No time to say much about this—I’m getting ready to leave for Chicago—but Jeremiah Owyang emailed me to let me know that he’s posted an item about WalMart’s new blog, Check Out. Jeremiah has a detailed post on the initiative that includes an interview with one of the Check Out bloggers.

Most of WalMart’s social media ventures have not gone well, although the controversial retailer has been praised for opening its online store to customer comments. This blog appears to be genuine (that is, the people blogging are who they say they are). What remains to be seen is how well the blog deals with negative comments. Very few comments appear on the posts that have been published so far, but the blog has been under wraps until today despite posts going back as far as August.

Based on skepticism bred of the company’s earlier, ill-advised attempts at social media, coupled with the general animosity many people have for the company, Check Out faces an uphill battle. But what the heck, so did Dell’s Direct2Dell blog, and it’s now held up as a model. A real conversation between employees and other audiences could pay dividends down the road. It’s just a matter of how long a leash the company will give the bloggers in terms of candor and openness.