Jeremy Wright writes on how to encourage executives to start blogging, and the pros and cons to consider when engaging in the activity. Summary of the points is as follows:

Benefits:

1. Increased trust in the organization (if you can build a better image of your company, your image will get better as well)




2. Increased visibility in identifying you with your company (staying power)




3. Increased communication and quality of ideas (open source ideas)

Costs:

1. Lost time on other activities




2. Lost mindshare on other activities




3. Lost knowledge to the public domain

In relation to this, I got quite a number of comments to my recent post entitled “common sense”, notably on the effects of blogging on productivity, such as this one by BW:

Blogging in the office improving productivity? First and

foremost, the company network, email included is not meant for personal

browsing. Besides, how the heck do we know if the staff is blogging on

a work related issue? 99% of blogging is personal in nature and never

done for work!

I responded by qualifying that my agreeing with the view that

blogging is productive is with consideration to certain industries, in

particular ICT. This is inasmuch as blogging

has proved to be advantageous in helping keep up with trends. I

likewise referred to these two articles (1, 2) presenting arguments about blogging being a tool for productivity whether personally or professionally.

I concluded by stating that

… In many cases, blogging may seem to be

counter-productive, since the reading and authoring of blogs take time

and effort. Hence, one has to use his/her time efficiently. Personally,

I make it a point to minimize reading time by using RSS aggregators (such as bloglines).

I also try to limit my time in writing to less than an hour a day

(whether at work or at home), to ensure that the I only get to publish

posts that are well thought-of, with the view that if I don’t set

limits/targets, then I may end up posting junk.

It’s a case-to-case consideration, but if the benefits outweigh the costs, then why not blog?

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