Via Network-Centric Advocacy, I had a small “aha” moment, from a piece they linked to on AlterNet, Blogging While Black. To me, it resonates with why many communications folks within an organization don’t know what to make of blogging. Being the Communications Director somewhere means your supposed to be crafting , filtering, and controlling the org’s message and outreach. Blogs can be a threat because anyone beyond the anointed can have a voice.
So if anyone can have a voice, how do you control what they say, or how well they say it? In my opinon, you let your experts loose to write about issues you care about, like the Center for Global Development has done (full disclosure: I work with them), and connect more frequently, transparently, and informally, with supporters.
But blogging is not exclusively or primarily about reporting the
news; it is fundamentally about grassroots communication between
individuals and groups without the filter of government agencies,
political parties, corporations and other such entities.