More on associations and blogging

In this post below I responded to Zach Wilson's post on Gulo about whether associations "get" blogging, and what should or shouldn't be publicly available on associations' websites. Zach continued the discussion in the comment section:

Mike, thanks for reading!

I know there are lot of levels of complexity and variations. This of course depends on the organization.

I think the most frustrating thing is the fear that most associations have of heading down this road. I've heard things like, "we don't want to allow members to be able to openly bash the association". At first when I heard this, I thought, that's a great point. Then I went home and thought, my goodness, if your members are open enough to speak critically about the organization-that's great! Free information and feedback. Clearly if people out there are going to be so brash as this, then you are doing something wrong. In the context of this situation the org would be getting an enormous value-add.

So I added:

You made lots of great points in your post, Zach. Many associations could be doing a lot more to get their content out and to promote discussions.

I think a bigger problem for some associations is what to do when there's a divisive policy debate going on within the membership. This really applies to business groups rather than professional organizations, or other groups most people think of when they think "non-profits."

And then Jamie Notter joined in with this:

Hmmm. The two lines of thinking aren't connecting for me here. The movement to blogs is about opening up a new kind of communication that the association fundamentally cannot control. If it could control it, it wouldn't be blogging. And it wouldn't deliver the same kind of value--a kind of value that typically MUST be spread across members and nonmembers alike.

Mike is pointing to some areas of communication sharing and learning that by their nature must be controlled. It's definitely okay to have those controlled spaces, but I'm siding (I think) with Zach who is saying that associations, generally speaking, are turning a blind eye to the potential of uncontrolled communication and learning. Saying that there are places where control is needed doesn't really address the argument for the NEED for some uncontrolled contexts as well.

Zach and Jamie's points are well taken. To clarify my point about things that are better left behind the password-protected section of the association's website -- business/trade associations generally have to worry more about keeping their policy debates under wraps primarily to avoid giving intel to the other side. Keeping the members informed of new developments is an important communications function, but it does have to be done carefully. I doubt there are many in my field who haven't found one of their association's "internal" documents being ciruclated on Capitol Hill by the opposition.

But aside from that particular area of concern, there is tremendous untapped potential in associations for developing blogs. The big reason, I think, that it remains untapped (and this is a subject for later) is that there are lots of members out there who still don't like to get their news that way.

Tagged: Associations, Blogging