It's understandable businesses might be nervous about allowing their employees to maintain blogs. Decision makers contemplating a corporate blogging strategy might be tempted to throw their hands up in the air and ask rhteorically, "Is it really worth the risk?
For those who might be baffled by this and similar questions, it helps to know that you are not the first to face these questions, and you are not alone. In fact, you're in good company.
For a good case in point, check out a recently published article on CNet's news.com website. If you're considering an enterprise blog or are in the process of rolling one out, this article is a must-read.
CNet writer Ann Broache uses as a starting point the legal issues that Cisco Systems is facing after one of its employees was outed as an anonymous blogger. The article does a good job of driving home the significance of transparency, discretion, and delineation.
Transparency is ensuring that when employees post content related to their employer on the net, the employee clearly identifies him- or herself as an employee of that company.
Discretion means that employees don't disclose information that would compromise trade secrets, violate confidentiality agreements, or expose the company to further legal liability.
Delineation involves making clear what aspects of an employee's writings are representative of the company and which are the views of the employee alone.
The article also is valuable because it discusses how several large companies and organizations have dealt with this question. Links to corporate blogging policies and net conduct guidelines for companies such as Cisco Systems, Sun Microsystems, Dell, Yahoo, IBM, Google, and the BBC are provided in the story. With big names such as these, the story serves as a great launching point for identifying blog best practices.
One of the best ways to ensure transparency, delineation, and discretion is to provide a common corporate blogging platform like Compendium Blogware. Employees get the ability to write original content while being clearly identified as a company employee. Compendium's post approval feature helps mitigate the risk of inappropriate content.
