara a la audiencia y, por tanto, sus ventas. Esta investigación pretende analizar algunos de los blogs más conocidos en lengua española mediante el análisis de contenido de sus webs. Así, se utiliza una metodología cualitativa (entrevistas en profundidad con profesionales del marketing y con lectores y creadores de blogs) y cuantitativa (una encuesta al público en general para valorar el perfil de los visitantes de los blogs, lo que capta más la atención de estas páginas web). Se establece una ficha técnica de cada blog que agrupa 22 variables que analizan cuatro partes principales (la cabecera como puerta de entrada, el artículo, la barra lateral y el pie de página). Se concluye que los blogs de viajes y sus redes sociales son herramientas de marketing muy relevantes en la actualidad y que la mayor parte de los mileniales los usan como primera opción a la hora de buscar información para viajar.
Purpose
As the number of corporate blogs has continued to increase over the years, this study examines the use of relationship cultivation strategies of Fortune 500 companies on their corporate blogs. Moreover, it focuses on how companies use corporate blogs as interactive online communication channels to create a sense of community among their publics.
Design/methodology/approach
A content analysis of Fortune 500 company corporate blogs was conducted to examine the use of relational cultivation strategies and their methods of promoting a sense of community.
Findings
Findings indicate that networking and sharing tasks are used most frequently among all relational cultivation strategies on corporate blogs, and that there are statistically significant differences among industries for using relationship cultivation strategies on corporate blogs. The most frequently used dimension of sense of community on corporate blogs is shared emotional connection.
Originality/value
Studies analyzing social media as public relations tools have not yet focused on community building. In fact, few studies have examined the community building aspect of corporate blogs in the public relations field. To fill this gap, this study focuses on community building and analyzes how companies use corporate blogs as an interactive online communication channel to create a sense of community among their publics.
This paper investigates the implementation and use of an internal organisational blog by several departments in the HR division in a large public sector financial organisation in the UK. This qualitative study adopts a case study approach and examines the experiences of staff using the blog to explore whether it can facilitate organisational learning. The thinking and decisions that informed the pilot study are also investigated. Initial findings indicate that implementing an internal organisational blog does not revolve around the technology itself, but the work required to inform and educate staff about the idea of using a blog for working purposes. This paper has practical implications for the practitioner community with reference to organisational management informing them of issues to consider prior to implementing new technology in team environments. The paper also examines approaches towards maintaining technology initiatives (in this case blogs) once they are up and running. The unique focus of this paper is that it explores blog use from the perspective of individuals who have never used them before as opposed to a department that is already familiar with the technology.
The author proposes contagion effect of blogging across suppliers, retailers, and customers, and has also tested the concept of conviction in this context. The conceptual framework was developed after an exhaustive review of literature. Blogging scale was developed and validated at different channel levels – supplier, retailer, and customer. Blogging contagion effects were tested along with their impact on other performance measures. Empirical results indicate contagion effects of blogging across the distribution channel. Blogging positively contributes to the performance of brand, retailer and customer-retailer loyalty. The impact of supplier blogging on retailer blogging, and the influence on blogging by the customer is moderated by electronic word of mouth, brand reputation and conviction. With increasing blog usage, this study offers a framework to promote blogging by supply channel partners as it positively affects performance related outcomes.
There is little doubt that information technology has permanently altered the manner in which we work. We are now living in a digital age, where working practices are no longer constrained by space and time. Co-workers are not necessarily required to be in the same physical environment to work together and this has led to an evolution in business practices, with organisations increasingly managing larger workforces spread over different time-zones (Bennett et al., 2010b; McGregor, 2000). One of the many challenges faced by organisations who adopt distributed ways of working comes with building and maintaining an organisational culture and ensuring that employees feel part of the team and work cooperatively, despite the geographical distance from their co-workers. Distributed ways of working may sometimes engender feelings of isolation, reduce productivity, and lower staff morale (Bell et al., 2008; Bennett et al., 2010b). However, although technology may in this case be contributing to the problem, it could also provide the solution. Increasingly, organisations are introducing social media tools into the workplace which have the potential to improve communications between co-workers, boost morale and motivation, increase efficiency, and foster an organisational culture (Akkirman & Harris, 2005; Bennett et al., 2010b).
Recent revolution in the Information and Communication Technology has brought forth several tools for organizational learning and knowledge transfer. Organizational blogging has received considerable attention for its use for managed socialization leading to dialogue, reflection and knowledge transfer among the employees of large organizations. However this powerful tool of knowledge sharing can lead to adverse consequences in the absence of suitable checks in organizations. The paper uses the framework of interpersonal relationships proposed by Hon and Grunig to identify determinants that can impact efficacy of organizational blogs as a knowledge sharing tool. A case study of organizational blog of a leading service provider of India in the field of communication is presented for validating the findings from the literature. We suggest the possibility of using moderator to overcome the anticipated pitfalls in use of this popular medium of knowledge sharing in organizations.
Using design and communication principles, this study uses a content analysis design to evaluate all active blogs from the 2011 Fortune 500 list (n = 125). The results indicate that corporate America has only modestly incorporated the dialogic principles into their blogs. Current corporate blogs are well-designed as far as making them searchable and easy to navigate; however, the blogs are mostly being used to provide information in a one-way manner rather than creating an open dialogue with consumers. While blogging can enhance relationships with stakeholders, corporate communicators must strive to develop legitimate conversations with their blog readers.
This paper reviews the internal use of blogs and their potential effectiveness as organisational learning tools. Since the emergence of the concept of 'Enterprise 2.0' there remains a lack of empirical evidence associated with how organisations are applying social media tools and whether they are effective towards supporting organisational learning. Surprisingly, blogs, one of the more traditional social media tools, still remains under-researched in the context of 'Enterprise 2.0' and organisational learning. The aim of this paper is to identify the theoretical linkage between blogs and organisational learning in addition to reviewing prior research on organisational blogging exploring why this area remains under-researched. Through a literature review, one of the principal findings of this paper is that organisational blogs have a mutual compatibility with the interpretivist aspect of organisational learning. This paper further advocates that further empirical work in this subject area is required to substantiate this theoretical assumption.
Purpose – The purpose of this study is to identify corporate blog design characteristics that positively influence the view of actual and potential corporate blog users. Moreover, based on the technology acceptance model (TAM), the paper examines the specific mechanism through which corporate blog design characteristics influence the acceptance of corporate blogs and assess the cross-country applicability of the developed framework.
Design/methodology/approach – Based on primary data of 992 individuals in three countries (Germany, Russia, and the USA), the paper tests the identified design characteristics and the proposed framework using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), multi-group confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling.
Findings – The results show the applicability of the TAM in the context of corporate blogs. Blog management and usability were found to be key determinants of perceived ease of use. Entertainment value as well as content value and interaction positively affect perceived enjoyment. Content value as well as blog management and usability are the key determinants of perceived usefulness of corporate blogs. Mediation tests revealed a partial mediation of the distal corporate blog design characteristics on attitude and usage intention by the proximal TAM elements.
Research limitations/implications – The sample was self-selected from internet users and a limited number of countries. Associations with and understanding of the term “corporate blog” might vary between internet users as well as between the three focus countries.
Practical implications – Based on the research, companies are better able to adapt corporate blogs to target group characteristics and thus can better reach communication goals. The research can be used both for the establishment of new corporate blogs as well as for the adaptation of existing corporate blogs.
Originality/value – This study contributes to the existing literature by identifying and examining design characteristics that affect individuals' perceptions of corporate blogs. Furthermore, this is the first large-scale cross-country study in this research context that identifies the mechanism through which firms can actively influence the perceived usefulness, ease of use, and enjoyment of corporate blogs, which is important to better understand individuals' acceptance of corporate blogs in different national contexts.
Purpose - Chief executives (CEOs) have turned to blogging. This research asks: do CEO blogs attract commenters leading to genuine discussion and community building?
Design/methodology/approach - The thirty most popular CEO blogs are analysed, community structure is graphically represented using social network analysis, measuring cohesion using connectedness. A review of content assesses whether richness and type of media affect community-building.
Findings - By modelling a CEO blog as an affiliation network the structure is exposed. Community cohesiveness is assessed using a measure of connectedness. The connectedness ranking differs from the original Technorati Rank (TR) although the top blog in both is the same. Community building relates more to external reputation, writing style, or topicality than to the type of media used.
Practical implications - CEO bloggers must engage commenters to build community. TR and connectedness scores measure different things but both affect community building. CEO blogs with high community scores post regularly, attract many comments and have an active core membership that bind the community. Top scoring CEO blogs build community and stimulate genuine discussion. Mid ranking blogs have little cross-post commenting and a fragmented network. Others attract few comments with low connectedness. ‘Wilderness’ blogs may have no commenters. This suggests inefficient use of valuable CEO time. Because CEO credibility affects CEO blog success, a low-ranking blog depreciates CEO’s reputation indicating little social capital
Originality/value - There is little research into CEO blogging, this research contributes to the understanding of CEO blogging and community building.
This study assesses international corporate blogging practices and their effects on the popularity of corporate blogs in terms of comments received and incoming links. Building on the blogging practices framework by Schmidt (2007b), a theoretical model is developed incorporating cause–and–effects relationships for blog characteristics and their impact, as well as international differences. The five Hypotheses are tested using a sample of 20 German, 10 Russian and 77 U.S. corporate blogs. The results of stepwise regression analyses confirmed most hypotheses regarding effects of blog diversity, blog authenticity, blog usability, blog sophistication and networking efforts. The theoretical and practical implications of this are discussed.
Enterprise systems have become pervasive, especially at the high end of the market where SAP and Oracle service large organisations. There is a great deal of value in enterprise systems offered to all organisations, but many small and medium businesses (SMBs) cannot afford the excessive software costs of established ERP systems. There have been a number of alternative forms of enterprise systems developed, to include open-source software. Service-oriented architecture (SOA) allows vendors to efficiently adopt new processes within their products. Organisations (and open-source ERP systems) can use SOA in customising or improving their systems. Web 2.0 helps collaborative development of knowledge which can be invaluable in identifying better business processes. The Web 2.0 era makes innovative access to enterprise systems possible for many SMBs. This paper reviews the role of SOA and Web 2.0 in making ERP systems more open, and classifies open enterprise systems on the dimension of process. We propose that organisations should conduct knowledge development for business processes through Web 2.0 prior to implementing external to enterprise systems. Once better processes are developed, they can be implemented to improve enterprise systems.
This paper investigates the implementation and use of an internal organisational blog by several departments in the HR division in a large public sector financial organisation in the UK. This qualitative study adopts a case study approach and examines the experiences of staff using the blog to explore whether it can facilitate organisational learning. The thinking and decisions that informed the pilot study are also investigated. Initial findings indicate that implementing an internal organisational blog does not revolve around the technology itself, but the work required to inform and educate staff about the idea of using a blog for working purposes. This paper has practical implications for the practitioner community with reference to organisational management informing them of issues to consider prior to implementing new technology in team environments. The paper also examines approaches towards maintaining technology initiatives (in this case blogs) once they are up and running. The unique focus of this paper is that it explores blog use from the perspective of individuals who have never used them before as opposed to a department that is already familiar with the technology.
Weblogs (blogs) - frequently modified Web pages in which dated entries are listed in reverse chronological sequence - are the latest genre of Internet communication to attain widespread popularity, yet their characteristics have not been systematically described. This paper presents the results of a content analysis of 203 randomly-selected Weblogs, comparing the empirically observable features of the corpus with popular claims about the nature of Weblogs, and finding them to differ in a number of respects. Notably, blog authors, journalists and scholars alike exaggerate the extent to which blogs are interlinked, interactive, and oriented towards external events, and underestimate the importance of blogs as individualistic, intimate forms of self-expression. Based on the profile generated by the empirical analysis, we consider the likely antecedents of the blog genre, situate it with respect to the dominant forms of digital communication on the Internet today, and advance predictions about its long-term impacts.
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the emerging new phenomenon of corporate blogging and its objectives. In particular, this study focuses on how Fortune 500 firms attempt to maintain control, while supporting employee autonomy in corporate blogging.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the framework of corporate blogging strategies proposed in this study, corporate blogging practices of the 2005 Fortune 500 companies were analysed.
Findings
Most organisations maintain high levels of control by implementing top‐down blogging strategies, while few support employee autonomy by applying a bottom‐up blogging strategy. Because of the inherent limitation of each strategy, many organisations attempt to take advantage of the complementary mechanism that balances autonomy and control. Organisations emphasising bottom‐up blogging tend to focus on product development and customer service content strategy, while those practising top‐down blogging focus on thought leadership or promotional content strategy.
Research limitations/implications
This study reports leading blogging firms among the Fortune 500 companies. However, the study sample accounts for only 3.6 percent of the 500 firms. The results of the study shed insights on newly emerging corporate blogging in terms of its trends, issues, and possible future direction.
Practical implications
Companies that adopt blogs must realise that developing a candid dialogue with customers is the best way to build a meaningful customer relationship.
Originality/value
This study is the first attempt to systematically investigate the corporate blogging phenomenon.
An analysis on the structure and content of more than one million blogs worldwide for unearthing insights into blogger behavior is discussed. An analysis on blogspace reflects two distinct perspectives which are the temporal and the spatial. The profile pages of 1.3 million bloggers at livejournal.com was studied in which each blogger has a self-reported profile of personal information, including name, geographic location, date of birth, interests, and friends. It was found that three out of four livejournal bloggers were between 16-24 age and there interests are highly corrrelated with age.
You need not look further than the morning newspaper or evening news to observe the tremendous influence of CEO reputations on shareholder value. Whether it is through a stock transaction, a response to a crisis, or the creation of a best-in-the-industry talent pool, a CEO's reputation plays a significant role in determining how both internal and external audiences evaluate — and ultimately respond to — a company. This article will discuss the greater impact of CEO reputation, in light of the increased expectations of stakeholders, the proliferation of communication channels, and the demand for a broader content of messages that CEOs are delivering to their constituencies. Combined, these factors are expanding the role of today's CEO as we know it, making CEO reputation an even more critical ingredient to a company's success.Corporate Reputation Review (2000) 3, 366-370; doi:10.1057/palgrave.crr.1540127
Globally accessible web sites enable corporations to communicate with a wide variety of constituencies and represent a resource for any organization seeking a broad audience. Developing an effective multinational Internet presence requires designing web sites that operate in a diverse, multi-cultural environment. This is not simple, given that the field of web site development has lacked standards and rules relating to content and design. This study develops a conceptual model that differentiates web site content from design. The content component addresses the issue of what is included in the site and identifies the various types of information. The design component addresses presentation and navigational features. This conceptual web site content/design model was used to study the features of global corporate web sites to determine if the content and design features have become globally standardized or if differences exist as a result of national culture and/or industry. The majority of web site content features were found to be significantly different across various cultural groups. This, however, was not the case for design features. Furthermore, there appeared to be little association between the content and design features and industry classification.
To support the emergence of a solid knowledge base for analyzing Web activity, we have developed a framework to analyze and categorize the capabilities of Web sites. This distinguishes content from design. Content refers to the information, features, or services that are offered in the Web site, design to the way the content is made available for Web visitors. Both concepts have been operationalized by means of objective and subjective measures to capture features as well as perceptions.This framework has been applied to study how different groups of companies are using the Web for commercial purposes. We have compared Web sites based on their source, industry, and size. On average, larger Web sites seem to be ‘richer’ and more advanced.
Executive blogging for fun and profit
- D Gillmor
Meet me in the blogosphere
- S Pelletier
Gotcha! corporate weblogs
- S Gallagher