Blog Posts About: communication

The Weblog Elevator Pitch- One Year Later

It was one year ago that I won my first contest as a writer. The challenge was to create the "perfect corporate weblog elevator pitch". It was put on by the folks at Weblogs Inc. via the Social Software Weblog and Judith Meskill.

At the very least, I hope the little contest preserves a look at what people thought was an accurate summary of how blogs could be used inside a corporation. One day, people may say "that was sooo 2004". For now though, I still stand beind the pitch 100%.

Here it is:

First, think about the value of the Wall Street Journal to business leaders. The value it provides is context �?? the Journal allows readers to see themselves in the context of the financial world each day, which enables more informed decision making.

With this in mind, think about your company as a microcosm of the financial world. Can your employees see themselves in the context of the whole company? Would more informed decisions be made if employees and leaders had access to internal news sources?

Weblogs serve this need. By making internal websites simple to update, weblogs allow individuals and teams to maintain online journals that chronicle projects inside the company. These professional journals make it easy to produce and access internal news, providing context to the company �?? context that can profoundly affect decision making. In this way, weblogs allow employees and leaders to make more informed decisions through increasing their awareness of internal news and events.

 

 

 

 

 

I Heart Dreamhost

I've been a customer of Dreamhost (who hosts some of my web sites) for a couple of years now and they have always impressed me with their reliability and service- but that's only part of my admiration.

Perhaps the biggest part is their attitude -- they are fun. They make a real effort to create an experience around their services. The experience (even when bad things happen) is personal, authentic and usable.

Their email newsletter always makes me laugh. They have added wikis to their set of tools and here's how I learned about the wiki in the newsletter:

Looking at our wicked wiki I'm sure has gotten you a mite jealous. Heck, I'm jealous. I hear jealousy is second only to envy in the seven deadly sins, so you better quit your jealous jonesin right now! And here's why:

(link to secure site)

...now has a new One-Click Install for your wiki-wanton butt cheeks.. the Media Wiki open-source PHP wiki software! Now the very same crazy program we're using for wiki.dreamhost.com can be installed at your DreamHosted website.. and in just one wiki-clicky!

 

The Dreamhost folks speak to me (as a customer) in a way that I'm not used to and it's why reason I'm writing this post. They have an excellent product and the courage to be different and unconventional, even with something as boring as web hosting.

Would your company put the phrase "butt cheeks" in a company newsletter? I think not, but perhaps they should consider it.