To state the obvious: Openness and personality aren’t words that naturally come to mind when one thinks about Wal-Mart, of all businesses.
However, it appears that even this retail behemoth has embraced what one might call a form of transparency and heeded the call of many Internet researchers who note that authenticity, personality, and interactivity are key to success in an online world. According to this storyin the NYT, Wal-Mart has launched an uncensored employee blog that allows merchandising managers to say what they really think about the products they sell, and to show a little bit of personality while they do so.
I especially liked this quote:
“We are real people, and that gets lost in the to and fro of business,” said Nick Agarwal, a Wal-Mart communications official who helped develop the blog. “It puts real personality out there in a real conversation.”
Journalists are getting better at this all the time. But we can do better!
