Do corporate blogs really reduce the volume of email traffic?

In an article today CIO Magazine offers up Seven Reasons for your Company to Start an Internal Blog. My first reaction was: how'd do you mean, start?

But on reflection they are right. They are speaking to the mass majority. And the majority of companies are still on the starting blocks.

Our software business works with many clients who continue to take baby steps toward internal and external blogging. Usually this conversation is within the context of building broader intranet, internal communications or collaborative team sites.

One client in particular has a stratospheric volume of daily email traffic and a huge proliferation of personal intranet locations. As expected, CIO Magazine offers up the shortcomings of email systems and email culture as two of the seven reasons for introducing blogging. 

Is there any before and after data that demonstrates the impact of corporate blogs in reducing email traffic and the culture of email dependency?

Published 20 Jun 2007 by Steve Ellis
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Comments

 

Heather Yaxley said:

The culture of email dependency often seems to reflect a need for management control over communications, and I don't envisage that blogs would satisfy that requirement, unless there is evidence of significant participation to reassure managers that their messages are being heard. Also are they really ready for the cultural switch to conversations that blogging entails?

Surely also there could be an increase in email traffic if blog posting and comments are accompanied by feeds back into email systems to notify of updates.

I'm not convinced that a genuine reason to begin an internal blog is to address issues in email as a form of communications.
June 21, 2007 11:12
 

Steve said:

Heather - I agree completely about the cultural switch. One of our biggest hurdles in encouraging internal blogging is breaking past the controlling mentality, that says only a few are allowed to 'broadcast' internally. This is compounded by the presumption that: blog = opinionated and risky.
I disagree on the last point, I do think blogs can replace some of the 'all internal' noise and confusion of aliases etc, that occurs inside large, email dependent organizations.
June 23, 2007 12:52
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