I'm not following the argument here. That the vast majority of employees say they don't want to blog doesn't necessarily mean none of them should. I agree that execs should, if they are prepared to do it properly. But there is the potential for other employees to blog internally and to actually do that in a way that is valuable and makes a contribution. So why the assertion that they shouldn't?

I've never said "none" want to blog. The vast majority don't want to blog. As long as it less than a majority, then the phrase, by the standards of modern journalism, is correct. The fact that 1 or 2% of employees want to blog is not even statistically significant. It's certainly worth noting, and likely will increase, but by and large employees do not want to blog. Close to 60% of organizations have blogs on their intranet now, and this is a sign of things to come. Work cultures will evolve in the years to come and more employees will no doubt embrace blogging, but not right now.

Again, I never said employees "shouldn't" blog. My contention is that close to 99% don't want to, but most want to read them from executives. My assertion is therefore that Executives should blog, not employees. This doesn't mean all executives, nor all employees. Its a general statement that is correct by the standards of the English language.

Yes, I get the point that the vast majority don't want to. And I agree that over time more probably will. I guess I was just confused by the post title, which evidently I took as being more definitive than it was intended. Apologies for my apparently tenous grip on the standards of the English language.

Hehe, I think you're taking it too seriously Reuben (or perhaps you are joking... lol).

In fact, I'm just trying to clarify my actions and language. You see I'm a trained journalist (and although I do make some glaring spelling and grammatical errors from time to time < the danger of self-editing >) and I do take my writing and reporting seriously (well, most of the time.... *smile*).

It's all good... eventually more and more employees will want to blog, in a couple of years or more perhaps, but for now, employees aren't interested / motivated.

I'm with you Rueben, read it in the same way as you.

We blog a fair bit on our intranet and I must say it is the Exec or SMT blogs that often fail to engage. The best blogs tend to be written amongst the lower ranks and really do help departments to share information, discuss ideas and break down those pesky 'knowledge silos'. Exec blogs always sound like a sales pitch and are written in 'company speak'.

Good to hear. You are however in the extreme minority. Your situation is very, very rare. The numbers don't lie.

With all its employee and web savyness, only 0.25% of IBM employees blog once per month. Have a look at this:

Employee intranet bloggers wanted
http://intranetblog.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2010/3/8/4475037.html

I dont agree with you. I think executives should do this task if they want to do it.

Toby -- agreed. I have found that employees generally want places to COLLABORATE, but not necessarily to blog. They are either too afraid to express their opinions or they don't know what they would say given the fact that the blog could be potentially viewed by anyone (i.e., managers). If they want a voice, they tend to find it through other means.