Blog Review: General Electric Blog Kills Three Birds With One Stone

From Edison’s Desk Ratings:

Transparency: 7/10
Meets Stated Goals: 10/10
Reflects Company Culture: 10/10
Overall Good Example: 9/10

I had an interview the other day with Todd Alhart of General Electric’s global
research group. Todd is one of the masterminds behind “From Edison’s Desk”,
a blog that GE uses for three purposes:

• To raise awareness about the depth and breadth of the research
  currently being undertaken by GE scientists.
• To showcase GE’s research and innovation to science and engineering
  enthusiasts.
• To increase awareness among GE scientists across its four R+D
  facilities worldwide in Niskayuna, NY; Bangalore, India; Shanghai, China;
  and Munich Germany about what others are doing.

GE launched the blog in January of 2006 as part of what Alhart describes as
a “communications research project.”

One thing that sets From Edison’s Desk apart from many other business blogs
is the pace. We advise most of our clients to post at least once a day, but
GE’s blog only gets a new post only once a week.

This may not be an optimal SEO strategy. But according to Alhart, the slow
pace of the blog works for GE because the content stays relevant a good deal
longer than the average blog post. “People will come to the site and look at
a post that is months old because that’s what they’re interested in,” he
says. The intent is to create a repository of content, rather than a
constant stream of new information.

This pace also suits GE’s legal department. The legal department does get a
say in what goes on the blog They review entries for any intellectual
property issues. Legal concerns aside, Alhart says GE has a great deal of
trust in the judgment and loyalty of their team. GE enables blogging for
any scientist in the research group that wants to so. The only criteria were
passion for the work and a desire to be a part of something bigger.

One of the first engineers to post on “From Edison’s Desk” is Adam Rasheed.
During his student days at Cal Tech, Rasheed had his own website. He was
thrilled to be able to participate in the blog and share his long-term
research on pulsed detonation enginewhen the blog launched last year.

Another blogger, Roger Hoerl has used “From Edison’s Desk” to keep in touch
with his colleagues and the world during the six-month sabbatical that was
extended to him as part of The Coolidge Fellowship, an award for exceptional
innovation given to the most highly respected members of GE’s research team.
During his sabbatical, he has traveled the world applying his statistical
knowledge to understanding the root causes of the global AIDS pandemic. His
ultimate goal is to discern “what the business and scientific communities
might be able to do to impact the pandemic.”

In his inaugural post on the blog, Hoerl wrote, “it is not sufficient for GE
to be a great company, we must also be a good company. I hope that having GE
sponsor this research helps demonstrate that it is a good company.”

Alhart was careful to ask me to give credit where credit is due. The New
York-based Web design consultancy Syrup and GE’s Corporate web team helped
in designing the blog site, and PR firm Edelman has occasionally assisted
with getting the word out about specific blog posts that are part of larger
initiatives and campaigns.

So bottom line, how well has GE’s blog met the three goals it was created to
fulfill? Alhart is upbeat. The blog, with a respectable PageRank of 6, has
succeeded in reaching out to the wider engineering community. They’ve seen
increased student interest in working at GE, and the blog has improved
morale inside the research group itself. Mission accomplished!

In my opinion, this is a terrific business blog. It’s true that “From
Edison’s Desk” hasn’t strayed into terribly controversial waters. The blog
consistently paints a desirable picture of what it’s like to work at GE. At
times during my review of the blog, I wondered what the downsides were.
After all, every company has them.

That said, I have to agree with Alhart’s overall attitude. Often, companies
think that their blogging initiatives must adhere to a one-size fits all
model. GE’s blog shows that this isn’t true. Companies can be aware of their
limitations in terms of time, legal requirements and culture and still give
employees a public voice that helps to characterize the company.