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Another Soft Launch for an IBM Executive Blog

The brilliant Irving Wladawsky-Berger's blog been online since May, but it's another soft launch from IBM because there has been little promotion and no press release. The blog description says it's "A collection of observations, news and resources on the changing nature of innovation and the future of information technology."

Wladawsky-Berger is Vice President of Technical Strategy and Innovation. He led IBM's entry into Linux and, before that, IBM's Internet presence.

The blog is hosted on Typepad rather than IBM's site, and carries the caveat "The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions." Besides technology and innovation, Wladawsky-Berger writes about film an baseball. The blog is not accessible from the company's home page, but only through an inside page on IBM Developer Works.

Write Tighter
The posts, which are interesting but not exciting, tend to be long, and could use sub-heads to break up the text. Comments, so far, are sparse, but Wladawsky-Berger engages in conversation with commenters, which is promising. There's no blog roll, but we'd love to know what other blogs he's following, so I hope he'll add one soon.

I hope IBMers will get braver soon and start promoting their launches and stop avoiding controversy on their blogs.

blogging, blogs

Categories: Blogging and Moblogging, Corporate_Blogging

BL Ochman | Jul 18 05 5:15 | TrackBack (1)

Comments

BL, I appreciate your writing about me and my blog, even if the reviews are mixed: "brilliant", "interesting but not exciting", "tend to be long."

We purposely have not promoted my blog or those of others at IBM. I think of my blog as a way to have a conversation with the community out there on a subject where I hopefully have something of interest to say. If we put out press release or things like that around blogs, then we would be treating them as just another marketing program. I honestly feel more comfortable letting my personal blog speak for itself and find its proper level on its own.

For better or worse, the blog also reflects my personal style, which you are not the first one to have pointed out may be a bit too long winded. When I sit down to write a blog, no matter how hard I try, this is what it seems to take to say what I want to say. My colleagues finally gave up on trying to get me to write shorter blogs, and reconciled themselves that at least my blog reflects my voice and personality. Maybe I will enter a more succint phase in the future.

Posted by: Irving Wladawsky-Berger at July 19, 2005 11:15 AM

Irving: I'm honored that you read my post. Absolutely, your blog is a way to have a conversation. But there's nothing wrong with letting people know you're out here talking. :>)

I think there is plenty of room for *some* long posts.
BL

Posted by: BL at July 19, 2005 2:54 PM

Suffice it to say - "not all blogs are created equal" - must also be true!
bvl

Posted by: Bob Van Leewuen at August 1, 2005 5:06 PM

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Irving Wladawsky-Berger blog from Blogs4biz
Tanto per rompere il ghiaccio, oggi inizio la giornata segnalandovi l'esistenza di un altro blog curato da un dirigente IBM: il manager in questione � Irving Wladawsky-Berger, vice presidente della divisione "Technical Strategy and Innovation" e no... [Read More]

Tracked on July 19, 2005 5:47 AM

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About BL Ochman

Blogger, social media strategy consultant to Fortune 500 companies, and sought-after corporate speaker B.L. Ochman heads the creative team of whatsnextonline.com. She also publishes the Ethics Crisis blog for SRF Global Translations

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