It really depends on the culture. When I joined a midsize company, I noticed there was no newsgroup/forum kind of communication medium. I took upon myself to convince management it's a great idea to have one in addition to email. However, after implementation the forums were rarely used. The excuses people gave were they are too busy, they don't want public discussion, they don't know whether there will be replies to their posts, etc. It was a flop. The culture of open communication just wasn't there.