UK & US neck-and-neck in business blogging stakes

A report comparing the levels of business blogging in the US and UK concludes an interesting conversation I was having earlier this week with Maggie Fox over at Social Media Group.

Via email Maggie suggested that the UK was far ahead of the US in the coportate blogging stakes. This surprised me as I always held the view that the UK was, at the very least, six months behind the US. Maggie, who is based in Canada, reckoned they were about 18 months behind.

Well, blow me down. Ellee Seymour posts about a survey that compares business blogging between the US and UK. It finds that:

• the overwhelming majority of respondents (85%) believe blogs are an important digital communication tool
• the top response given being the ability to share information quickly and broadly (US: 84%; UK: 74%)
• second top being the opportunity to influence public opinion and decision making (US: 74%; UK: 65%)
• most respondents admit that they (or their clients) do not have an official company blogging policy (US: 87%, UK: 82%).
• although a majority of respondents felt blogs were important, only 37% in the US and 36% in the UK are actually blogging on behalf of their company or client

So not a major difference after all. Ellee cites evidence that many PROs in the UK don't like the idea of not being able to control the message and argues:

"companies need to know what their consumers feel and they should be able to respond professionally - and transparently. They may even get positive feedback too!"

I would suggest that one of the biggest barriers to corporate blogging isn't just PROs' fears of losing control of comms, but the wider issue of businesses not being prepared to be transparent and up-front about their affairs.

It's understandable given traditional business attitudes but I reckon things will change in the future. Business, culture, politics will all move towards a greater level of transparency. As globalisation really kicks in in terms of choice, freedom and economics there will be a shift towards providing what society wants. And that is greater honesty.

Comments

[Ellee Seymour]

I think Thresher has shown the impact business blogging can have, they were certainly taken unawares by its success. And look at all the media coverage it generated. I'm sure more businesses will gradually come on board, I can understand their reserve and hesitation, we need a few UK excellent case studies to help impress the benefits.

[maggie fox]

Damn, Simon - you beat me to it! I was going to post on the very self same thing!

And I agree with your assessment - as in successful relationships between actual humans, consumers are increasingly coming to expect a certain level of authenticity in their relationships with their favourite brands. Blogs, of course, are an excellent channel to facilitate this.

As far as acceptance goes, a client recently explained it to me thusly: "We're going to get dragged into this whether we like it or not. We can go kicking and screaming, or we can go on our own terms. Smart business will choose the latter."