Macrodobia Blogged
It’s great to see the Macromedia bloogers in the middle of this mightly acquisition still blogging away. There are all kinds of rules and regs at play here. Mike Chambers has a great perspective on the proposed merger. As does Kevin Lynch. These guys are putting a much more human face on the announcement than that which could have been achieved through purely traditional communications.
Let me be clear – I’m not for a minute slighting traditional communications. They perform an essential technical function. And Adobe’s PR team has been doing a stunning job of late. (loved the article in The Economist last week!). Blogging is essentially dimensionalizing the content – making it richer and more interesting. I couldn’t find the Adobe blogs though.
It’s amazing how hard it is on many sites to find the blogodex. Sun and Microsoft are worldclass in this respect. Macromedia is pretty good as well – although they should also feature the link on their news site. Places the link to the company blogodex might be featured include:
- the homepage (might be asking too much)
- the news site (mandatory)
- the developer site (mandatory)
- the exec pages (pretty important)
- other suggestions…
I also liked the overview Macromedia provided of it’s blogging efforts.
When A Blogger Blogs…
Can an employer intervene? From the NY Times this morning::
As the practice of blogging has spread, employees like Mr. Kennedy are coming to the realization that corporations, which spend millions of dollars protecting their brands, are under no particular obligation to tolerate threats, real or perceived, from the activities of people who become identified with those brands, even if it is on their personal Web sites.
They are also learning that the law offers no special protections for blogging – certainly no more than for any other off-duty activity.
The notion that you should blog anonymously to avoid getting fired though – as suggested by the Electronic Frontier Foundation – is, well, ludicrous. First, anonymity is pretty much impossible on the web. If what you are going to blog is that bad it’s likely all you would be doing is staying the inevitable. Blogging on your work or employer in a public forum needs to be done in the context of their policies, practices and culture. A better rule might have been, use your head – and where you’re not confident of that, blog on something other than you boss. You have no protection either way. Get over it.
Blogging on matters of work, while still working where you work, will always be a bit of a grey area. No policy will fix that without killing the spirit in which blogging is undertaken. Nial’s story is a positive one. One based on open dialog. The employer acted responsibly. The employee acted responsibly – and with sensitivity. Where there is no dialog folks get fired and employers good names get tarnished.
News Blinks – Monday April 18
Isn’t the month just whipping by! Not if you’re waiting for a baby it isn’t…
- On the Microsoft Brand
- Improve your life in 30 days…
- Cool Kiwi company – Aftermail – wins big in Luxembourg! Go Kiwis!
- Tim on the Tipping Point in media
- Blogging tips from the man from SpokesmanReview…
- Blogs should revolve around topics, not personalities.
- The subjects should be specific.
- Group blogs can work if the group is small, the subject is specific and the duties are carefully assigned and monitored.
- Remember that "our readers know more than we do."
Is Tom Peters Going to Be Pissed Or What…
I have always marveled at Tom’s descriptions of the number of books he travels with. It makes me feel, well, less bad. I used to think I was the only crazed individual who could travel to New York or New Zealand with six books and come back with ten.
Well, apparently our worlds are about to change. Ross reports that according to a Transportation Security Agency (TSA) screener that the book allowance has been cut from 4 to 2. Ummmm… What?
I wonder if that is two thick books or four skinny ones? Do eBooks count? Are magazines books. Cause I carry like twenty of them.
In the unlikely event someone from the TSA is reading this, could you please clarify? (And I mean really unlikely event).
Cool idea… ZNet Auctions PodCasts
David dropped me an email on this.
ZDNet is auctioning off advertising space in its newest Internet-based content offering; a form of downloadable audio programming known as podcasting. ZDNet’s involvement in the new medium of podcasting is largely experimental. 100 percent of the proceeds from the auctions will be contributed to the Save the Children: 2004 Tsunami Relief Fund.
Great idea and good on them. Take a look at David’s post on the business models underpinning podcasts and how we might measure them. Thoughtful stuff.
