Steven Shultz returned from a conference in 2006 eager to introduce social media at the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.

Shultz, the deputy PR director, presented his bosses with all the Web 2.0 tools communicator might use--blogs, podcasts, videos, even Second Life--and they responded mostly with fear and skepticism. The idea got shelved.

Sound familiar? It can be disheartening to learn about Web 2.0 tools only to have fearful execs squash the idea. In Shultz's case, his bosses wondered why they should consider social media as a business application. What was its purpose?

They also presumed these online tools were expensive, feared they would hurt productivity and, of course, bristled at the thought of negative comments.

But Shultz didn't give up, and in January he launched the Airport Authority's Goodwill Ambass-ablog, an employee blog written for internal and external audiences.

"My job's never been more fun because I'm doing something I've done for years in my free time and now I'm able to marry it with my job ... I'm loving that," said Shultz, who blogged and podcasted on his own for 10 years.