Ex-Microsoft blogger starts on a new media adventure
If the public perception of Microsoft has softened recently, Robert Scoble may be partially responsible. — Over the past three years, Scoble has gained fame as the ``Microsoft blogger,'' a Microsoft employee writing online about Microsoft and its products.
Context & Ripple Effects
Robert Scoble’s move follows months of public attention to his planned departure from Microsoft and a subsequent exit interview. His prominence came from writing publicly about Microsoft and its products while employed there, giving the company an unusually visible employee voice.
The new media venture separates that voice from Microsoft at a moment when Scoble’s blogging had been credited with helping soften perceptions of the company.
First-order effects
- Microsoft loses a prominent employee blogger whose public writing had become closely associated with the company’s products and image.
- Scoble shifts his audience and editorial activity into an independent media venture rather than a Microsoft role.
Second-order effects
- Microsoft’s product and communications teams lose an informal channel that linked corporate messaging with blog audiences, increasing the importance of other public-facing voices.
- The venture tests whether the audience built around a company insider follows the individual once the employer affiliation is removed.
Third-order effects
- The episode points to corporate blogging becoming a portable individual asset: companies can gain credibility from employee voices, but those voices can retain audience influence after departure.
The trend: Technology companies are learning that transparent employee blogging can shape brand perception while concentrating influence in personalities the company does not permanently control.