Yesterday I was working on my high school reunion blog and ran into a great example of how to use a blog. The background is that my hometown, Sarasota, FL was in the news because some homeless advocacy group voted it the meanest city in America. So I thought that would be good for a post on my reunion blog. As I did a quick Google search I found out that the City Manager of Sarasota has a blog and he had already written about the story. Great application and in looking at his blog, here’s a guy who gets it! Not only did he respond to a national story quickly but personally for anyone to read. This is open communication that doesn’t depend on how or if the media uses it. There’s a world of application of blogging like this in the agricultural world.

For example, let’s say that someone at the executive level at Diamond Pet Foods was blogging. It would have provided them with a great outlet to deal personally with the national level story that’s been running over the pets who have been poisoned by dog food containing aflatoxin. Instead they’ve done the “traditional” thing. They issued a news release and created a nice looking but pretty “corporate” website for the issue. It’s interesting that if you type their corporate website url into your browser they’ve got it automatically re-directing you to this “Recall Information” site. Then you can’t see their home site without a little work. Once you get to the home site in their news section is a “Customer Alert” which has a title of “Media Statement.” Is that for the media or is it meant to be a personal statement to their customers? If it’s the latter, it doesn’t come across as very personal. It’s not signed by any staff person and doesn’t provide a way to contact them. A blog would accomplish so much more. Their customers would be reading the personal statements of management who could be communicating frequently as this issue unfolds. It would allow those customers to give feedback and at least feel like they had an outlet for their emotion. This isn’t a story that’s going away quickly I’m afraid. On Friday I was speaking with someone on the phone who brought it up and made it clear how he would feel if it had been his pet that got sick or died. If you Google on the topic you’ll even find an attorney who’s advertising a site for people who want to sue the company!

Although I think Diamond Pet Foods could benefit from blogging they would still have to have someone who is capable and willing to do it. I am consulting with a number of companies and organizations about blogging and it’s the first thing that needs to be considered. What you don’t want is to create a blog and then not post anything. For example, I was thrilled to see that the National Association of Wheat Growers had started the NAWG Blog “Commentary by NAWG President Sherman Reese.” However, the last post showing is from August 4, 2005. In fact, there’s only 3 posts on the blog. Not good. There’s been so many things that could have been written about on the site like, personal comments about trade, travel, staff changes, the upcoming grain congress, etc. I’ve got to believe the members want to know what the CEO thinks and what he’s doing.

Blogging isn’t for everyone but it is a very effective communications tool in today’s web world and that includes the business of agriculture. Do you have plans to blog? Do you want to find out more about how it works? If so, please let me know and I’ll be happy to share what I’ve learned in over a year of doing it!