Bloggers@Zanzibar

Last evening Charlie and I enjoyed an evening meeting bloggers. It was a gathering at a NYC restaurant organized by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff to publicize Groundswell.  (Thanks for the advance copy!)

We are knee-deep researching the impact of Web 2.0 and social computing on the relationships between organizations and people, both internally and externally. So we are always really pleased to meet folks who want to share their experiences with us.

The evening reminded me a bit of speed-dating and it was great fun... once my eyes adjusted to the cave-like atmosphere. I worked clock-wise around the firepit and Charlie counter-clockwise.

Words of  Experience shared with us:

• Separate your professional from your personal blog-life.
• Even better, don't tell anyone at work (translation:  especially your boss) about your blog -- unless it's a blog designed to attract business and has a disclaimer that it represents your personal views. (A corollary to that would be to avoid talking about a blog intended to pump your own business.)
• Innocuous comments (for example, referring to the difficult state of the economy) can be viewed as bad for business by your employer.
• Companies (at least those in tech, PR and media) are getting quite comfortable with these technologies... not making them available would be like giving you a desk without a phone.
• A blog is a great place to share your ideas and get feedback from others. It's exciting, creative and thought-provoking.
• The trick is to keep the entries short.

On that note, I'll stop here.

If you have an experience you'd like to share about how your company uses blogs, wikis, virtual reality, podcasts, webcasts, forums - or any other form of social media - especially those aimed toward or for use by employees, please share your story by email anne@cognetics.com or comment here.