Sun Microsystems, in an effort to engage in genuine, valuable two-way communication with customers and developers, has introduced free-for-all employee blogging at blogs.sun.com.

While this is the first time Sun has allowed and encouraged all members of staff to start their own blogs on the corporate website, some employees have already been blogging for a year on the company's Java.net site.

Tim Bray, one of the creators of XML, has been at the forefront of Sun's move towards widespread corporate blogging. As he puts it:

"The language of marketing is the language of faceless corporations, and most people don’t like it," Bray said. "I think the company got a little bit of a case of 'big company' disease. It’s hard for a big company to be good at communication."

Well, it's hard for a big company to be good at communication when it relies on corporate-speak and interruption methods of trying to extract feedback from customers. But engaging people via blogging, using an authentic, human voice, is a truly interactive and highly effective way for any company -- regardless of size -- to communicate.

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