Nonprofit Corporate Blogging

Though I am not working full force, I still read and browse full force and I have 3 juicy links for you today....

I won't assume you know what a blog is (even though you are actually reading one!), because too often we do things we are not aware of, or we don't know enough about, so here it is the definition.

Up to a couple of months ago, I stayed away from blogging. Mainly because I thought it to be a narcissistic exercise... blurting out all my thoughts as if people really cared about reading them! Fact is, I found out there was somebody that cared to, so I decided to go for it.

Apparently, blogs are very appealing to people. I understand how appealing they are to their authors... it's like standing at a corner of the street screaming "Repent! The End of the World is coming..!". You actually feel important.

What escapes my capability of comprehension still, is why should another person want to hear my screams at the corner of the street? As I said, I still don't know, but I'm working on a better understanding.

I am more attracted to wikis, for what that matters. Probably because, like in Star Trek, my social/egalitarian nature led me to have a special affection toward Borgs:

"According to themselves, the Borg only seek to "improve the quality of life in the universe" and add to their own perfection. To this end, they travel the galaxy, improving their numbers and advancing by "assimilating" other species and technologies, and forcing captured individuals under the control of the Hive mind by injecting them with nanoprobes. They harbor no ill will to anyone; they merely fulfill their biological or programmatic imperative to assimilate. As they say, "You will be assimilated – resistance is futile." They make good on that threat by their ability to quickly adapt to any attack to render it harmless. "

I happened to stumble in a Beginners' Guide to Corporate Blogging, from
Fredrik Wackå, Sweden, explaining:

1. what a blog is (not just the definition)
2. what a corporate blog is
3. reasons for having a corporate blog
4. types of corporate blogs (from page 8 on, it's very interesting, and stimulates some reflections on how to use blogs in a nonprofit environment and - why not - in volunteer management)
5. steps to a business blog

Once you decide you want a blog, you can get some nice hints on the how-tos from Mike Rundle. Those are, basically, tips on writing for corporate bloggers.

Finally, e-CIVICUS divulges the news that Citizen Lab offers free weblogs to all people in civil society using their civiblog service.

I started thinking of using blogs for keeping real contact with donors, getting input from citizens and clients, branding, but especially the hyper-used word... ENGAGING....