Shel Holtz furthers the discussion on ghost-blogging, or the act of writing blog posts for somebody else. I agree with Shel that for the most part it's not a good idea.
My problem is simple: Blogs aren’t just another business communication channel. In fact, blogs were created and popularized by people who were fed up with traditional business communication channels. They had had enough of fabricated quotes in press releases and speeches read by executives but written by professional speech writers. These people wanted authentic conversations with real human beings.Taking the analogy a bit farther, if the blog is meant to be a conversation with a specific audience then why even attempt to ghost-blog? That would be like scheduling a meeting with a person only to find out you won't be talking with them, but somebody who can 'channel' their thoughts. Sorry, the reason I wanted to meet with X, was so that I could talk to them directly.
Visitor Comments
I see your point; however, personal communications are not every CEO, COO or VP's strongest skill set. Now, of course you could argue that communication should be every executive's core skill set, but as a PR professional, I am paid to deal in reality. I would recommend that the content author submit a response for review to the professional writers / communicators so that obvious errors in grammar, syntax or spelling may be addressed prior to publishing without altering their intended message.
Posted by: Matt Gentile | June 5, 2007 5:33 PM
Never understood ghostwriting blogs. The whole point is direct, personal communications. Perhaps ghostwriters should have their own blogs. It may make for more compelling reading.
Posted by: Dan Greenfield | June 7, 2007 5:54 PM
I often wonder what happens to the credibility of the "blogger" and the goodwill of the brand when customers realize that posts were ghost authored. It seems like it would be a betrayal of trust.
Posted by: Toby | June 7, 2007 11:23 PM
Couldn't agree more.
Anything our CEO says/writes is market sensitive information and therefore is under more external scrutiny... which means it's typically under considerable internal scrutiny before it's released.
Blogs are successful largely due to the personality and dedication of the writer. So have someone else blog, someone with an interesting job and an interesting voice.
If you want your CEO to have a voice on your site give him a weekly column and add a comments funtion to it, but don't pretend it's blog.
Posted by: Louise | June 11, 2007 4:34 AM
As usual, it comes back to figuring out what you're trying to accomplish. There may be instances where helping a busy executive stay on top of their communications leads you to something that looks and smells like a ghost-written blog.
I can think of all sorts of ways that could be a disaster, and a few ways it could be excellent - especially if the CEO or other exec. is up front about who is helping him/her stay in touch, and what role they play (editing, transcribing, drafting, whatever).
Posted by: Eric Eggertson | June 13, 2007 7:45 PM