Should CIOs blog?

Whether or not CIOs should blog has become a controversial topic. "Absolutely not," say those who think it's akin to turning the keys to the jail over to the inmates. "Absolutely," say the hipper folks among us who see a new way of communicating and connecting.

Your company is probably in its infancy on the blogosphere, or maybe you have a few forward-thinking executives who took to the social networking tool and have made it their own. But the latest advice from CIO.com finds that executives at all levels are embracing a new technique that didn't even exist just a couple of years ago.

Among the success stories:

• John Halamka CIO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Chief Information Officer at Harvard Medical School. He supports "3,000 doctors, 18,000 faculty, and 3 million patients." He posts everyday at 3 a.m.
• Martin Marietta Materials' CIO Chuck Musciano's writes "The Effective CIO" blog. He's also scrolling Twitter updates on his blog site.

And here are some tips on whether you should blog:

• You feel a strong need to write.
• You market your blog and invite comments. You tweet, put it on Facebook and take note of feedback and comments.
• You're willing to link to other thoughts and ideas from outside your organization.

We say, try it out. If it doesn't work, you can abandon it. But the verdict is already in for many companies: It's a tool worth investing in, and it doesn't cost a lot of money.

For more on whether to blog:
- see this CIO.com article

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