IBM's Blogging Guidelines

Now this is interesting.  Just as posted earlier,  IBM's announcement on its intranet to encouraging all employees to blog, we also learn that IBM built and deployed its own internal blogging service, some 3057 blogs have already begun strictly through word-of-mouth promotion.

Also their Corporate Blogging Guidelines were written by IBM bloggers over a period of ten days using an internal wiki.

Here's what IBM says it's in its interest

To learn: As an innovation-based company, we believe in the importance of open exchange and learning -- between IBM and its clients, and among the many constituents of our emerging business and societal ecosystem. The rapidly growing phenomenon of blogging and online dialogue are emerging important arenas for that kind of engagement and learning.

To contribute: IBM -- as a business, as an innovator and as a corporate citizen -- makes important contributions to the world, to the future of business and technology, and to public dialogue on a broad range of societal issues. As our business activities increasingly focus on the provision of transformational insight and high-value innovation -- whether to business clients or those in the public, educational or health sectors -- it becomes increasingly important for IBM and IBMers to share with the world the exciting things we’re doing learning and doing, and to learn from others.

In 1997, IBM recommended that its employees get out onto the Net -- at a time when many companies were seeking to restrict their employees' Internet access. We continue to advocate IBMers' responsible involvement today in this new, rapidly growing space of relationship, learning and collaboration.

From James Snell at IBM  via Robert Scobel