No doubt regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Reg-FD make CEOs cautious about communicating freely
That really hits the nail on the head. Heads of companies are assumed to be speaking with the utmost authority and their blog entries could have deep financial ramifications as people buy and sell stock.
But also, what would they write? If they aren't going to give away more information than press releases, there's nothing of value there. If they were to give away more than their press releases, then why aren't they putting that info in their press releases?
There's the issue. Nothing says that companies can't communicate in a folksy manner - Berkshire Hathaway does it every year in their annual report. However, every number must be vetted, the language must be scrutinized to make sure it isn't misleading about the company's situation, and you can't talk about things that aren't public. Blogging seems like it's about giving you a more inside picture, but what the head of the company is doing is by nature somewhat secret. Once it isn't so secret, there's no reason for a communications person who should be a better writer (it is their job after all) to do the writing - by blog, press release, twitter, etc.
That really hits the nail on the head. Heads of companies are assumed to be speaking with the utmost authority and their blog entries could have deep financial ramifications as people buy and sell stock.
But also, what would they write? If they aren't going to give away more information than press releases, there's nothing of value there. If they were to give away more than their press releases, then why aren't they putting that info in their press releases?
There's the issue. Nothing says that companies can't communicate in a folksy manner - Berkshire Hathaway does it every year in their annual report. However, every number must be vetted, the language must be scrutinized to make sure it isn't misleading about the company's situation, and you can't talk about things that aren't public. Blogging seems like it's about giving you a more inside picture, but what the head of the company is doing is by nature somewhat secret. Once it isn't so secret, there's no reason for a communications person who should be a better writer (it is their job after all) to do the writing - by blog, press release, twitter, etc.