Sep 18 2006
Starting this week, I get paid to blog.
No, really! I do!
You’re looking around to see if I have advertising here all of the sudden, aren’t you? No, it’s not that. (Although don’t assume I’ll never do it… if I ever gain a readership capable of earning me money, I’m ALL over it. And don’t assume that’s because I’m a greedy money-grubbing money grubber because it’s not - it’s just that I’d love to somehow support myself while I make a real effort at writing that book I always said I would write.)
I’m talking about WORK blogging! Not the normal blogging at work like what I’m doing right now, but an actual WORK BLOG that is official and sanctioned by my boss and part of our overall communication and team building strategy.
Like many other corporations, my company has started to embrace the use of blogs. There are already a few wide-open unmoderated blogs and some special interest group blogs. I had suggested a while back that my department start one up. We have about 90 people spread all over the globe - all geographies and time zones. It’s hard to try to build team rapport in that situation. I have, however, been part of several blogs at large in the past year that have done just that - they transcend the physical limitations of the real world to build friendships and camaraderie over great distances. I thought it would be good to make a play for achieving that same thing at work.
We have our own blogging platform written in house which means it’s pitiful and completely inadequate. When you write a post, you can do four things: make text bold, make text italics, embed an image, or insert a hyperlink (only? you cannot insert a hyperlink into existing text like this - you can only expose the entire big long ugly URL in which case it would look something like this: http://www.scrapbook-bytes.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=18185 .
You cannot indent or block quotes and when I asked our blog expert about that, she didn’t know what I meant by blocking text. You cannot change the font face or size or color. You cannot center on the page. No bullets or numbered lists. No strike-through.
How can I be a superstar professional blogger at work if I can’t do any of those things???
My work blog launches on Thursday. I need to line up some ideas for posts while the other designated blog post writers are getting comfortable with the idea. Once they are, I assume they will help contribute but at first it will probably just be me.
So, here’s what I need from you: what are the coolest blog games (ie MEMEs or quizzes or something) that I could use to start drawing people in, getting them active and involved. I want to create some BUZZ. I want it to be so compelling it draws people out.
Ever throw a party and you were scared shitless that no one would show up? That’s kind of where I am now. The blog launches on Thursday and I’m worried that not a single person will comment or jump into the fray. Ack!!!
Sorry, boring post I know but I just think it’s kind of cool that even though I’m at my same ol’ company in my same ol’ job I’m actually doing something that I’m excited about. I have these visions of the powers-that-be becoming so impressed by my blog launch and how wonderful I am at forming a community that they promote me to CBO (Chief Blogging Officer) on the board of directors and throw buckets of money at me just for doing something I love (you know, running on and on and on at the mouth.) Plus I could do it in as little as an hour a day and the rest of my free time could be spent surfing the web cleaning my house writing my book (see why I need the strike through???)
In my plan, everybody wins! Especially me and after all, aren’t I the most important one?
