1 Why keep a weblog
- Leverage your leadership interactions that otherwise disappear
In the course of any leader’s week, there are literally hundreds of interactions with colleagues, constituents, staff, media and other members of community. Whether these interactions are face-to-face, phone, electronic or paper-based, they comprise the bulk of how leaders exhibit their day-to-day influence. A phone call from a constituent, a conversation with a staff member at lunch, an email exchange with a colleague, an off-topic discussion at a team meeting – all likely evaporate into thin air, for all intents and purposes, as soon as they’re concluded. Even most paper documents such as memos and reports are quickly religated to the trash, the shredder, or the filing cabinent, never to be seen again.With a weblog, leaders can select from among this never-ending parade of interactions the ones that they deem strategically significant, and give them a longer “shelf-life.” With a posting to their blog, the story of the interaction gains immediate wider audience while making it significantly easier for that audience to pass the story around to others who they think should know about it.
Prospective civic leader bloggers frequently ask, "How much time is blogging going to require?" It's a fair question. Blogging feels like just another task when you first start out, and it does require some time commitment to work it into your week. But once you experience feedback from your blogging, that not only are others reading your blog but that it's starting to have influence, your attitude towards the task of blogging changes because it becomes strategic. "I’m going to blog this because I know that she'll read it and pass it on to…" "When this group of people sees what I've blogged about this, then they're more likely to…" You start to realise that your blog leverages your leadership strategies in time-effective ways.
- Use a voice of authenticity to have a one-to-one conversation with an audience
A local government or organisation web site, in most cases, is a static collection of documents – information-rich but often perceived by site vistors as a dead brochure, its pages too often written by anonymous authors in an impersonal, public-relations style. A weblog, however, can bring a voice of authenticity to a web site, with a more personal and engaging tone that has wider appeal.
During the depression era of the 1930s, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt began using the mass communication medium of radio to address the American people about public issues in a series of what he called "Fireside Chats." The effectiveness of these addresses was in part due to FDR's ability to deliver them in an informal and relaxed tone, while making the listener feel as if he was talking directly to them. Likewise, the radio addresses by Winston Churchill during WW II. Although the issues are less weighty and the audiences vastly smaller, a weblog offers a civic leader the same opportunity – a one-to-one conversation with an audience of many.
- Extend your presence with a selective window into your day
Broadcast media (radio and television) has an advantage over the written word in that it can report news and other events “live.” This real-time element makes many news stories more compelling to the public. Leaders who blog learn that by giving their blog visitors a selective, near real-time window into parts of their workday, they make their blogs more compelling to read and therefore more influential.
- Provide another way for people to interact with you
A weblog is primarily a software publishing tool, one that gives its author a platform where ownership is not in question. But most weblog platforms allow a “comment” feature to be turned on, thereby creating a means for public interaction with blog visitors. A blog also stimulates private email responses, either via a “contact me” form on a web page or via a publicly posted email address. Much of the private email can be answered via a weblog post, as explained later in this document in the section titled "Answer your email with your blog."
- Convey your message directly to citizens instead depending on media institutions
Local government is frequently at odds with local media in how it gets portrayed. This is exacerbated by the fact that politicians and journalists are rated equally low by the public when it comes to ethical standards. So rather than relying on the media to convey one’s message to a mistrusting public, a weblog offers local public officials a chance to communicate with the public directly.
- Make public life more real to the public
Much of what goes on in the day-to-day life of a public servant goes unreported. Conflicts and partisan political maneuvering tend to get the media coverage, while doing “the work of the people” often gets ignored. A blog allows public officials to give the public a more realistic view of their day-to-day work.