Letter from the Editor

Been communicating today with a blogger who linked to The Disney Blog, which I am immensely grateful for, but when doing so identified The Disney Blog as an official blog for the Walt Disney Company, which it is not. The ‘about me’ information in the left column is pretty clear that this blog is in no way affiliated with the Walt Disney Company. It is just the chronicle of one fan’s appreciation of the product, history, family, people, and promise wrapped up in the word ‘Disney.’ Okay, well maybe it doesn’t say exactly that. But that’s the spirit.

For some reason The Disney Company has no ‘official’ blog that talks about their company business publicly available on the net. At least none that I am aware of. There are enough fan blogs and web sites publishing now, so I guess they don’t have to. Disney chooses to communicate with the public via more traditional methods even while pushing some boundaries with products like Podcasts, Virtual Magic Kingdom, interactive websites, and more. I’d love them to do some blogging and join the conversation that way, but I’m fairly happy with the way things stand now.

Now, some divisions (mainly TV and radio stations owned by Disney, ESPN, etc) might have blogs. But those are product specific. There are also plenty of blogs from Disney employees. But these are personal blogs writing about personal stuff which may, from time to time, include thoughts and news from their work, which happens to be Disney. Plenty of animators, themepark cast members, broadway and disney cruise actors, and more, maintain blogs that anyone can find just a google or technorati search away.

I expect to see more and more pop up soon. Disney used to tell employees not to blog about their work. According to recent emails I’ve had with employees, they now just tell you not to reveal company secrets or ‘ruin the magic’ if you’re a Disney employee. That seems really fair to me. However, my one caveat I give to all Disney employees who want to blog still applies:  run it by your supervisor and/or HR representative first. They’ll let you know if there are any special rules that apply to you and your position.

With that, happy blogging everyone. Thank you for reading The Disney Blog. I hope to see you back here ‘real soon’.

-John