The first post

This is a dilemma - what do people post as the first post of a new blog? I've been wondering about this for a while. Perhaps the best topic would be what prompted me to start this blog in the first place.

I was participating in a twitter chat (#commschat, every Monday, 8pm UK) this week and one of the topics of discussion was whether or not companies should outsource social media to agencies.

I'm torn on this.

Whilst I understand why they would (expertise, logistical reasons, consistency of messaging with other communications), I also think that because social media offers such a direct link with a company's customers, it should remain a window into the company. Therefore not handled by a 3rd party, or a ghostwriter.

Of course, if a company is large enough to have an in-house PR team, then they could easily take ownership of the account and that would be it. But for the smaller companies that don't have that internal expertise?

It might be easy to get a message out there, but a company's reputation can rise and fall on that simple message, so maybe it is important to let the professionals do what they do best.

But then as a consumer, I'd appreciate a company getting involved directly.

As I said, I'm torn on the issue.

I'd like to be convinced either way.

Or is there a right answer?