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Should a CEO Contribute to Your Blog?

Posted by Susan McCoy on Thu, Jan 3, 2013 @ 9:39 AM

Can your CEO blog? was the question posed on the front page of USA Today.

And the answer according to an article written by Del Jones, is "Maybe. Maybe not."

The USA story notes that while CEOs of smaller tech companies and PR firms are blogging, so far no Fortune 1000 CEO or chairman has launched a blog.

Here's the inside skinny from author and corporate blogging consultant Debbie Weil who was interviewed for this USA Today article.USA Today reporter Del Jones interviewed Debbie about CEOs who blog. She had this to say:

"There's an untapped opportunity for an early CEO adopter with the right touch. A blog would seem a nice fit for Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, who writes annual letters to shareholders with a blogger's flair.

"I would be really disappointed to think that CEOs couldn't blog," Weil says. "But it is a lot more difficult for a CEO to be that open."

"Why aren't big-company CEOs blogging," Debbie asks?

As reporter Del Jones puts it, it's hard to walk the line between "risk and readability." CEOs would have to acknowledge "the elephant in the room" whether it's a drop in share price or an earnings forecast.

A CEO is not allowed to make "forward-looking" statements, nor say anything that might violate the new stricter Sarbanes-Oxley requirements for internal financial controls and reporting.

Too much time and effort?

Debbie says it takes a fair amount of time to blog effectively and well - another deterrent for CEO bloggers. Though it's still not impossible.

Does your CEO blog? Ours does.

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Topics: lawn and garden public relations, lawn & garden public relations, horticultural marketing communications, blogging

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