Question

Topic: E-Marketing

Blogs That Don't Allow Comments?

Posted by kathie on 4/21/2008 at 6:49 PM ET 250 Points
An organization is ready to start blogging. They have legal concerns with allowing comments. I need to understand what effect this will have on the blog's success. They define success as building the brand.

I've worked to convince them that the comments are an important part of the blog--creating community, personality and more attention.

Debbie Weil (www.debbieweil.com) said in her May 24, 2007 teleconference: How to Write an Effective Corporate Blog: No matter what, people are talking (in person, on the phone, in emails and blogs, etc.) and some are going to make mistakes--make comments that are unacceptable in one way or another.

Andy Sernovitz (www.wordofmouthbook.com) makes this point: "The conversation is already happening, get in there and help direct it."

I couldn't find this issue in the archives or via search engines. Did I not look far enough or in the right place?

Should I continue to encourage them to allow comments? Why or why not? Do you have suggestions on pros and cons of comments that may help me or them to resolve the issue?

I appreciate your time and information.

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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 4/21/2008 at 7:03 PM Accepted
    Kathie, we are likewise starting a corporate blog, and have fought to allow comments on our site as well. I think the best argument is to compare what you're about to do with what others are doing. Some companies have been at it for a while, and they're yielding great success from their blog for a reason! Check these out: https://www.socialtext.net/bizblogs/index.cgi

    I would suggest monitoring comments. Usually people are not bothered if they see their comments posted by at least the next day, and this will give you a chance to review them. We have decided to do it this way, and state the reason why in our "about this blog" info.

    Another blog that does this is SouthWest https://www.blogsouthwest.com/guide/ . Their “About this blog" section states that they are "starting out" as monitored blog to ensure people stay on topic. I thought that was a good way to say it.

    This is my best advice to you... check out the bloggers that have already been there, and monitor comments (so they can be routed through you before being posted), and that will let your company ease into the blogging scene until you have a handle on what you're doing.

    Best of luck!
  • Posted by Inbox_Interactive on 4/21/2008 at 7:04 PM Member
    Allow comments but moderate them.
  • Posted on 4/21/2008 at 7:08 PM Accepted
    Oh, forgot to mention... We are also a company striving to establish our brand. The more you can get people involved and talking about what you offer, the more your brand will be spread by word of mouth.

    We are working to make sure we have some interesting content to offer (and plenty of links) encouraging as much interactivity as possible. Ask your company leaders what their favorite web sites are (or pull up competitors web sites), and show them how they offer plenty of interactive, interesting content.
  • Posted by Tracey on 4/21/2008 at 7:09 PM Accepted
    I think you need to look at your goals for the blog, and your corporate branding.

    Are you using the goal to communicate with your customers, prospects, industry, etc? Do you want to hear their ideas? Do you want to engage them? If yes, you need to allow them to speak.

    If that's not your goal with the blog... is a blog really the right medium? Should your blog posts instead be press releases, product pages, white papers, etc.?

    It may be possible to have a blog that benefits from NOT allowing readers to talk back, but I see very few cases for that.

    Lastly, what do you want to say about your brand? If openness, or listening, or taking feedback are important aspects of your brand, you need to allow comments.

    Most blogs are lucky to get comments. The negative comments can be turned into positive brand experiences and learning opportunities when handled correctly.
  • Posted by kathie on 4/21/2008 at 10:12 PM Author
    Thank you ksalter and Tracey. You both offer excellent points for consideration and further discussion with our organization. In particular, the last comment about what we want to say about our brand and important aspects.

    We have discussed monitoring the comments to keep out spam and other unacceptable comments (not negative comments--rational, negative comments are worth our time). That hasn't, so far, made a difference.

    I have been checking blogs and haven't yet found one that doesn't allow comments. I'd love to hear about any who started out one way and then changed their strategy and learn the outcome of each scenario.
  • Posted by Jonas_2.0 on 4/21/2008 at 10:43 PM Accepted
    Blogs blogs bogs. Every company wants to do blogs these days. I have to chuckle though when companies want to disable or moderate a blogs comments. I have had several clients like this. A blog without the ability to comment is not a blog Its an editorial or advertorial (since it will likely end up being driven by marketing content)


    People who read blogs and especially those that write blogs are a fickle bunch. Companies that create blogs and then moderate or prevent people from commenting are asking to be labeled a poser, which is worse than having no blog at all. Companies need to understand that having an open blog can be a risk. If handled correctly however, it can be enormously rewarding to have this kind of open dialogue with customers.

    In short, if you prevent comments, you should not have a blog. If you want to monitor for bad language or off topic content thats one thing, but, that should be done carefully as well. Most companies want to monitor or censor their blogs for fear someone will bash the company. In my mind, having the ability to respond to negative comments or posts about your company is why blogs can be powerful.

    PS. I think "building the brand" is not a very effective measure of success. How will you measure this exactly? Furthermore, what benefit will monitoring/censoring a blog have on building this brand (not a positive one in my mind)?
  • Posted by Harry Hallman on 4/22/2008 at 7:15 AM Member
    It's funny. Companies don't want comments. That is like saying I want to do a successful sales meeting but I don't want the client to talk. If the managers of your company did a sales call where the client was totally silent they would leave cursing that it was a waste of time. In sales we look for the client to voice objections so we can address they. Why should it be different for a blog. Otherwise the blog is just a newsletter.

    You should be so lucky to get any comments. That means people actually read the blog entry. Otherwise you have no idea if anyone is paying attention to what you have to say.
  • Posted by kathie on 4/22/2008 at 11:44 AM Author
    Thank you all for your thoughtful comments. Each is a valuable point of view for further discussion.

    No one mentioned any legal concerns, so apparently it is not and has not been an issue for any of the thousands of bloggers out there.

    Appreciate the comments about the weak measure of success and the advice and links to WOMMA, southwest and social.

  • Posted by kathie on 4/22/2008 at 5:31 PM Author
    Mike and Harry,

    An error occurred when I closed this question. I accepted your responses along with the others and during the closing process I received an error message. When I tried again, the system had accepted only some of the responses and would not let me accept your answers. I have contacted the administrators and they cannot fix this.

    I'm sorry that you were not awarded points for your generous contributions. Thank you, again.

    Kathie
  • Posted on 4/23/2008 at 9:03 PM Member
    So I think we have all decided that allowing comments with moderation is the accepted practice.

    Now...the real question is: "Who is creating the content?" Closely followed by: "Do we moderate content as well?"

    We are seeing a decline in the idea of C level blogs and more of a movement to encouraging widespread employee participation.

    There was a great article in the Dallas Morning News that included this quote from Richard Edelman:

    "It's clear that when it comes to traditional authority figures – whether they're chief executives or heads of state – people trust them less," says Mr. Edelman. "Employees are the new credible source of information. We have data that shows an employee blog is five times more credible than a CEO blog – and I say this as a CEO blogger."

    If you goal is to humanize your company or brand, use the humans you give business cards to...people from all corners of the organization.

    Best,

    Chris Baggott
    CEO/Co-founder
    Compendium Blogware
    www.compendiumblogware.com

    see the Dallas Morning News article here: https://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/columnists/chall/stories/D...

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