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Most medium - and large-sized companies have intranet sites. They often provide communication from specific departments, such as Human Resources. Human Resources posts plans and health insurance information online. In organizations with more developed intranet's, timesheets and expense reports can be filled out via the intranet, as well. All too often, though, these intranet's reflect a one-way publishing model - several departments broadcast news and information to the rest of the company.

What if the intranet allowed for sites organized on a smaller scale, such as a workgroup or team? What if everyone on that team could participate, and the information they published could be shared with the rest of the organization? That's the spirit behind workgroup blogs.

Because many people interact with the same group of people throughout the workday, it's important that communication flows clearly between them to help business run smoothly. A frequently updated workgroup blog is one way to keep all team members on the same page, literally.

Imagine a 50-person company with an engineering department of 20 people. Those 20 people are divided into three workgroups:

1. software,
2. hardware,
3. and support.

By creating weblog's for the most granular level, such as the software workgroup, you've narrowed the focus of the weblog in such a way that its content will be most useful to those at whom it's directed. The higher up the organization chart you go, the more generic the information becomes. The more generic the information is, the less likely it is to change and impact the employee directly on a day-to-day basis. Timeliness is directly related to importance in today's workplace. It's the information you need to do your best work now that matters, and that's where the granularity of a workgroup blog lends its advantage.

Traditional Pages versus Weblog's

A workgroup weblog can foment the team's philosophy and spirit. It can also create a shared sense of place. Most importantly, though, because the content is for the people (of the workgroup) and by the people (of the workgroup), it is relevant to the people-the members of the workgroup. Its pertinence encourages employees to return to the site, creating a lively, shared space rather than a quiet, static page controlled by a few technical wizards. Employees have voices; a workgroup weblog allows them to share their thoughts and ideas with co-workers.

A workgroup weblog has the following benefits:

• Different voices can appear - In every workgroup there are those who are outspoken and comfortable expressing themselves in meetings, and there are those who aren't. When group conversations are limited to vocal interactions, the group often misses out on the opinions of those who are shy or quiet. With the weblog as an additional communication outlet, the voices that are rarely heard in meetings may open up through writing. People who aren't comfortable speaking on the spot may find the asynchronous nature of the blog more appealing. Someone loath to suggest an idea in a meeting may feel perfectly comfortable proposing it to the group via the blog. The removal of face-to-face conversation changes the dynamic of the interaction, and that results in different conversations.
• Breaks down barriers between groups - Communication between workgroups and departments is often lacking or muddled. Rarely does one group speak directly to another group. Usually, information flows up a corporate hierarchy)-from employee to group manager, up to department manager to VP, across to another VP, back down the chain to the department manager, and into the workgroups. Like a grade-school game of telephone where a message is whispered from one person to the next, the information that's sent out is never what those on the very end of the connection receive. When a corporate culture is one where information is hoarded rather than shared, the resulting communications have all the accuracy of propaganda.

With group weblog's that are open to the entire company, the flow of information is changed dramatically. The weblog eschews the hierarchy to provide information to anyone who wants it. Simply by going to the software workgroup's blog, anyone within the organization can see the projects in which they're engaged, and get a sense of the team and its members. The communication is peer-to-peer, flowing between people who share common interests and goals.

• Strengthens sense of team - The collaborative nature of a group weblog has a different dynamic than other types of office communication because a weblog creates a space online. Just as some teams transform conference rooms into physical "war rooms" to centralize project-related materials, a weblog can provide a virtual place for a team to congregate. The shared space reinforces the shared identity and strengthens the team's bond, just as a clubhouse or lodge reinforces the relationship of the group that congregates there.
• Searchable - A group weblog can be easier to search than e-mail or a traditional intranet site. Depending on the weblog tool in use, posts (when created) can be categorized or assigned metadata, making the rediscovery of that information easier later on. E-mail results can be difficult and time-consuming to navigate because the content that meets your search criteria is often buried in the body of the message. Your search results are only the messages themselves, one level removed from the actual content you're looking for. To find that pertinent snippet, you need to open and scan each message, or use a preview pane. When your result set contains more than 15 or 20 messages, this can be an arduous task.

With a group weblog, your results can be all the posts matching your search term. The search term you entered is often highlighted throughout the page. The page is quickly scanable (or you can use your browser's Find function to locate a specific word on the page), and it's easy to see if you've found the result you wanted or if you need to search again.

• Eases bandwidth - Whether it's the latest revision of the product specification or a funny MP3, e-mailing a file attachment to the workgroup isn't the most efficient way to distribute files over the local network. With a group weblog, you can upload the file once to a central location and then announce it with a post and a link. The file can be accessed directly from this central location or downloaded, if necessary, by individuals at a convenient time. Nothing is more frustrating than dialing up from outside the office to quickly check e-mail only to discover that someone has sent a three-MB file attachment to the team.
• Single repository for documents, versioning control - Using the weblog as a central repository for workgroup documents can ease versioning problems and provide a single point of access for all workgroup-related content. With the ability to search the weblog's contents, you can easily locate the latest spec or marketing request without needing to remember its location on the file server. The weblog provides a simple way to access the file management system, and offers bare-bones knowledge management, as well.

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