---
title: "Part 6: The newsletter as the social content of corporations"
date: 2022-02-11
description: "External newsletters Internal newsletters Following common patterns The propaganda conundrum Walking the tight rope of independent thinking versus..."
canonical_url: https://idratherbewriting.com/web-and-workplace-influence/part6-newsletter-content-medium
---
# Part 6: The newsletter as the social content of corporations
Newsletter content contains a variety of info, from light and personal information such as employee spotlights, org announcements, and informational tidbits to more substantial information, product deep dives, strategic directions, tech tips, and explanations of initiatives to keep employees informed about what’s going on at a company.

Sending newsletters is a practice companies have followed not only in the last century, but apparently for the last 2,000 years. In *An analysis of the corporate newsletter as a form of internal and external communication*, Cole traces the first newsletter (“news and letters”) back to ancient China, specifically to the “Han Dynasty in 200 b.c. for fast communication between cities.”

Cole’s analysis is actually a 200-page master’s thesis on newsletters, which she published in 1993 (before the widespread emergence of the internet). I had no idea that newsletters had such a rich and dominant history in corporations. Cole analyzes both external newsletters and internal newsletters.

## External newsletters

An external newsletter’s purpose is usually to raise awareness and interest in the company’s products and services. Cole says “a newsletter is effective if it can attract the reader’s eye towards certain advertised products or services.” The newsletter often “wins clients because the newsletters portrays its company as a leader in the field with a good reputation.” Even though the focus is on building relationships with customers, any org that sends out a newsletter might have similar goals of increasing the appeal of the org’s products and services.