A key message emerging from BlogOn 2004, a two-day conference at the University of California's Haas School of Business, is that the Web log is the hottest new enterprise tool.

At the even last week, blog software providers, evangelists, engineers and others explored the disruptive and fertile landscape of online diaries both corporate and personal. Microsoft is again Exhibit A in the case for the blog's usefulness to the enterprise. Lenn Pryor, Microsoft's director of platform evangelism acknowledges:

Microsoft is not thought of instantly when it comes to transparency and openness. Blogging is "a way to scale our ability to communicate with customers in an open and honest way."

Blogging for Microsoft meant vast decentralisation of the company's corporate communications and wrestling of control from its legions of public relations employees and contractors that control the company's message. There are about 1,000 Microsoft employees maintaining largely unregulated blogs.

Judging from the Microsoft experience, especially, the blogosphere-accepted Scobleizer it would seem that the corporate utility of blogs, is in making businesses seem less corporate and giving them a human face.

If a company's management can get over the fact that it can no longer effectively control any 'messages' inside or outside the organisation, it may find a blog its greatest ally.

Back to Big Blog Company