"Free-expression can be costly when bloggers bad-mouth jobs."--Washington Post
When it comes to employee blog use, there is no way to guarantee a 100% risk-free environment. Whether blogging at work or home, even the most conscientious employees are prone to accidents and missteps. And there is always a chance that a rogue employee will intentionally publish blog content that creates legal, regulatory, security, or other problems for the organization.
To help limit liability, I advise my ePolicy Institute, www.epolicyinstitute.com, clients to develop and implement comprehensive blog rules and policies that address issues including content, language, confidentiality, copyright, defamation, privacy, monitoring, compliance, personal use, retention, regulatory rules, and disciplinary action, among other key issues.
Blog policies are not required by law, but they certainly can help keep your organization out of legal hot water.
Consider incorporating the following 7 best practices, excerpted from my new book Blog Rules (Amacom 2006, www.amanet.org) into your organization's blog policy program to help maximize employee compliance while minimizing business, legal and regulatory risks.
Seven Tips for Effective Blog Policies.
1. Establish written policy governing your organization. According to the 2006 Workplace E-mail, IM & Blog Survey from American Management Association, www.amanet.org, and The ePolicy Institute, www.epolicyinstitute.com, 7% of companies have policy in place to control employees' blog use and content.
2. Establish a policy governing employees' personal blog use. AMA/ePolicy Institute research reveals that 7% of organizations have established rules governing the content employees may post on their personal home-based blogs. Make sure your employees understand that all of the companies rules and policies (language and content, ethics, confidentiality, harassment/discrimination, etc.) apply--regardless of whether they are blogging during business hours or on their own time and equipment.
3. Guard personal and professional secrets. Enforce rules banning the posting of confidential information on business blogs and employees' personal blogs. Do not allow employee-bloggers to embarrass or otherwise harm the company. Make sure employees understand what information the organization considers confidential, proprietary, intellectual property, trade secret, etc.
4. Prohibit anonymous blogging. Don't allow employees to post anonymously by using pseudonyms or fake screen names. Anonymity may tempt some people to write offensive, irresponsible or defamatory comments. On business blogs, employees should identify themselves as company employees. If employees write about the company on personal blogs (with management's permission) they should make clear their affiliation with the company--and add a disclaimer that the blogger's comments are her own, and are not necessarily shared by the company.
5. Inform bloggers how to handle media inquiries. According to the Annual Euro RSCG Magnet and Columbia University Survey, 28% of journalists rely on blogs for their daily reporting. Another 70% of reporters use blogs to find story ideas, conduct research and uncover breaking news. Employee-bloggers are likely to be contacted directly by the media. Use your blog policy to instruct bloggers how to handle media calls.
6. Impose financial rules. Publicly traded companies must be careful that employee-bloggers don't accidentally or intentionally disclose confidential financial data at the wrong time to the wrong audience. Apply this rule to business and personal blogs.
7. Require employee-bloggers to formally acknowledge blog rules and policy. Require all employees to sign and date a written acknowledgment form, confirming that they have read the policy, understand it, and agree to comply with it or risk disciplinary action, up to and including termination. In the event of a lawsuit, you may need these signed acknowledgments to confirm that the company takes blog policy and employee compliance seriously.
Thank you for allowing me to share information about blog risks & rules, policies & procedures this week!
For additional information about blog, e-mail, IM, and Internet risks, policies and best practices, please visit The ePolicy Institute at www.epolicyinstitute.com. Watch for our information-rich, tip-loaded blog to go online in early 2007.
Happy Holidays!
