Microsofts Opportunity After Robert Scoble

Some of the Robert Scoble's news that he is leaving Podtech in July is on who will be the next Scoble at Microsoft. If such a question refers to someone taking on the same or a similar blogger/evangelist role as Robert's, I don't think there will be a next Scoble.' As Microsoft's most prominent, visible and, yes, famous employee blogger, Robert developed his Channel 9 website, breaking through barriers and jumping hurdles in the Microsoft organization to get to people to interview them. So perhaps a more significant question might be who will fill Robert's shoes in that role? But staying with blogging for a second, a Mini Microsoft blog includes this comment:

[] It will be interesting to see where the future of Microsoft blogging goes now. There's a certain amount of openness and honesty and vulnerability in the best writing, let alone blogging, that you just can't fake, and those that try are going to get ripped to shreds.

It's a good point. One of the keys to building relationships via a blog is the writer's personality, style of writing and many others factors relating to the writer. Robert is Robert so anyone else at Microsoft who wishes to emulate him will have to build his or her reputation on their own credentials. In any event, I wonder whether this change doesn't present Microsoft with an interesting oppportunity to try and marshall the collective personality of the other 3,000 or so employee bloggers into a coherent communication commons' for Microsoft. I can just hear the objections to that idea! Blogging is personal! This idea stinks of corporate spin and control! Not at all - if it's done the right way. Corporate communication is changing and the idea of any large organization continuing to regard employee blogging as a self-organized hobbyist type of activity makes little business sense at all. I'm thinking of Microsoft proactively encouraging people, perhaps in a similar fashion to FIR podcast #145 yesterday includes commentary about Robert Scoble's move from Microsoft. Starts at about 4:17 into the show. Neville Hobson is the author of the popular Crayon. Visit Neville Hobson's blog:

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