"Good corporate blogs force companies to look at things from a customer's point of view. That's why I want more large corporations to blog, and I want them to do it the right way. That means letting real people have real conversations just like individual blogs do. But it's a bit different from a corporate perspective. Transparency is still key, but the reality for large corporations is that there are some things we can't discuss. It's a balancing act, and sometimes it's a difficult one. But worth the risk? You bet it is."

Nail meets hammer.   This is why I'm excited (but not surprised) that Dell is involved, and hope this initiative helps lend credibility to corporate blogging. 

"That means letting real people have real conversations just like individual blogs do. But it's a bit different from a corporate perspective. Transparency is still key, but the reality for large corporations is that there are some things we can't discuss."

This absolutly nails it. To look beyond their own horizon ... I would not call it limited horizon, because that would imply that there is only one right way - which there is not.

And yet it seems soooo hard for most bloggers (or anyone in social media) to grasp this and the implications. *sigh*

Good for you and good for Dell Lionel. I hope the Blog Council is a productive organization and for one hopeful that it will be.

Lionel,

I am so jealous that Mack got to break the news ;-) It takes a lot of work and marketing 100 + public relations 100 + customer conversation 100 discussions and education to break the corporate habit of planning from the inside-out. Working on it and interested in participating -- would internal blogs qualify for membership?
 

Valeria: Thanks for the comment. Will ask about internal blogs and will let you know.

Why is important to you that other corporations blog a certain way?  Shouldn't you just be concerned about what Dell does and how much money Dell wastes on silly feel good stuff like this?

David: First off... my main point about supporting the idea is to get other large companies to blog.

And by blogging the right way, I mean not just blogging about the positive stuff, or re-hashing press releases. In my view, if more large companies have open discussions about the things their customers did not like about the company, that's a good thing for customers.

I think it's highly ironic that you're joining a private, closed group discussing how to use an open communications method to move away from the old method of doing things behind closed doors.

This, by its very nature, is elitist and I can't see how it would be beneficial to the community as a whole.  Discussing such wonderful topics as

"How do global brands manage blogs in more than one language?"
"What is the role of the corporate brand in a media landscape increasingly geared toward consumer-generated media?"

Next thing you know you'll be looking at "How to leverage your value proposition through variou blog channels in order to increase customer value while increasing ROI." or "Synergizing your team-based activities in order to establish a higher rate of return to increase your distribution while also establishing a higher profitability level and substantiate additional cooperative channels.".

Looking at that, all I see is mindless corporate jargon, so it's really hard to take it seriously on any level.  Saying that the privacy is only so that things say focused is a joke.  Things are focused if the blogger is focused.

Lionel:

Kudos to you and the other large companies that came together to create the "Blog Council."

Much has been written around the blogosphere on the new Council and whether it is a "good" or "bad" idea -- I submit that it is in itself neither good nor bad.  It is not the tool, it is the use the tool is put to that has moral content.

If the companies in your Council follow Larry Weber's ideas of "Marketing TO the Social Web" (emphasis mine) then you will lose in any case, as the market has learned to tune out this noise and seek authentic conversations. And I think this is at the heart of the broad based concern (not "cynical reaction" as you characterized it) as people who have blogged for a long time try to understand your initiative.

Few of the people who have criticized the creation of the Blog Council think that big companies cannot succeed in this new medium.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that the vast majority of them not only believe that big companies can (and will) succeed, but that this passion is what is driving their critique.

Here are a few concerns:

In a "vendor-free" environment that involves no small companies, what role does Andy and Gas Pedal play?

Why does an association which is made up only of large companies that are already blogging (and "have significant blogs") need a press release at all?

Given that what you want is a quiet corner to talk to each other privately in, why the gravitas of the Ad Council?

Why for an organization that is dedicated to best practices has there been no participation in the ongoing conversation by a blogger from the Blog Council?

I remain enormously supportive of Dell's and other companies' efforts to join the conversation in their markets, and hopeful that all of you will find your way through the current challenge of the "Blog Council" -- but please seriously consider the substantive discussion underway about your current course, and make corrections. 

Ted -

Thanks for your questions, and I hope I answered some of them when we talked on the phone just now.

The Blog Council is just a discussion forum.  Our members are deeply engaged across the blogosphere, in the existing conversations, events, and organizations.

But there are those questions that are unique to huge enterprises that aren't being talked about yet, so we convened a new user group so similar companies can share ideas. (I would guess that there would be much less controversy if we had just called it a "user group".)

It's hardly a private group, which is why we issued a press release and reached out to 100+ bloggers in advance.   But it is a focused group on a single topic.

GasPedal is the staff of the group. We're not members and don't participate in the discussions. But it does take 3 people full time to pull it together.

Glad to answer any other questions you (or anyone else has). My phone is 312-932-9000.

Cheers,

Andy Sernovitz, Blog Council