EU Commissioner for Institutional Relations and Communication Margot Wallström has a blog, which was lauched today.

So far, it’s a bit weak. The first posts contain no links to topics in the wider blogosphere. There’s no blogroll, no trackback, no comments and no RSS — but the site promises that “the interactive functions of this weblog are under construction and will be available soon”.

Official blogs always risk appearing out of touch with the blogger culture they are trying to reach. I hope whoever is running Wallström’s blog realises that and turns the blog into a genuine interactive forum that engages with bloggers.

A few months ago, PR blogger Steve Rubel wrote:

“Blogosphere Borging” entails carefully turning clients into Webloggers so they can assimilate into the community and engage in a direct, ongoing dialog with key audiences. We are supplementing traditional media relations programs (which will never go away) with this micro persuasion strategy to put clients at eye level with consumers and prospects and get them talking to each other… frequently.

…

…”Blogosphere Borging” must be done very carefully. The blogosphere has protocols that must be followed. Violate these and you risk damaging your brand, rather than enhancing it.

This is just as true in political communication as in commercial PR.