Executive blogs have the potential to be a genuinely powerful communication vehicle, but in our experience from countless intranets, they seem to frequently miss the mark. Here are a few observations which will help you improve the impact of blogging in your organisation. Thanks to @neil_jenkins for additional materials.

Observations from failing blogs

• Tend to be about the execs, but rarely by the execs resulting in a loss of important credibility. Readers need to believe that the words come from the purported author.

• Often an extension of other internal communication routines, resulting in them covering somewhat similar materials to internal news briefs or worse, press releases. Blogs are unique vehicles and should carry unique materials.

• They read like a diary (unsurprising given that’s often how they’re created). The result is that they often read like your children’s holiday report back (“on Monday I did…. On Tuesday I met with …”)

• They never ask for feedback from the employees. Lacking feedback loses one of the main contributors to a successful blog. A CEO’s blog is a virtual conversation with employees and we all know conversation is a two-way street.

Source: www.business2community.com Posted by admin 2 days, 1 hour, 54 minutes ago

Over the last year we have seen the rapid rise of news aggregation called 'content curation'. In this item Malcolm Davison looks at why we should think very carefully before we install and use curation software and discusses the legal issues entailed, and suggests we restrain ourselves from adopting this misleading jargon.

Source: writingfortheweb.tumblr.com Posted by MDavison 2 days, 8 hours, 56 minutes ago

HTML has come a long way since its first incarnation by its author Sir Tim Berners-Lee back in 1990. The first generation coding had an elegance and simplicity. But its reworking to meet the demand of publishers now means that it’s not meeting the needs of the majority of its users. Malcolm Davison of writingfortheweb.co.uk suggests that returning to an idea that the inventor first introduced - an editor / browser and preventing direct access to coding would be a more satisfactory way forward.

Source: writingfortheweb.tumblr.com Posted by MDavison 16 days, 9 hours, 24 minutes ago

There has been a massive rise in the use of tablet computers, especially the iPad, over the last year. Initially they were seen as a clever piece of engineering with limited business application. But now businesses are taking this technology very seriously. In this blog article Malcolm Davison explores the benefits of tablets over laptops. Could we be seeing a wholesale switchover from laptop to tablets from laptops driven by busy executives on the move? And should intranets and websites be reconfigured to meet this transition?

Source: writingfortheweb.tumblr.com Posted by MDavison 23 days, 10 hours, 15 minutes ago

Malcolm Davison of writingfortheweb.co.uk writes that whether you are writing for a UK audience and aiming at the 10-12 year reading age (to match tabloid newspaper levels) - or you want to use simpler English for an international audience, then using a restricted vocabulary is vital. This 'Thoughts on web writing' blog article includes useful links relating to vocabulary issues and an invaluable free word check to test your own web pages.

Source: writingfortheweb.tumblr.com Posted by MDavison 30 days, 11 hours, 23 minutes ago

Here are some takeaways on KM concepts

Source: www.kmnexus.info Posted by admin 32 days, 12 hours, 51 minutes ago

Hey – want to learn a cool new trick? It’s a spell that I just wrote. You can cast it on your staff to make sure they read what you write. It’s very easy to learn – but first let me tell you just how this spell will help you:When you cast this spell, each word you write will be easy to readWhen you cast this spell, every point that you make will sink in fastWhen you cast this spell, your comms will hit home so hard that friends will ask how on earth you do it Best of all, most of the world is blind to ...

Source: www.internal-communication.com Posted by ianharris 36 days, 7 hours, 20 minutes ago

A long time ago, a former boss gave me some sound advice: Seek first to understand, Then to be understood.

Do you recognize it? I call it the Talking Stick rule, but some of you might recognize it as Habit 5 of the “7 Habits of Highly Effective People“.

I love the whole purpose of this phrase. To understand and to be understood. And what better mission for any internal communicator? It’...

Source: www.thesocialworkplace.com Posted by elizabeth 45 days, 20 hours, 10 minutes ago

Organisations evolve so slowly that it’s hard to notice change happening. But when you rewind by several months and years, the past soon seems strange and unfamiliar. Try this: type your organisation’s website address into the Wayback Machine. Usually, you’ll see a snapshot of how your organisation’s website looked one year ago. I bet your website looks significantly different now than it was two years ago. Jogging people’s memories with ‘looking back’ features is a nice intranet feature.You can write ...

Source: www.internal-communication.com Posted by ianharris 46 days, 5 hours, 47 minutes ago

You need to be creative to succeed at internal communication. When you’re running low on intranet content, there’s a website you can use to source great material for next to nothing. Have you heard of Fiverr? It’s a ‘social marketplace’ where people post what they’re willing to do for $5. You can buy all sorts of funny and bizarre services for $5. A guy will sing your message in a sexy voice for $5. A girl will shout anything you want in a banana costume for $5.  Somebody will write a limerick on a pos...

Source: www.internal-communication.com Posted by ianharris 52 days, 13 hours, 50 minutes ago