Would you join a company just cause they let you blog?

April 3, 2006 By

Every once in a while someone comes up to me in the hallways or in a cafeteria here and says "I joined Microsoft because of Channel 9 and your blog."

That really used to freak me out because I didn't think that was a logical reason to join a company. But then I started asking them more about why they say that. Most answer one, or both, of two reasons: 1) The company seemed a lot more fun/interesting or less evil to work at after they watched the videos. 2) They wanted to work someplace where you could talk with customers without worrying too much about "the rules."

Anyway, Dennis Howlett looked into this a bit more and I sent him over to our HR/Recruiting department (which has a couple of good bloggers) to see if they had any "numbers." Dennis linked to the answer. I forgot about this one, but last year more than 3,000 resumes came in through ~~our employee blogs~~ just Gretchen's blog. 137 people were hired this way.

Small numbers, yes, but this is a young trend. What will it look like in 10 years?

Separately I hear that Channel 9 is the #1 most referred to thing by college recruits. I'm trying to get actual numbers on that, if you know, please post them. (Last month we passed three million unique visitors for the first time, yowza!)

Sigh, why didn't I remember these numbers when I was at Amazon last week?

On a similar topic, the Wall Street Journal today printed an article about corporate blogging (that link takes you to Jeffrey Treem's blog, the WSJ article isn't on the Net yet) and included Microsoft in it again. Yet another reason for letting your employees blog: better PR.

Filed Under: 1

http://blogs.msdn.com/jobsblog Gretchen

That 3000 resumes number is just *my* blog. So who knows what the number is for all those other MS blogs out there!
http://blogs.msdn.com/jobsblog Gretchen

That 3000 resumes number is just *my* blog. So who knows what the number is for all those other MS blogs out there!
http://blogs.msdn.com/jobsblog Gretchen

oh, and the 137 number is also just my blog. So again, the number would be much larger company-wide.
http://blogs.msdn.com/jobsblog Gretchen

oh, and the 137 number is also just my blog. So again, the number would be much larger company-wide.
http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ scobleizer

Gretchen, thanks for the correction!
http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ scobleizer

Gretchen, thanks for the correction!
http://www.b5media.com/ Jeremy Wright

Yeah, I’d guess it’s much higher than 137, given the number of posts by PM’s saying they’ve hired someone thanks to a post on their blog.

To answer your title’s question, no I wouldn’t join a company just because they let me blog. But I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t join a company that *wouldn’t* let me blog.

Fair enough if it’s in startup phase or something, or put boundaries on the blogging, but it’s such a part of my personality, not letting me blog’d make for a Sad, Sad Jeremy
http://www.b5media.com Jeremy Wright

Yeah, I’d guess it’s much higher than 137, given the number of posts by PM’s saying they’ve hired someone thanks to a post on their blog.

To answer your title’s question, no I wouldn’t join a company just because they let me blog. But I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t join a company that *wouldn’t* let me blog.

Fair enough if it’s in startup phase or something, or put boundaries on the blogging, but it’s such a part of my personality, not letting me blog’d make for a Sad, Sad Jeremy
http://www.dahowlett.com dahowlett

I’ll repeat what I said in private email (sort of)…these are the type of metrics ANYONE with half a CXO’s brain should be able to understand. So take those forward and reveal what you can (within the confines of corporate responsibility/SarBox) reveal about the types of metrics companies might like to consider? My sense is this lies at the root of ‘shall we/shan’t’ we discussions?Here’s a starter for 10 – what value reputation? Anyone want to try that out?
http://www.accmanpro.com Dennis Howlett

I’ll repeat what I said in private email (sort of)…these are the type of metrics ANYONE with half a CXO’s brain should be able to understand. So take those forward and reveal what you can (within the confines of corporate responsibility/SarBox) reveal about the types of metrics companies might like to consider? My sense is this lies at the root of ‘shall we/shan’t’ we discussions?Here’s a starter for 10 – what value reputation? Anyone want to try that out?
http://comicstripblog.com/ Comic Strip Blogger

better PR? I don’t think so. Why Apple is wildly succesful without having hordes of bloggers as Microsoft has? And don’t you claim that current market position of Microsoft has anything to do with blogging – it was before blogging that it was established. Scoble, I wish sometimes that you could have more consistency…
http://comicstripblog.com/ Comic Strip Blogger

better PR? I don’t think so. Why Apple is wildly succesful without having hordes of bloggers as Microsoft has? And don’t you claim that current market position of Microsoft has anything to do with blogging – it was before blogging that it was established. Scoble, I wish sometimes that you could have more consistency…
http://www.theportermethod.com/blog Doug Porter

Another question would be do you think you have lost some potential great hires because of Mini’s blog and the issues he raises for which he doesn’t see a resolution (ranking system, fat middle mgmt layer, etc)?
http://www.theportermethod.com/blog Doug Porter

Another question would be do you think you have lost some potential great hires because of Mini’s blog and the issues he raises for which he doesn’t see a resolution (ranking system, fat middle mgmt layer, etc)?
http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ scobleizer

Doug: I don’t know. Our hiring rates have been going up lately, not down, and the recent people we’ve hired (the team I’m on has hired tons) says Mini actually helped them because the company was more familiar. Sort of the “evil you know is better than the one you don’t.” Every big company has problems (heck, every small one too).

Comic: PR doesn’t have a direct relationship on sales. Hope that helps.

Apple is doing well cause it has a hot product that exceeded all expectations (even theirs).
http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ scobleizer

Doug: I don’t know. Our hiring rates have been going up lately, not down, and the recent people we’ve hired (the team I’m on has hired tons) says Mini actually helped them because the company was more familiar. Sort of the “evil you know is better than the one you don’t.” Every big company has problems (heck, every small one too).

Comic: PR doesn’t have a direct relationship on sales. Hope that helps.

Apple is doing well cause it has a hot product that exceeded all expectations (even theirs).
http://comicstripblog.com/ Comic Strip Blogger

you are confusing PR with marketing, Scoble, and besides BTW: did you mention that nokia has been firing people for blogging in your “naked” book? you should do it in next issue… and it is related to this blog item of yours – after all STIL there are compnaies that fire people for blogging and Microsoft does opposite so it is proof that Microsoft is not evil, right?
http://comicstripblog.com/ Comic Strip Blogger

you are confusing PR with marketing, Scoble, and besides BTW: did you mention that nokia has been firing people for blogging in your “naked” book? you should do it in next issue… and it is related to this blog item of yours – after all STIL there are compnaies that fire people for blogging and Microsoft does opposite so it is proof that Microsoft is not evil, right?
http://nakedconversations.com/ shel israel

I just came out of a wonderful two-hour interview with Forrester Research’s Charlene Li. She’s a lot more conservative with declkarations than either Scoble or me. But she cannot think of a single reason why every corporation doesn’t at least have an HR blog. “What a great recruitment tool,” she said. “The companies that don’t startone are losing out and it will only get worse,” she told me.
http://nakedconversations.com shel israel

I just came out of a wonderful two-hour interview with Forrester Research’s Charlene Li. She’s a lot more conservative with declkarations than either Scoble or me. But she cannot think of a single reason why every corporation doesn’t at least have an HR blog. “What a great recruitment tool,” she said. “The companies that don’t startone are losing out and it will only get worse,” she told me.
http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ scobleizer

Comic: who did they fire? But, no, I didn’t have any evidence of Nokia firing people.

Getting some nice writeups in the Wall Street Journal is PR. The article is about corporate blogging. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy. That’s PR.

Now, if it said something about new products coming out, then maybe I would agree that it’s marketing.

Microsoft could fire people for being stupid. Our rule isn’t “don’t blog.” It is “don’t be stupid.” The people I saw getting fired, that we wrote about, broke that rule.
http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ scobleizer

Comic: who did they fire? But, no, I didn’t have any evidence of Nokia firing people.

Getting some nice writeups in the Wall Street Journal is PR. The article is about corporate blogging. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy. That’s PR.

Now, if it said something about new products coming out, then maybe I would agree that it’s marketing.

Microsoft could fire people for being stupid. Our rule isn’t “don’t blog.” It is “don’t be stupid.” The people I saw getting fired, that we wrote about, broke that rule.
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http://www.indospectrum.com/blog Raghu

I try to be a voice for blogging within my company but I wonder what the optimal route is? Should we just let everyone get their own blog and let that be the overall message contradictions and or is what Google does with its ‘official’ blog a good route? That’s one place where everyone from HR to Legal to Engineering to whatever can give their perspective of what the company is about?
http://www.indospectrum.com/blog Raghu

… let that be the overall message contradictions and *all* or is what Google….
http://www.indospectrum.com/blog Raghu

I try to be a voice for blogging within my company but I wonder what the optimal route is? Should we just let everyone get their own blog and let that be the overall message contradictions and or is what Google does with its ‘official’ blog a good route? That’s one place where everyone from HR to Legal to Engineering to whatever can give their perspective of what the company is about?
http://www.indospectrum.com/blog Raghu

… let that be the overall message contradictions and *all* or is what Google….
http://insidethecubicle.blogs.com/blog/ Jeffrey Treem

On a teleconference last week, Richard Edelman (who happens to be the CEO of the company I work for), said that the biggest measureable impact he has seen with his blog has been in recruitment and retention, and that Edelman had hired at least six people through the blog.

Oh, and his blog was also listed as one of the top corporate blogs in the WSJ article, not bad PR for prospective clients to see.
http://insidethecubicle.blogs.com/blog/ Jeffrey Treem

On a teleconference last week, Richard Edelman (who happens to be the CEO of the company I work for), said that the biggest measureable impact he has seen with his blog has been in recruitment and retention, and that Edelman had hired at least six people through the blog.

Oh, and his blog was also listed as one of the top corporate blogs in the WSJ article, not bad PR for prospective clients to see.
http://forevervoyaging.blogspot.com/ Mike Drips

“Would you join a company just cause they let you blog?”

You mean blog as your livelihood?
Blog during the work day on company time?
Blog before or after work?

A company doesn’t “let” you blog. You decide to blog unless you are some corporate automaton that needs someone to give them permisson to do every little thing.
http://forevervoyaging.blogspot.com Mike Drips

“Would you join a company just cause they let you blog?”

You mean blog as your livelihood?
Blog during the work day on company time?
Blog before or after work?

A company doesn’t “let” you blog. You decide to blog unless you are some corporate automaton that needs someone to give them permisson to do every little thing.
cheong

Actually, I continue work in my current company because they let me freely surf websites and play BBS(an old blog equivalent(?) that runs on top of telnet instead of WWW) here (Of course these have to be a technical one)

You see, we technical people easily tend to have difficulty to pickup new technologies after some age, and keeping connected with other people help countering this effect, and keep my skillset healthy.
cheong

Actually, I continue work in my current company because they let me freely surf websites and play BBS(an old blog equivalent(?) that runs on top of telnet instead of WWW) here (Of course these have to be a technical one)

You see, we technical people easily tend to have difficulty to pickup new technologies after some age, and keeping connected with other people help countering this effect, and keep my skillset healthy.
Dmad

I’m confused, Scoble. I thought your “real” job didn’t entail blogging. In which case, MS would seem to be neutral on “letting” their employees blog. IOW, as long as it doesn’t get in the way of why we pay you, party down.

Is Gretchen’s blog part of her job? In which case they are “letting her blog”. Granted, you represent MS whether it’s your personal blog or not..at least from a legal representation perspective.

I’d be curious to know how many MS employees have “blogging” as one of their measureable committments.

The various team blogs (XBOX, Exchange, Sharepoint, etc) do seem to have the appearance of “MS endorsed blogs” but are they really? I mean, if those teams stopped blogging would managment ding them?

I can see the value of HR deptments blogging (if their traditional recruting methods are proving to not be effective). I still don’t see how this convinces Amazon. They seem to encourage various and sundry customer interaction methods. Which, at the end of the day is the goal, right?

From a “we want everyone in our company to blog” perspective, I’d have some concerns. Namely, are customers getting mixed messages from the company?
Are sale people hearing things from corporate bloggers that they aren’t hearing from their Account Reps? Or different things than what they hear from their account reps, thus devaluling the account managment relationship? Not everything is a nail when it comes to using blogging. Blogging has it’s place, but its not a panacea. Which often times seems to be your message, which I’d be is not what you think.
Dmad

I’m confused, Scoble. I thought your “real” job didn’t entail blogging. In which case, MS would seem to be neutral on “letting” their employees blog. IOW, as long as it doesn’t get in the way of why we pay you, party down.

Is Gretchen’s blog part of her job? In which case they are “letting her blog”. Granted, you represent MS whether it’s your personal blog or not..at least from a legal representation perspective.

I’d be curious to know how many MS employees have “blogging” as one of their measureable committments.

The various team blogs (XBOX, Exchange, Sharepoint, etc) do seem to have the appearance of “MS endorsed blogs” but are they really? I mean, if those teams stopped blogging would managment ding them?

I can see the value of HR deptments blogging (if their traditional recruting methods are proving to not be effective). I still don’t see how this convinces Amazon. They seem to encourage various and sundry customer interaction methods. Which, at the end of the day is the goal, right?

From a “we want everyone in our company to blog” perspective, I’d have some concerns. Namely, are customers getting mixed messages from the company?
Are sale people hearing things from corporate bloggers that they aren’t hearing from their Account Reps? Or different things than what they hear from their account reps, thus devaluling the account managment relationship? Not everything is a nail when it comes to using blogging. Blogging has it’s place, but its not a panacea. Which often times seems to be your message, which I’d be is not what you think.
Snappy!

#17, Cheong, I went through the BBS time as well, but I did not have that much difficulty picking up new technology.

I’ve been coding since mid-80s and I know enough hardware stuffs too, so I guess that makes me a technical person too?
Snappy!

#17, Cheong, I went through the BBS time as well, but I did not have that much difficulty picking up new technology.

I’ve been coding since mid-80s and I know enough hardware stuffs too, so I guess that makes me a technical person too?
http://www.kpallist.blogspot.com/ kim

I work at MS; blogging is NOT part of my commits, but it has helped my work. I’ve made business contacts through it that I otherwise wouldn’t have, been invited to events I otherwise wouldn’t have, and have made additional friends from around the industry. A couple of those industry contacts I’ve now brought in as potential hires – so there’s a snowball effect for HR to think about as well. [Gretchen: Has anyone checked the stats on the referral program? Has it ramped since blogging has taken off?]

Scoble, Channel 9, and Gretchen’s blog were not the reason I chose to come to MS a year ago – but they WERE a positive force in the decision. All examples of a company that (my opinion from before joining and it hasn’t changed in the year I’ve ben here) really wants employees to talk directly to customers in order to build better products.

Nothing wrong with that!

[P.S. Scoble, I think CSB was himself fired from Nokia for blogging (heard him say so on Daily Source Code). However, the tone he's prone to using on his blog and in comment forums would lead one to guess that he was fired for what I'd deem "blogging irresponsibly"]
http://www.kpallist.blogspot.com kim

I work at MS; blogging is NOT part of my commits, but it has helped my work. I’ve made business contacts through it that I otherwise wouldn’t have, been invited to events I otherwise wouldn’t have, and have made additional friends from around the industry. A couple of those industry contacts I’ve now brought in as potential hires – so there’s a snowball effect for HR to think about as well. [Gretchen: Has anyone checked the stats on the referral program? Has it ramped since blogging has taken off?]

Scoble, Channel 9, and Gretchen’s blog were not the reason I chose to come to MS a year ago – but they WERE a positive force in the decision. All examples of a company that (my opinion from before joining and it hasn’t changed in the year I’ve ben here) really wants employees to talk directly to customers in order to build better products.

Nothing wrong with that!

[P.S. Scoble, I think CSB was himself fired from Nokia for blogging (heard him say so on Daily Source Code). However, the tone he's prone to using on his blog and in comment forums would lead one to guess that he was fired for what I'd deem "blogging irresponsibly"]
Mike

Hiring fast? Hmmm, what about layoff? what about turn over? what about disgruntled employees that are there only for the convenience?
Mike

Hiring fast? Hmmm, what about layoff? what about turn over? what about disgruntled employees that are there only for the convenience?
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http://www.billbuchan.com/ Wild Bill

Mmm. “Less evil” ? How many avoidable lawsuits does MS still have outstanding ? EU ? etc ?

And how about “least trusted” ?

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060330-6491.html

Not only is MS the least trusted, its least trusted *by a long way*.

And this isnt some dismissable ABM report. Its Forrester, who are usually Pro MS..

Ouch.

How are blogs going to fix *that* ? Add a “Fire Steve Balmber” voting button ?

—* Bill
http://www.billbuchan.com Wild Bill

Mmm. “Less evil” ? How many avoidable lawsuits does MS still have outstanding ? EU ? etc ?

And how about “least trusted” ?

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060330-6491.html

Not only is MS the least trusted, its least trusted *by a long way*.

And this isnt some dismissable ABM report. Its Forrester, who are usually Pro MS..

Ouch.

How are blogs going to fix *that* ? Add a “Fire Steve Balmber” voting button ?

—* Bill
http://www.bynkii.com/ John C. Welch

It’s not blogs robert, it’s location. Move the Mac BU out to Miami, and that would be FAR more interesting
http://www.bynkii.com/ John C. Welch

It’s not blogs robert, it’s location. Move the Mac BU out to Miami, and that would be FAR more interesting
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http://www.forgetfoo.com/ forgetfoo

i wish my boss felt the same about blogging… *sigh*
http://www.forgetfoo.com/ forgetfoo

i wish my boss felt the same about blogging… *sigh*
Christopher Coulter

Ummm, no. I wouldn’t join say a company like Enron or Global Crossing, even if they let me blog all the live long day. Besides with Microsoft, most of the bloggers are but puffy pointless cheerleading Evangelistic rot, while the company steers the ship into vaporware icebergs.

Would you join a company just cause they let you blog?

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