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09.05.07
Has Corporate Blogging Reached Its Tipping Point?
 By
Shel Holtz
Despite the fact that, statistically, corporations aren't adopt blogs at a rapid pace, it's possible we've passed the point of exclaiming each time a big company does opt to start a conversation with its customers or other constitutents.
Time was, a new blog by a major brand roused all kinds of attention. Early adopters were quick to criticize the newcomers' shortcomings while others heaped praise on the company for its gutsy decision to initiate a real dialogue. It's not just companies like Dell-already embroiled in controversy-that got this kind of attention. Marriott International is just one example of a company that garnered a lot of digital ink when its CEO, Bill Marriott, began blogging.
The recent launch of Delta Air Lines' blog, however, has passed with barely a whisper of notice. That's noteworthy as Delta's blog, "Under the Wing," is only the second from a major airline (Southwest Airlines has been publishing its "Nuts About Southwest" blog for some time; Delta's blog is similar, a group blog that will "take you under the wing and behind the scenes sharing stories on ideas, changes, our people, and their working lives").
 Delta has made its blog easy to find, listing it among first-tier menu items on the corporate home page. There was no press release on the blog, though, which grew out of a page where passengers could submit ideas for improving the Delta experience. (In fact, going to delta.com/change-the URL for that idea submission page-now brings you directly to the blog.)
So far, the posts have been fairly benign, addressing things like a new in-flight entertainment system and the decision to list the music played on planes during boarding (Delta has created its own iTunes iMix of boarding music). The blog has also covered improvements to self-service features on its website and efforts to beef up customer service at JFK.
Despite the lack of hoopla around the blog, which kicked off on August 23, people have managed to discover it. Each post has been met with comments and it doesn't appear that negative comments are being censored, although the conversation so far has been amazingly civilized considering the kind of emotions bad flying experiences can produce.
But a search of Google News and Technorati surfaces very little discussion about a new corporate blog from a major international airline. Chrysler's new blog has also been largely ignored by those who used to report on every new big business entry into the blogosphere. Have we passed the tipping point for corporate blogging? Has the introduction of a new corporate blog become as ho-hum as the introduction of a new corporate website was back around 1998?
Comments
About the Author:
Shel Holtz is principal of Holtz Communication + Technology which focuses on helping organizations apply online communication capabilities to their strategic organizational communications.
As a professional communicator, Shel also writes the blog a shel of my former self.
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