Orlov isn't the only L.A. insider who became obsessed with the 4th Floor "blog"--short for "web log." As many as 4,000 people both within and outside of City Hall got to reading it regularly after it launched in September. Some readers posted their own diatribes on the site, turning the blog into City Hall's virtual water cooler. The blog was as much a forum for substance as spice. One day, the blogger ruminated about plans to expand L.A.'s airport. The next day, the blogger posted Top 10 lists of the "hottest" male and female city employees. "It was like all things with the Internet," says Orlov, who writes for the L.A. Daily News. "Some of it was true, some of it wasn't."
To be sure, the blogger was always pushing his or her luck. Eventually, it ran out. Councilman Bernard Parks, who had taken some lumps on the site, blasted the blogger in an e-mail. The blogger posted it. "You took cheap shots at me while remaining shrouded in the small computer world that you've created for yourself," Parks wrote. The next day, the 4th Floor blogger abruptly pulled the plug on the site. "The overwhelming and surprising success of this blog has become its greatest detriment," the blogger wrote. "City Hall interest in who is running the blog has compromised my ability to protect confidential sources."
The 4th Floor blog lasted for only six weeks. But in that short time, it showed both the potential and the pitfalls of this emerging form of communication (at least three new blogs have popped up to try to replace the 4th Floor). Blogs have been around for a few years, and some are very popular among niche audiences. Anyone can launch one with free and easy-to-use Internet software. Only recently, however, have blogs begun catching on in government offices.
Blogs don't have to be anonymous or racy. Scott Neal, the city manager of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, keeps a blog that offers readers an insider's view of what it's like to manage a local government. He doesn't dish gossip the way the 4th Floor blogger did. But Neal's blog (http://edenprairieweblogs.org/html/scott_neal.html) is intensely personal, timely and insightful. On Election Day, for example, he wrote about some of the unexpected problems he had to deal with at polling places. "I try to present citizens with the kind of things we face every day," Neal says. "This is an opportunity to put a face on the faceless bureaucrat."
Not every politico is an effective blogger, though. A number of state and local officials in Utah post regularly on a blog called "Utah Policymaker" at http://www.utahpolicy.com. None of them have mastered the witty, conversational style that can make blogs fun to read. And during campaign season, the blog became overrun with self-serving propaganda. "The people we have contributing have definitely earned a right to speak," says Bart Barker, a newsletter editor who launched the blog in September. "The question is, will they have a passion for blogging, will they do it regularly and will it be interesting to read?"
Griff Wigley, a consultant who coaches Scott Neal on his blogging technique, says that policy wonks often have a hard time breaking out of "memo speak" in their blogs. "The key piece is the voice must sound authentic," Wigley says. Bloggers don't need to be technologically savvy, according to Wigley, but they do need to devote a little time to blogging almost every day. That keeps material on the Web site fresh and keeps readers--if there are any--coming back for more. "It's this near real-time window into your world that makes blogs compelling," Wigley says.
