USE BLOGS IN INNOVATIVE WAYS: THE DISNEY CHANNEL STORY

The Disney Channel is kept on the air by more than 130 technicians who work a variety of shifts. These individuals take care of the actual Disney Channel as well as operations for Toon Disney, SOAPnet, and ABC Family. Together, they provide more than 100 hours of programming every day. Because of the nature of the work, each shift produces a shift log that notes events that occurred during the shift as well as any outstanding issues. This allows for a consistent flow of information that is crucial to the success of the operation. In the entertainment business, change is constant, and that change must be communicated both to administration and to incoming shifts. In addition, as shifts come on, they must be able to catch up quickly and easily. The original version of the shift logs was paper-based, which meant that the various log articles had to be physically distributed and archived. Trying to read people’s handwriting and not being able to archive or search the logs in any streamlined fashion were problematic, to say the least. As a result of these challenges to their goals, the Disney Channel has been working on a more elegant solution for several years.

WORKING ON A SOLUTION

The first solution was a basic database that was developed inhouse. The feature set was minimal (no searching or editing capabilities), but it was certainly no worse than the paper system, and it meant an end to the piles of archived binders stored in a warehouse. Turning to a database-driven system truly wet Disney’s whistle for something more robust and useful. As Michael Pusateri, vice president of engineering, tells it, at some point someone got the bright idea of using blogging software for the shift log. At the time, the most popular blogging software was Movable Type by Six Apart (www.sixapart.com), which the team chose to use. They installed the software on their existing Linux servers, imported the previous 9000-plus entries into Movable Type, and began tinkering with the software. Their first adjustment was to incorporate their existing usernames and passwords into Movable Type, so that users wouldn’t need to remember more than one password. The new shift log system was introduced gradually, by letting users choose to use it when they were ready. Within two weeks, more than 100 technicians were using the new system.

NEW SYSTEM, NEW CHALLENGES

The new blog-based system quickly became popular so much so that users of the system started requesting new features and capabilities. In particular, users didn’t like that they had to check the system for new entries, despite the fact that every previous system required that users check the logs manually for new entries. Users also found it difficult to forward information to others in the company or the engineering group. As a result, Pusateri and his group made some changes to the system. Notably, they eschewed the temptation to use e-mail as the notification method, and instead decided to use RSS (Really Simple Syndication), the most popular method of producing feeds at the time. In conjunction with the feeds, they decided to use NewsGator (www.newsgator.com) as the mechanism for staying up to date on the feeds. NewsGator is a plug-in for Microsoft Outlook that makes new RSS items arrive on the screen just like regular e-mail. The net result was that users were not only able to forward the RSS items quickly and easily, but they were in control of subscribing to the feeds as opposed to being automatically included on an e-mail whether a user wanted it or not.

THE RESULTS

By making the system user-focused instead of software-focused (with the software making the rules), Disney had quick uptake on the system and a willing community of users. Changes had a much higher level of visibility, thanks to the combination of RSS and NewsGator, and it moved most of the conveyance of information out of e-mail and into the blog. In addition, users could make comments on a blog entry itself, which was a great help when looking up archives.

Conventional wisdom dictates that a high-end change-management system would have been best for a shift log environment.

The cost would extend beyond the software, though, to consultants and implementation costs. This approach would have cost a lot of money and taken a fair amount of time to put together. The alternative was to keep it simple, see what worked, and fix what didn’t. The blog software was not only low cost, but it was also up and running in less than 48 hours. The goal of the blog project was to get to the starting point (that is, to reach the point the other software had reached), and then focus on incremental improvements. The choice of blogging software also allowed Disney to modify the software as needed, something many higher end systems simply didn’t allow. Pusateri’s advice for companies wanting to implement new solutions or paradigms is this: Don’t tell employees it’s a new solution or paradigm. Simply tell them it will make their jobs easier. Also assure them that whatever’s broken will be fixed.

Disney was looking for a system that • Was computer-based, so that employees didn’t need to write information or archive it in a physical location • Allowed for editing of past entries • Had reasonable search capabilities • Allowed users not only to be notified, but to be in control of those notifications • Was easy to maintain, low cost, and easy to implement • Was customizable Movable Type fit the bill, thanks mainly to the innovative and outside-the-box thinking by Pusateri and his team.

LESSONS LEARNED

The Disney Channel’s case study was enlightening for a number of reasons a variety of lessons learned in this case can be applied to your company’s blogging strategy and growth:

• Start simple. One of the reasons that the end solution works so well is that Disney didn’t design massive software to solve its problem. At each step, only bare minimum problems were solved. As a result, they eventually settled on a solution that worked, at which point they were able to implement bigger features that made peoples’ lives easier.

• Think outside the box. As you are implementing your blogging strategy, it will become easy to do what everyone else is doing. Stop and think about ways that your company can be different. Blogs are great, but they are just tools, and as more people use those tools it will become less and less remarkable when new companies join in. To get truly noticed, you’ll need to do something different. Maybe you’ll produce a weekly podcast, or you will invite industry analysts to comment on issues; maybe you’ll include employee interviews. The way you differentiate your blog will come directly from the goals and objectives you create in your blogging strategy. Dare to be unique.

• Give people what they want. The first step is to meet your company’s initial goals. After that, you need to be prepared to listen, so that you can continue to respond to and meet the needs and desires of your business, your industry, and your readers. Don’t be afraid to re-examine your blogging strategy, and be flexible enough to try out a variety of different solutions. People like to be heard.