"What do you do when a blogger becomes the chief source of information about what's going on inside your company for employees of that company? That’s the conundrum that's facing Gannett these days, as Jim Hopkins' independent Gannett Blog has apparently gone viral. Hopkins reveals some recent traffic statistics: 91,000 visits and 189,000 page views in the last 30 days. That's serious blog traffic, folks. What's more, the site is being swarmed by Gannett employees. It's become the virtual watercooler for a company of 46,000 people."The conundrum for Gannett is what to do about Hopkins. So far, it's chosen a strategy of benign neglect, which is a huge mistake. Hopkins remarks that Tara Connell, Gannett's chief spokesman (and interestingly, a former managing editor at USA Today) has gone almost silent recently as rumors have swirled about layoffs and cutbacks. Meanwhile, check out the volume of comments on each post on the blog. Gannett's strategy (and we suspect this isn't Connell's decision) is about as wrong-headed as it could be. It is allowing a brush fire to grow out of control. What's worse is that it's failing to address an important channel to its own employees, who are the most valuable spokespeople it has.
"One of the great ironies of watching the newspaper industry collapse has been to see the same media icons that have long scolded institutions for their insularity become reclusive and inwardly focused when the spotlight is turned on them. Gannet Blog is exhibit A in how not to handle a new influencer."
Thanks, Paul!
Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.
OUCH! A shot across the bow of Gannett. Double OUCH! Tripple OUCH!
ReplyDeleteBy continuing to stay quiet and not stating what the vision or the plan is for the company, they're letting the whole world see how little they care about their employees. That's not the way I'd want to be portrayed.
ReplyDeleteWow...you mean what we think really matters to someone?
ReplyDeleteGannett could learn from Jim's unique approach to local, local, local.
ReplyDeleteThe company might note just how many times he uses "please" and "thank-you," too, with people he's never even met.
A former Gannett employee.
I'm not sure what Connell's alternative is. This blog is obviously collecting and posting info -- positions of those laid off, their ages, etc. -- that the company would rather not disclose. It's a little naive to expect them to be any more forthcoming than other companies. Yep, it's ironic, given that we are an information company, but that's the reality.
ReplyDeleteI've heard some top management adamently proclaim that they don't read the blog (in the same tone that some of our potential customers will declare - "oh I don't read that rag". Well, as they say, the truth hurts -but they could learn from what their employees are feeling and saying and take that knowledge and try to make things better. Shame on them for ignoring some valid complaints. Just goes to show what kind of management we are dealing with.
ReplyDeleteThe blog contains far more than factual information the company would rather not disclose. It's become, as Gillin says, a virtual water cooler where the pain of those who have been terminated this week is laid bare, not to mention the continuing disclosure of larger issues of vast mismanagement of America's largest news company. Frankly, I would not be surprised to hear next about congressional hearings into the many questions raised here about Gannett's implosion. It's a freaking disaster, and that is what Ms. Connell is paid the big bucks to manage.
ReplyDeleteThis is what happens when you put a TV advertising sales hack and an investment banking bean counter in charge of a "communications" company. The fact is the advertising sales guy can only sling BS as he used to do when selling and the bean counter can only count and run things by the numbers. Planning a communications strategy is something that never crossed their minds and if it did it left as soon as it arrived.
ReplyDeleteI don't doubt executives who say they don't read the blog, probably don't. Their prevalent arrogance is among the many contributing factors to Gannett's deterioration as a company, and it's failure to stay relevant.
ReplyDeleteGannett put itself "above" the internet until it was too late. Then, in a desperate attempt to compete online, it implemented and promoted the Information Center as some new innovation / invention, which it isn't.
That arrogance also cost Gannett an opportunity to purchase Yahoo a few years back - at a per-share bargain price.
Gannett executives, a majority of those who made the key decisions, could never get over themselves. I always loved to hear the results of the market studies because too often the results were pre-determined either by the questions that were asked, worded or both. Amazingly, the results always seemed to fit where Gannett and the publisher were leading the site prior to the market study.
Time has shown Gannett was not that smart.
You've seen that Arkansas Gazette ID card that Jim has run -- the one where he looks about 13?
ReplyDeleteI knew him then.
I feel as proud as a parent over his success. But as a quasi-parental figure, I must also ask -- when you gonna get a job, son? ;-)
Don't let them fool you, they're reading this blog!
ReplyDeleteReinan! What a peachy-keen thing to say!
ReplyDeleteDo you remember the nickname that you and yours gave me? (It was "Hopk." But where did that come from? I'm testing your memory!)
If they weren't reading this blog, they would be fools ...Oops, I just negated my own argument.
ReplyDeletehopk came from your computer log-in.
ReplyDelete"The blog contains far more than factual information the company would rather not disclose. It's become, as Gillin says, a virtual water cooler where the pain of those who have been terminated this week is laid bare, not to mention the continuing disclosure of larger issues of vast mismanagement of America's largest news company."
ReplyDeleteOK, fine. But you're expecting Connell to publicly acknowledge any of that -- or somehow prevent or "manage" it? You're expecting too much.
Congrats Jim! I LOVE IT!!!
ReplyDeleteYou know they must be reading this entry! It's a call to action. But the key answer is will they do anything about it?
A point overlooked. Any large institutional investor (mutual or pension fund) any institutional risk investor (VC) certainly has accessed this blog. What they see is the brain drain that will make or would make any investment in Gannett shares more risky.
ReplyDeleteDownsizing occurs in every business at some time. How a company operates in the down turns is a good predictor of its' upside potential.
The blog is a perfect window into Gannett's "crisis management."
My unit has seen across the board ban on overtime. Hence less coverage. Rather than layoffs; older employees are being asked to take pay cuts in the 20-23% range.
No buy out package has been tendered although the pay reduction(s) may trigger a constructive dismissal under Guild contract.
Yes Congrats! It show that an individual is important. That a someone does matter. The little guy can win.
ReplyDeleteMaybe someone should write another book about how Gannett treats its people. I see a best seller.
The Atex system only took four letters as a personal identifier. Yours was hopk.
ReplyDeleteGCI will continue to "ignore" this blog.
ReplyDeleteI will continue to cherish it.
Thanks, Jim.
Gannett Shrugged!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Jim.
ReplyDeleteBut the piece doesn't suggest what Gannett might do now that the blog is out of the bag.
I suppose they could post their version of things [preferably using their true names] in response to inquiries or critical posts.
But short of putting up their own Gannett blog and making it the go-to place to get Gannett information, there's no stuffing Pandora back in the box.
Some excellent comments on this entry, almost all of them spot-on regarding the ineptitude of current executives and the arrogance of those in the past.
ReplyDeleteGannett continues to take the 'nothing to see here, move along' stance of ignoring the underlying sentiment within the company. And by doing so they continue to widen the chasm between corporate and the employee community.
Gee...Gannett sounds like a horrible company. Maybe they are doing you all favors when they PAY YOU to leave. Folks...could be much worse!
ReplyDeleteFrom an earlier post I made today.
ReplyDelete________________________________
A smart company would look at this blog as an incredible opportunity. This blog is an opportunity to hear what it's employees really think and feel. Weed out idiots comments and you can hear some real truths being shared here. If our industry (and Gannett) is going to reinvent itself for the future and survive, we should embrace ALL opportunities to share an honest and sincere dialogue about what's wrong with us in order to begin fixing it.
8/20/2008 2:04 PM
________________________________
If Gannett executives are ignoring this blog, the message is clear - they don't care about their employees.
Don't mention it, Jim. Of all the newspaper employee blogs I monitor, yours is the most useful and constructive. Why Gannett doesn't at least maintain an offline conversation with you is beyond me. Keep fighting the good fight.
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteWhat a fine example this blog is for the new generation of journalists. You're acting---not just talking. This blog is engaging real people in real conversations about really big things---work and life---at a time when so many news organizations are failing so miserably at that task.
Wow, looks like some other Arkansas Gazette alums are reading this blog!
ReplyDeleteYes, "Hopk" (pronounced hop-kay)came from Jim's log-on to the Atex syste, in Little Rock. My wife, Monica Moses, coined it, and that's still how we refer to Jim.
Jim great website.. you should send your link to the DIG as this is real innovation.
ReplyDeleteJim great website.. you should send your link to the DIG as this is real innovation.
ReplyDeleteA real keen idea here, Jim. Maybe you'd get lucky and they'd send you, oh, I dunno, a brand new coffee mug or something equally as clever. They certainly didn't lose any money buying swag for DIG.
This blog is great, and a source of much-needed information. I just think it's a little naive to think the company is going to supply us with the same information that Jim does. I don't know of any companies that do that.
ReplyDelete