I would have predicted that investor relations would be the last thing brought in to the sphere of social media. But as you can see by this news item, courtesy of IR Magazine, Dell has made the leap and the new site is growing in popularity. It is apparently an industry-first.

What I like best about this story is how it portrays Dell's seemingly easy transition to an IR blog. In answer to all the usual questions insiders and outsiders submit whenever the notion of an open corporate comunity comes up, Dell has a reasonable, logical answer. No, we don't post everything. Yes, people must be respectful. No, it isn't just for Wall Street types.

All too often in my experience, the early stages of blog development discussions in a corporate setting stall when doomsday scenario questions inevitably arise. "What if someone leaves a really foul comment?" The right answer: We moderate it. The wrong answer: We better not do this blog thing.

It all reminds me in a way of the fairy tale involving, as I vaguely remember it, the lovely daughter living in a home where there is an axe lodged in the parlor ceiling. For years the family worries that the daughter will never be married because no suitor can come in to the house for fear the axe may fall on his head. Eventually some normal person comes along and takes the axe out of the ceiling. Problem solved.

Anyway, congratulations to Dell for putting a little Inspirational Reasonableness into Investor Relations.

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