Blog Policies State The Obvious

There is a sense that more and more American bloggers get in trouble with their employer for what they write on their blogs. Although there are no statistics on how many people have actually been fired for something they wrote, the stories keep coming, writes Star-Telegram:

- A reporter in Delaware was fired in February for offensive postings on his personal blog.
- Washingtonienne, - an intern on Capitol Hill - was canned when she described her sexcapades with fellow staffers.
- QueenofSky - a Delta flight attendant - was fired after she posed provocatively (she meant for it to be funny) in her uniform.
- A Microsoft employee was sacked after he posted a picture that included Macs the company had purchased.
- Heather Armstrong was fired from her web design job for writing about work and colleagues.

This once again raises an important question. Should more companies have policies that state what their employees can and cannot say on the web? This is very much the opinion of David Weinberger who writes:

»A blogging policy can make clear what employees already understand: Give away company secrets and you'll be fired. Be a whiny, complaining jerk who continually slags off your boss in public and don't count on that big Christmas bonus.«

Like Weinberger I think most blog policies are merely stating the obvious. It ought to be pretty clear to the average employee what is and isn't acceptable to post. But if companies are holding back on letting their employees blog because they fear loosing communicative control, then by all means: employ a policy!

Only problem is that if a company is that regulative about communication it probably wont be able to really harvest the fruits of employee blogging anyway.

Technorati: Blog|Business

Comments

[Trine-Maria]

I think some of the employees who end up being fired for blogging do not realize that whatever they do on the blog (even if they try to be "anonymous" or "out of circulation" by not pinging or not putting their name on the blog) is public and liable.

Most of them are blogging "under the radar" - and tend to believe that their only readers are people they know and have invited by sending out links.

And I believe that a blogging "policy" is a very good idea if you want emplyees to be aware that whatever they are blogging is liable, searchable and their own responsibility.

The policy shouldn't be to restrictive - because you are absolutely right - if the rules are to restrictive there will be no room for openness on the blog - and then the blogs gets boring and absolutely useless to the blogger and to the company. If you are deciding on a very restrictive blog policy maybe ypu should just decide that your employees are not allowed to blog!

I think in general that it is better to think of the policy as guidelines. Instead of writing "don't do this and that" - emphasize the things you want to happen on the blog - by making guidelines such as: "be kind" - and try to make the policy a friendly piece of advice.

I also believe that the guidelines should be developed together with the bloggers in the company - not by the legal department or by the communication department in the company.

[Henrik Harsbo]

I agree with you Trine-Maria, most of the way anyhow ;-)

It's just that I think there is a tendency to regulate a little too much on these issues. It is especially a problem in the States where the burden of rules and regulations in society as a whole is growing by the minute.

I like your idea about having bloggers develop the guidelines in unison with the employer. If rules are necessary then that is the right way to go about it.