Corporate Blogging: Building community through persistent digital talk

Blogging has grown exponentially on the Internet; however, the role of blogs within the enterprise remains elusive. Why and how do individuals use internal corporate blogs? What results do both individuals and the corporation realize from internal blogs? Our exploratory study of a large global IT corporation’s internal blogging system analyzed usage statistics, interviews, and the results of an anonymous, web-based survey. We found that benefits were social as well as informational, and that connecting with community was an important value sought by all user segments. Heavy users of the system realized the greatest benefits, but also provided the core of a community that greatly benefited moderate users, as well.