Some people say blogs (like this one) are choking the real internet with their flurry of posts. Conversely, blogs are blamed for also rotting away and dieing a slow death. Indeed, when you lose the urge to write, bloggers tend to let their creation die a slow death online.

But one thing for sure, blogs are starting to become an a bothersome issue for another reason entirely. Employee’s, are starting to lift up the secret curtain and show the world the real life behind the brand. Companies spend millions on advertisings and ‘branding’ excercises, only to have it slip away because of an errant post from a low-level worker. Sometimes these posts are funny, sometimes they are biting, but regardless the public is seeing a side of the company no marketing chief ever intended.

Some good examples of this are the Delta Airlines Stewardess who had a blog talking about her life at 35,000 feet. She did well to disguise her identity, but slipped once and was found out by her employer. Or the developer who lost her job because she mentioned the site which she re-designed was previosly ‘pokey’. The most absurb though, is the contractor who got canned simply because he took a picture of a pallet-load of Mac’s being delivered to the Microsoft campus.

Of course the latest example which is heating up the blog-lines is Mark Jen who was Googlewhacked by his employer, Google.

What is the common thread in all these cases (and many more)? In each case, the blogger, unintentionally or otherwise, became a bit of a name and shared information on strike price, culture, or even internal bickering to the web. And once out there, the information spread like wild fire. Why is that? I think, in the age of Information, that we are starting to become immune to marketing in its overt sense. When I see a PR or Marketing person for a company say anything, “…..in the coming year we plan to more aggresivly visualize cross-media infrastructures…” all I can think of is that scene from Bull Durham where Crash Davis advises Nuke on how to speak to the Media. And instead of saying whats real, Nuke spouts hyperbole.

I think, that we are starting to switch off from hyperbole and bullshit. We know when an execitive leaves to ’seek other opportunities’ that in reality they were fired. We know that in many cases lawsuits between one company and another, is just another negotiation tactic. And we know, that 99% of the shit that comes out of a Marketing Person’s mouth is just spin.

Which is why people have a feeding frenzy whenever a blogger from a company appears. Because what the blogger blogs, is real (or so we imagine). The blogger, 10 stories below the Marketing Executive, is telling us things the upper echelon could never imagine; telling us things that they don’t want us to know. Knowledge that is forbidden, or not encouraged, is exciting knowledge. Also, and this is universal, I think we all want a little Soap Opera in our lives. We want to see the virtual ‘train wreck’ before it happens. Its exciting, because its real.

While our entertainment has gone through a very long ‘reality’ phase, it seems Corporate Life has not. You almost have to wonder aloud, which company will try to take advantage of the blogging revolution by turning Spin, or even a product launch, into a blog post.

I give it less than 24 months. The PR industry will be well advised to take advantage of this new means of communicating with their customers.