Consider this a supplement to my latest report on “How Companies Should Organize for Social Computing“.  I continue to get questions from clients, and have spent time with more large brands are connecting with customers.  Diving in further, I’ve noticed that there are three ways that companies allow employees to participate.

Type One: The Corporate Represenative

Some companies setup only small groups within corporate communications, or polished executives to be on blogs. Sony Electronics has their CMO as a blogger, SUN’s CEO is a blogger, as is GM’s chairman, and often the corporate communications teams are involved in the content process, curation, and editing. I was part of the team that did this at Hitachi Data Systems, where the CTO, CSO, and other corporate spokespersons are blogging

• This is simlar to: The formalized corporate representative, the only difference is they’re using social tools.


• Upside: It’s safe. These are often trusted members of the company who can give their thought leadership using social tools


• Downside: Questionable if it’s authent