I’ve been following the Lord (Clive) Soley instigated group blog for a few days now and despite the awful design, name, and technical set-up it is working well at the moment. In my opinion it is because the blogging Lords are writing in a very natural language.
Of the nine participating peers only two were previously MPs and perhaps this helps contrast them against my particular perception of the House of Lords. And, since one of their stated aims is to change the image of the Upper House, they are succeeding.
Congratulations, Lords, keep going, but please do ask someone to do some work on the design and techie side – you’d have thought a title for the RSS feed would be right up your street. Boom boom.
3 Comments
Paul Caplan · 19th March 2008 at 3:51 pm
You’re right. It’s great to see our ‘leaders’ getting out and talking – particularly if they’re trying to do it with a human voice. David recently pointed to another boss, the CEO of aveco dodging his spin doctor and talking for himself (http://bloggerbubb.blogspot.com/). These are all positive signs that we should encourage because they make it easier for people lower down the organisations to speak – gives them permission if you like. Maybe we need some sort of ‘Back the bosses bloggin’ campaign.
Paul Caplan · 19th March 2008 at 3:54 pm
Oops that should be acevo – (Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations)
Shane McCracken · 19th March 2008 at 4:19 pm
Paul, Nice idea. Shall we start with a Facebook group? “Backing Blogging Bosses”. Join this group if you support your boss’s attempt at blogging.
We’ll get David Miliband to draft a supportive letter that people can send to their bosses: “Hi I’m David Miliband and I think you should be blogging.”
Seriously though, support through reading and commenting will make a difference. Your post about the reluctance people have to comment is not surprising, particularly if you’re asking them to be the first to comment.