If you ever see a job opening for Chief Blogger, you might want to run far away. Kodak appointed a Chief Blogger position to a long-time employee, but the job description stinks of non-blogging tasks. Kodak is spindoctoring the announcement by saying that few companies have Chief Bloggers, and fewer still have female Chief Bloggers. So what? “Chief Blogger” hardly seems in the spirit of blogging, and ensures that I’ll NOT be visiting company blogs who have such positions.
This recalls to my mind numerous corporate jobs in the mid- to late 90s – when the Internet was the next big thing – that used to be titled Webmaster but were really just PR (Public Relations) jobs. Such jobs often involved immense amounts of company politics while the people doing the real work (the real Webmasters) were scapegoated by executives for anything that didn’t go right. (I happened to have been one, and have seen others go through it. It’s not a pretty thing.)
Let’s hope that this doesn’t happen to blogging. I fear, though, that it will. Things to fear: when that executive in the corner office comes asking, “Why isn’t the blogsite pulling in a million visitors a day yet? It launched a week ago. How long is it going to take, and how much money will we make from the blog?”
Am I overreacting? What do you think?
5 thoughts on “Dream Blogger Job or Nightmare?”
The thought of it. Sadly, I too can see the writing on the wall. You know it will happen and you are spot on to point it out. I will go hang my head and find something else to do…. Hmmm how much do they pay? Smile..it’s a little comedy.
I wonder how many bosses the “chief blogger” will report to?
sounds like a fricken nightmare job.
Your “things to fear” comment is RIGHT ON!!!
Kodak’s “Chief Blogger” position is already suffering from “job description bloat”. Not only will poor Jennifer over see TWO new company blogs with unclear focus (from the names) “A Thousand Words” and “A Thousand Nerds” but she will serve “as the company’s eyes and ears online, listening to customer feedback and sharing ideas and tips related to Kodak’s products and services.”
She gets to maintain two blogs… AND monitor the company’s presence on social networking sites and take point when it comes to customer service.
ACK!!! What ever she’s getting paid… I can guarantee you, it won’t be enough!!!!
I too remember the early days when “webmaster” meant “anything to do with a computer”. Watch for “Chief Blogger” to come to mean everything from blogging to developing viral Facebook applications…. all done by a single person with too little budget… all while being expected to make a significant contribution to the bottom line.
Thanks for reminding me why I FLED corporate over a decade ago. A 401K match and a company car just aren’t nearly enough payment for the chunk of your soul those fiends require.
i´m sure these will be exactly the expectations (and questions) that every company will come up with, when they know nothing about blogging, and just want a blog ´cause every great company has one
It´s hard to tell whether it will be a dream job or a nightmare. But one thing for sure,the person takes a bigger responsibility, first for the company, then for him/herself.
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