IBM's blogger in chief

A few days ago Times Online caught up with Christopher Barger, IBM's official "blogger in chief". He's been charged with keeping the 20,000 people inside the IBM firewall up to date with the latest state of the blogosphere, so we thought we'd ask him for a briefing.

There was a lot of what you might expect from a corporate blogging champion: a warning to other businesses that blogging isn't just about "angry people in pyjamas" any more - and that they can't afford not to be on the blogging bandwagon.

"If you find that the first time you're dabbling in blogs is because you're in the middle of a crisis, then you're too late," he said.

But he also believes the media has given its audience good reason to be cynical in recent years and that business can use blogs to reach out to consumers "in a more human manner". He's a fan of Robert Scoble, the maverick Microsoft blogger. "Company bloggers have to be candid," he says. "Being an individual is key".

And IBM is also dead keen on using blogs internally. It has around 2,800 of them up and running as part of a large internal social networking project.

"Things happen when people come together," Barger says. And even if you're a purist and don't believe a proper blog can thrive behind a corporate firewall.

We asked Barger for some examples of blogs readers might want to check out "to get a sense of what good blogs look like or for interesting examples". He offered these suggestions:

For a good blog on blogging/happenings in the blog world: MicroPersuasion

For a good eccentric collection of oddball things: Boing Boing

For a good technology/Web 2.0 blog: Tech Crunch

For a good IBM blog: Irving Wladawsky-Berger

Comments

[Barry Welford]

It's interesting that in this interview, Barger seems to comment most on blogs in their role as part of a large internal social networking project. For me, their biggest role is in the dialogue that any company should have with its prospects and customers. That's what should really drive the company. That's not to say the internal culture isn't almost as important, but I think they should all be having a dialogue with their customers first.