Siemens USA was one of the first companies to embrace blogging as a communication device on its intranets. In addition to group and individual blogs, Blogger von Siemens is the blog that delivers company news via the intranet home page. Today, the company is using that blog as part of the relief effort in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

In an email to me this morning, Jim Lukach from Siemens USA’s internal communications department reports that the company’s group of employee volunteers is using the blog to help its own employees displaced by Katrina. “I’m sure you are aware of how large Siemens is and we have employees all across the hurricane area,” he explains. “We are taking the calls coming in from our employee hotline and trying to match their needs—housing, food, etc.—through the blog. Seems to be the best thing that we have done with it yet.”

The ability to get new posts up as soon as they come in over the hot line makes the blog the ideal tool for the company’s relief effort. Having the blog in place meant internal communications manager Shelley Brown and her team could begin matching needs instantly rather than have to spend time strategizing how to lend a hand. Talk about a way to build employee engagement!