In past posts I have been talking about company blogs that are open to be viewed by the public, because many of their customers are all over the world, and having a blog is a simple way to talk with everyone. This is a great thing, however, some companies just have internal blogs, that only employees can access, and communicate through. Companies should not forget that employees are an important public. Best Buy has created Blue Shirt Nation (BSN) a social network for their employees to communicate with each other. Blue Shirt Nation started back in 2006 with the idea from Steve Bendt and Gary Koelling, corporate marketers, who wanted to learn customer insight, from employees on the sales floor. In Harnessing the Power of the Oh-So-Social Web it explains how Bendt and Koelling wanted to promote BSN bottom-up so they went store to store promoting their project. In about 2 months their were 14,000 members. The employees enjoy having a place where they can all connect, and talk. They ask questions about how to deal with a customer situation, to just enjoying getting to know each other.
This video has an interview with Bendt and Koelling talking about BSN. Employees love having their own place to chat, and talk about how to solve problems with customer questions, ask about operational procedures, and also be able to joke around with each other. Bendt and Koelling have notice an increase in efficiency, things getting fixed quicker, when something might have taken weeks to get fixed, being able to communicate and read posts, gets things noticed and fixed in a couple of days. It was also mentioned that with BSN it is a way for Best Buy employees to practice being social, and they know how to act like real people.
I think it’s great for a company to have a blog that is only internal. They may want to consider having an external one as well but having one that is solely for the employees is great. It shows that they appreciate their employees and want to know what they have to say. When an employee knows that he or she is appreciated, they generally tend to work harder. I also like that employees can communicate with each other. A blog is a great place to set things up like company picnics where everyone can actually meet. It’s also great that they can go on there for advice on how to handle a customer.
Internal blogs is a great way to communicate with employees and build a good morale within a company. This blog seems similar to others you have discussed. I agree with Alex that a blog such as this one is a great way to organize company get togethers such as holiday parties and a good place to either complain or give advice on how to handle those pesky customer service calls.