The Blog Council: Bad Or Inspired Idea?

blogcouncil.jpg“A professional community of top global brands dedicated to promoting best practices in corporate blogging” have formed The Blog Council, a “forum for executives to meet one another in a private, vendor-free environment and share tactics, offer advice based on past experience, and develop standards-based best practices as a model for other corporate blogs.”

Initial members include AccuQuote, Cisco Systems, The Coca-Cola Company, Dell, Gemstar-TV Guide, General Motors, Kaiser Permanente, Microsoft, Nokia, SAP, and Wells Fargo.

The crux of the idea is that big businesses can get together and talk blogging, from the challenges corporate blogging presents from a governance perspective, through to management and policy development .

The reaction to the formation of the Blog Council has been mixed; some such as Lionel Menchaca, Digital Media Manager at Dell and Rick Calvert at BlogWorldExpo think its a great idea, where as others including Dave Taylor thinking its a poor idea, with Taylor writing

My translation: “we’re all clueless, but don’t want anyone to realize just how unplugged our organizations have become from the world of “marketing 2.0″, so we created a club so our ignorance can be shielded from public eyes.”

I’m not so sure. My natural reaction against the Council is based on its name; “The Blog Council” sounds like it owns blogging or has some sort of superior position over the medium, where as it is nothing of the sort. Something such as the Corporate Blogging Association or similar would have suited the purpose far more better than what they’ve picked. In terms of big companies getting together under a formal structure to discuss blogging they’re entitled to do so but you’d have to ask why? Are they, as Dave Taylor suggests, soo clueless that they need to set up a separate body to understand new media marketing?

The Blog Council’s website is here; ultimately you can be the judge.