MUMBAI - "Dooced", in corporate
vocabulary, now means getting sacked for writing
something in a blog, and major companies in India
such as Infosys, Tata and Pepsi are entering the
blog world with its unwitting "doocing" prospects.
Marketing arsenals are including blogs as part of
their so-called "social media" - evolving online
media tools for informally sharing information,
experiences, opinions and ideas.
A blog,
short for weblog, is a regularly updated informal
Web journal giving millions worldwide myriad
topics to discuss, and
corporate entry into
blogging reflects its usefulness.
"The
response to blogging and the use of social media
among marketers has started to take off, and they
are beginning to understand the need to track what
is being said about their companies," Rajesh
Lalwani, a New Delhi-based marketing professional
who operates BlogWorks, told Asia Times Online.
According to worldwide blog monitor
Technocrati, the number of blogs globally shot up
from 8 million in March 2005 to more than 75.2
million this month. Technocrati says 175,000 new
blogs appear daily, with 1.6 million blog updates
each day, or 18 every second. Corporate blogs are
beginning to enter these statistics.
Like
other blogs, corporate blogs informally exchange
feedback and information inside and outside the
organization, but they run risks of suffering more
damage than other blogs from legal and public
relations disasters. So a new marketing and PR
breed called "social media management" firms, such
as New Delhi-based BlogWorks and WATConsult, are
opening shop to give Indian corporates
professional help in blogging.
Rajiv
Dingra, creator and "chief blogger" of WATConsult,
told ATol that many leading Indian companies are
expressing interest in starting blogs.
"We
are conducting a workshop in May on corporate
blogging," said Dingra. "We tell companies that
just as we have offline conversations, blogs are
necessary online conversations with clients,
customers and employees."
Dingra is
convinced that blogs will be a standard corporate
communication tool just like a website and e-mail
ID, particularly in India, where more than 35% of
the population is under 15 and the Internet is
increasingly their basic medium of communication.
"Without publicity, Orkut has 6.13 million
India profiles," said Dingra, "and that should
give an idea of how much a blog type of networking
is necessary for any brand targeting the young in
India."
With an inherent freewheeling
structure, blogs are unsure territory for nervous
corporates for whom blogging could be uncorking a
genie that could turn out to be a monster. But if
it is executed well there is little to worry
about, said Dingra, and even negative
communication can be turned to advantage. "We even
offer negative feedback management to our blog
clients."
At the other end of the
spectrum, marketing advisers such as the
Toronto-based IR Web Report recommend that even
the board of directors should start blogging,
saying: "A directors' blog would be an
inexpensive, technically simple, but highly honest
way for people to interact and dialogue on the Web
under a set of accepted rules."
Indian
corporate giants such as the Tata Group are happy
with returns from blogging. Ankush Gupta,
corporate marketing group manager and "blog
evangelist" who runs the Tata Interactive Systems
(TIS) blog, told ATol that his people set out with
a clear objective to give the world a window to
Tata's inner working - and he said it's working,
both inside and outside.
"We have also
received some very positive feedback for our photo
albums capturing life at TIS, from people
considering TIS as a potential employer," said
Gupta. "It's fantastic to see people post, have
responses come in from around the world and see a
dialogue taking shape."
Software giant
Infosys (US$4 billion in revenues in the current
fiscal year) operates a blog, "Think Flat", with
postings from its top brass including from Nandan
Nilekani, the chief executive officer and managing
director; Aditya Jha, the head of global brand and
communications; Stephen Pratt, the CEO and
managing director of Infosys Consulting; and Richa
Govil, the group manager of its corporate
marketing section.
While the Infosys blog
is heavier with shop talk, snacks major Fritolay
started a blog this month offering a more informal
report of office outings such as a river-rafting
expedition on the Ganges River and events in the
company factory. Abhijit Bhaduri, who runs the
Fritolay blog, said it is getting popular with
employees.
"Corporate blogs will grow as
we realize the ability to impact on opinions,"
Bhaduri told ATol. "Today people use networking
sites for information about prospective companies
even before they have joined work, like networking
groups of all MBAs [masters of business
administration] or engineers. The corporate blogs
help you join the conversation."
Other
corporate head honchos such as Rajeev Karwal have
begun to publish personal blogs. Karwal's blog
says it's intended to "express gratitude to
people, organizations, stories and situations
which have taught me some important lessons in
professional and personal life".
Rajesh
Jain, a pioneering Indian 'Net entrepreneur who
sold his Web portal "India World" for $115 million
in 1999, runs Emergic, a "weblog on emerging
technologies, enterprises and markets". Jain even
offers free SMS (short message service) updates of
his blog for Indian mobile-phone users.
Guarding against loose cannons leading to
"doocing" or public egg on their face, corporate
blogs carry disclaimers. The TIS blog states that
"any corresponding comments are the personal
opinions of the original authors, and not of Tata
Interactive Systems". India PR blog urges posters
to "please refrain from naming any particular
individual".
Used wisely, blogs could be a
most effective and necessary corporate
communications tool giving insights into a company
and providing insights for the company. Ankush
Gupta said the Tata blog is already breaking
communication barriers. "I think this is because
from the outside, an organization often appears
impregnable, and this is one of the boundaries
that we have been successful in lowering."
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