Chuq von Rospach, a former Apple employee, writes of the inner workings of one of my favorite tech companies on the planet and it’s most famous employee – Steve Jobs. What drew my attention however, was his reference to the possibility of Apple entering the corporate blogging arena.
Many readers of this blog will remember the posts I’ve written over the past years on such a feasibility (What would Steve Jobs blog?), as I explained the benefits of such an action, the good and bad of Apple’s earlier attempts, etc. (see scorecard here). Chuq’s post reaffirmed my belief that Apple has a blogger ethos but also confirmed my suspicion on why Jobs may never blog.
I always lobbied for more discussion, more disclosure, more transparency. That’s not always compatible with Steve’s focus on controlling the message. When Steve was fighting to restructure the company and keep it relevant, that control really was necessary. Today, I believe it hurts more than it helps, but there are signs that Apple is slowly opening up and starting to move in these directions. Don’t expect Steve ever to blog, though. But maybe his successor will.
That said, I believe Jobs “blogs” when he comes up with his famous web memos that are eagerly dissected by the insatiable “media”. By reaching out to his target audience (users, press, etc…) only when necessary (4 times thus far) vs. starting a blog (which would require a minimum weekly post), Jobs has yet again avoided the pitfalls that many CEO blogs fall into – setting high expectations and failing miserably owing to the nature of their CEO position.
Sign up to receive Marketing Nirvana posts either in your RSS reader or Email Inbox (Subscribe now!)
Filed under: Business Blogging
