[If anyone is
aware of a fairly recent XML-DEV thread on this topic, please let me know - I
did not find one through searching the archives]
Happy New Year
All,
The purpose of
this message is solicit thoughts/experience/advice regarding corporate
policies on blogging. I'll start from the top:
I have long
thought about starting a blog, and decided that I would not do so unless I was
100% clear on my company's policy regarding employee blogging. I did some
internal research (PR, Legal, etc.), and found out that my company does not
yet have any policy on blogging (which is not surprising as we are primarily a
consulting firm rather than a vendor).
So I have decided
to write my company's blog policy - and then filter it through Legal, PR, and
various other internal resources prior to being published.
So my general
question is: What are some things that people believe should be taken into
account in such a policy? (please note that this is not the same as asking for
your own employer's policy - please do not divulge any proprietary information
here or directly to me).
For example, the
following questions/considerations come to my mind:
- Should employees
be encouraged/allowed to state their corporate affiliation in their
blog?
- What if an
employee states a position in a "hot" area (such as SOA) that - even if
unintentionally - conflicts with the corporation's message for that
area?
- What if such a
position conflicts with another employee that is writing on the same topic in
their own blog? (i.e. can such things be realistically
monitored?)
- Should employees
be required to place a uniform disclaimer on their blog that states "The
opinions here are of my own..." etc.
- What types of
"violations" (if one may use that term) can be considered so severe that they
should lead to termination of an employee?
- How does one
balance between rights such freedom of speech, and the need of a corporation
to put forth a consistent, solid message?
- Any
others?
Thanks so
much,
Joe
Joseph Chiusano
Associate
Booz Allen Hamilton
700 13th St. NW, Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20005
O: 202-508-6514
C: 202-251-0731
